'Lifeline' hub helping families with help and advice

An organisation that began as a Facebook group has expanded to become a "lifeline" for many families.

Mamas Bristol, based in an industrial estate in Bradley Stoke, South Gloucestershire, was established in 2018 by Paige Josham when she was trying to redistribute her children's old clothes.

The volunteer-run organisation has extended its services to help families save money on essential food and items, promote sustainability and signpost victims of domestic abuse to places they can get help.

Linda, a mother who attends with her daughter and her grandchildren, said: "There's a passion to it and a love for what they do and for the children and that's just amazing."

The organisation began as a Facebook group to redistribute old clothing seven years ago.

Bristol Mamas hub has become a 'lifeline' for more than 38k families

Why everyone is suddenly so interested in US bond markets

1 hour ago Share Save Michael Race Economics reporter, BBC News Share Save

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Stock markets around the world have been relatively settled this week after a period of chaos, sparked by US trade tariffs. But investors are still closely watching a part of the market which rarely moves dramatically - the US bond market. Governments sell bonds - essentially an IOU - to raise money for public spending and in return they pay interest. Recently, in an extremely rare move the rate the US government had to pay on its bonds rose sharply, while the price of bonds themselves fell. The volatility suggests investors were losing confidence in the world's biggest economy. You may think it's too esoteric to bother you, but here's why it matters and how it may change President Trump's mind on tariffs.

What is a government bond?

When a government wants to borrow money, it usually does so by selling bonds to investors on financial markets. A bond is essentially an IOU - in return for an investor buying the bond and lending money, governments pay interest. In the US, bonds are known as "Treasuries". Such payments are made over a number of pre-agreed years before a full and final payment is made when the bond "matures" - in other words, expires. Investors who buy bonds are mainly made up of financial institutions, ranging from pension funds to central banks like the Bank of England.

What is happening with US bonds?

Investors buy government bonds because they are seen as a safe place to invest their money. There is little risk a government will not repay the money, especially an economic superpower like the US. So when the economy is turbulent and investors want to take money out of volatile stocks and shares markets, they usually place that cash in US bonds. But recently that hasn't happened. Initially, following the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs announcement on 2 April when shares fell, investors did appear to flock to US bonds. However, when the first of these tariffs kicked in on 5 April and Trump doubled down on his policies that weekend, investors began dumping government bonds, sending the interest rate the US government would have to pay to borrow money up sharply. The so-called yield for US government borrowing over 10 years shot up from 3.9% to 4.5%, while the 30-year yield spiked at almost 5%. Movements of 0.2% in either direction are considered a big deal. Why the dramatic sell-off? In short, the uncertainty over the impact of tariffs on the US economy led to investors no longer seeing government bonds as such a safe bet, so demanded bigger returns to buy them. The higher the perceived risk, the higher the yield investors want to compensate for taking it.

How does this affect ordinary Americans?

If the US government is spending more on debt interest repayments, it can affect budgets and public spending as it becomes more costly for the government to sustain itself. But it can also have a direct impact on households and even more so on businesses. John Canavan, lead analyst at Oxford Economics, says when investors charge higher rates to lend the government money, other rates for lending that have more risk attached, such as mortgages, credit cards and car loans, also tend to rise. Businesses, especially small ones, are likely to be hardest hit by any immediate change in borrowing rates, as most homeowners in the US have fixed-rate deals of between 15 and 30 years. If businesses can't get access to credit, that can halt economic growth and lead to job losses over time. Mr Canavan adds that banks can become more cautious in lending money, which could impact the US economy. First-time buyers and those wishing to move home could also face higher costs, he says, which could impact the housing market in the longer term. It's common in the US for small business owners starting out to use the equity in their home as collateral.

Why does Trump care?

Following the introduction of tariffs, Trump urged his nation to "hang tough", but it appears the potential threat to jobs and the US economy stopped the president in his tracks. Following the ructions in the bond markets, he introduced a 90-day pause for the higher tariffs on every country except China. The 10% blanket tariff, however, on all countries remains. It proved a pressure point for Trump - and now the world knows it. "Although President Donald Trump was able to resist the stock market sell-off, once the bond market began to weaken too, it was only a matter of time before he folded," says Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics. According to US media reports, it was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, inundated with calls from business leaders, who played a key part in swaying Trump.

Is this similar to Liz Truss's mini-Budget?

The bond market reaction has led to comparisons with former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss's infamous mini-Budget of September 2022. The unfunded tax cuts announced then spooked investors, who dumped UK government bonds, resulting in the Bank of England stepping in to buy bonds to save pension funds from collapse. Some analysts suggested that America's central bank, the US Federal Reserve, might have been forced to step in if the sell-off had worsened. While bond yields have settled, some might argue the damage has already been done as they remain higher than before the blanket tariffs kicked in. "Arguably the most worrying aspect of the [recent] turmoil... is an emerging risk premium in US Treasury bonds and the dollar, akin to what the UK experienced in 2022," according to Jonas Goltermann, deputy chief markets economist at Capital Economics. But unless you're a first-time buyer or selling your home, Americans are unlikely to be immediately hit by higher mortgage costs, unlike Brits who were securing new shorter-term fixed deals.

How is China being linked to US bonds?

What is happening with US bonds, why Donald Trump cares and how ordinary Americans could be affected.

US bond markets: Why everyone is watching them closely

US lays out plans to hit Chinese ships with port fees

There have been concerns that the measures would further disrupt global trade amid US President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

It said the fees would start to be charged in 180 days time and would rise in the coming years.

The US Trade Representative's (USTR) announcement is less severe than a plan floated in February to hit Chinese vessels with charges of up to $1.5m (£1.1m) for each American port they visit.

The Trump administration has unveiled its plan to impose port fees on Chinese ships as it tries to revive shipbuilding in the US and challenge China's dominance of the industry.

"China has largely achieved its dominance goals, severely disadvantaging US companies, workers, and the US economy," the USTR said in statement.

Fees on Chinese vessel owners and operators of ships built in China will be based on the weight of their cargo, how many containers they carry or the number of vehicles onboard.

For affected bulk vessels, the fee will be based on the weight of their cargo, while the charge for container ships will depend on how many containers a vessel is carrying.

Under the measures, Chinese ship owners and operators will initially be charged $50 per ton of cargo, rising by $30 a ton each year for the next three years.

Fees on Chinese-built ships will start at $18 a ton or $120 per container and also rise over the next three years.

Non-US built ships carrying cars will be charged $150 per vehicle.

The fee will be applied once per voyage on affected ships and not more than five times a year.

The USTR also decided not to impose fees based on how many Chinese-built ships are in a fleet or based on prospective orders of Chinese ships, as it had originally proposed.

Empty vessels that arrive at US ports to carry bulk exports like coal or grain are exempted.

Vessels that move goods between American ports as well as from those ports to Caribbean islands and US territories are also exempted from rules, as are US and Canadian ships that call at ports in the Great Lakes.

The USTR said a second phase of actions will begin in three years to favour US-built ships carrying liquified natural gas (LNG). These restrictions will rise incrementally over the following 22 years.

The announcement came as global trade is already being disrupted by Trump's trade tariffs, experts have said.

Cargoes originally destined for ports in the US from China are instead being redirected to European ports, a trade group said.

Businesses have warned this will raise prices for US consumers.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed taxes of up to 145% on imports from China. Other countries are facing a blanket US tariff of 10% until July.

His administration said this week that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.

These tariffs have caused "significant build ups" of ships, especially in the European Union, but also "significant congestion" at UK ports, according to Marco Forgione, director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade.

More containers are coming to the UK, he said.

"We've seen a lot of diversion of ships from China, that were due to head to the US, diverting and coming to the UK and into the EU."

In the first three months of 2025, Chinese imports into the UK have increased by about 15% and into the EU by about 12%.

"That's a direct impact of what President Trump is doing," he said, adding that uncertainty and increased disruption pushes up prices for consumers.

The charges will start in 180 days and rise in the coming years.

US lays out plans to hit Chinese ships with port fees

Disasters spur investment in flood and fire risk tech

18 March 2025 Share Save Suzanne Bearne Technology Reporter Share Save

Getty Images Storm Babet caused flooding across the UK in October 2023

When Storm Babet hit the town of Trowell in Nottingham in 2023, Claire Sneddon felt confident her home would not be affected. After all, when she bought the property in 2021, she was told by the estate agent that a previous flood the year before, which had reached but not affected the property, was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and that flooding measures to protect the properties on the cul-de-sac would be put in place. However, when Storm Babet tore through the UK two years later, Ms Sneddon's home flooded after several days of rain. "We knew there would be water on the cul-de-sac but no one expected it to flood internally again. However, water entered the property for five hours," she says. "It reached to the top of the skirting boards. We had to have all the flooring, woodwork and lower kitchen replaced, which took nearly 12 months." Their final insurance bill was around £45,000. She says they were fortunate to have qualified for a government scheme providing affordable insurance for homeowners in areas of high-flood risk. Although she loves the area, her neighbours and the house, the weather is now a cause of stress. "We constantly worry about the weather, if it is going to rain longer than a couple of days, or there is a named storm. "We do wish we had taken more steps to understand the risk. The survey showed that the property was in a medium flood zone, but there wasn't much detail other than flood zone maps."

Claire Sneddon Claire Sneddon's house was flooded for hours and took weeks to dry out

Climate change is increasing the likelihood and intensity of natural disasters such as floods, wildfires and hurricanes. While it might be too late for Ms Sneddon and other homeowners, new tools are being developed to help people and companies assess climate risk. Last December, the UK Environment Agency updated its National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA), showing current and future flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water for England. It used its own data alongside that of local authorities and climate data from the Met Office. It also brought up to date the National Coastal Erosion Risk Map (NCERM). They were both last updated in 2018 and 2017 respectively. The new NaFRA data shows as many as 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water, and with climate change this could increase to around eight million by 2050. "We have spent the last few years transforming our understanding of flood and coastal erosion risk in England, drawing on the best available data... as well as improved modelling and technological advances," says Julie Foley, director of flood risk strategy at the Environment Agency. "When we account for the latest climate projections, one in four properties could be in areas at risk of flooding by the middle of the century." The Environment Agency plans to launch a portal where users can check their long-term flood risk. Similar resources exist for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales through the ABI.

"We can no longer rely on historical data," says Lukky Ahmed, co-founder of Climate X. The London-based climate risk firm offers a digital twin of the Earth, which simulates different extreme weather events and their potential impact on properties, infrastructure and assets under different emissions scenarios. It combines artificial intelligence with physics-based climate models. "While many climate models might tell you how much rainfall to expect, they don't say what happens when that water hits the ground," he says. "Our models simulate, for example, what happens when the water hits, where it travels and what the impact of the flooding will be." While banks and other lenders are testing their product, property companies are currently using their services when considering new developments. "They log into our platform and identify locations and existing building stock and in return they receive risk rating and severity metrics tied to hazards," says Mr Ahmed.

Getty Images Parts of Los Angeles saw devastating fires in January

Many parts of the world have much more extreme weather than the UK. In the US in January, devastating wild fires tore through parts of Los Angeles. Meanwhile Hurricane Milton, which landed last October, is likely to be one of the costliest hurricanes to hit west Florida. To help insurers manage those costs, New York-based Faura analyses the resilience of homes and commercial buildings. "We look at the different elements of a property to understand how likely it is to survive and pinpoint resilience and survivability of a property," says Faura co-founder Valkyrie Holmes. "We tell companies and homeowners whether their property will still be standing after a disaster, not just whether a disaster will happen in an area," he adds. Faura bases its assessments on satellite and aerial imagery and data from surveys and disaster reports. "Insurance companies technically have the data to be able to do this but have not build out the models to quantify it," says Mr Holmes.

Redfin Climate risk can "make or break" a property sale says Daryl Fairweather

Other services are popping up for homebuyers. For the properties it markets, US firm Redfin, estimates the percentage chance of natural disasters, such as flooding and wildfires, occurring up to the next 30 years across each property. "If people are looking at two homes with the same layout in the same neighbourhood, then climate risk will make or break [their decision]," says Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather.

Services that assess climate change risks are springing up for home buyers, insurers and lenders.

Disasters spur investment in flood and fire risk tech

UK ban on EU cheese and meat: What it means for you

1 hour ago Share Save Mitchell Labiak Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

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The UK government has temporarily banned people from bringing cheese and some meats from the European Union (EU) into the country to stop the spread of foot and mouth disease. But what does that actually mean in practice - and should you be concerned?

What has been banned?

Pork, beef, lamb, mutton, goat, venison and any other products made from these meats - such as sausages - from the EU have been banned. It also applies to pet food. In addition, milk and dairy products - like butter, cheese and yoghurt - from the EU have also been prohibited. It covers items such as sandwiches and cured meats as well as raw meats and milk "regardless of whether it is packed or packaged or whether it has been bought at duty free". However, there are exceptions such as chicken, duck, goose and any other products made from these.

Who does the ban apply to?

The measure is only directed at people arriving in Great Britain - as in, England, Wales or Scotland - from the EU. It does not apply to Northern Ireland, which has its own measures in place to contain foot and mouth disease. The ban covers anyone travelling by any mode of transport - whether that's by plane, train, bus or by car. But it will not be imposed on those arriving to Great Britain from Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or the Isle of Man.

Are commercially imported cheeses and meats banned too?

The ban only applies to travellers bringing in items personally - not commercial importers such as farmers or shops. The reason, according to the UK government, is that commercial meat and cheese imports face higher standards than individuals are subjected to. They must go through heat treatment, which is meant to kill germs, and come with health certificates signed by vets.

How can animals get foot and mouth disease from meat and dairy products?

The disease typically spreads between animals through direct contact. But they can also catch it by eating contaminated meat or dairy products. Any products of animal origin, like meat and dairy, could be contaminated with foot and mouth disease. Even if they are for human consumption, if they are thrown away in a way that could come into contact with foraging wildlife or domestic livestock, that presents a risk.

Should I be worried?

Foot and mouth disease is harmless to humans and there are no cases in the UK - but it is highly contagious for animals. It affects cattle, sheep, pigs and, according to the government, "other cloven-hoofed animals such as wild boar, deer, llamas and alpacas". Animals that catch it typically come down with a high temperature before developing blisters, usually around the mouth or feet. It can make animals lame and, for the very young, result in fatalities.

How long will the ban last?

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs introduced the measure on Saturday, 12 April and did not give an end date. The BBC understands the ban will stay in place until the government believes there is no significant risk from travellers bringing banned meat and dairy into Great Britain.

Why didn't I know about this?

The government put out a release last Friday ahead of the ban coming into force on Saturday. It told border control and airlines to make passengers aware of the rules and has rolled out a digital and social media campaign. Eurostar has also been sending out emails to passengers letting them know about the UK rules. However, many people who have travelled from the EU to Great Britain since the weekend told the BBC they were unaware of the measure and were not told - with no signs in the airport and no checks carried out. Anyone travelling should follow the rules. The government says items could be seized and destroyed at the border and, in serious cases, offenders could be fined up to £5,000 in England.

Can I take meat and milk products from the UK into the EU?

The temporary measure by the government is aimed at stopping the spread of foot and mouth disease.

UK ban on EU cheese and meat: What it means for you

No global recession despite US tariffs, says IMF

The IMF's Kristalina Georgieva said "a more resilient world economy is within reach"

The comments come as leaders and businesses respond to US President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs announced on 2 April.

However, it stopped short of predicting a worldwide recession, saying "our new growth projections will include notable markdowns, but not recession".

The international economic group said in its forecast for the world economy that global share prices have dropped "as trade tensions flared" and warned about an "erosion of trust" between countries.

Trade tariff uncertainty is "literally off the charts" but there will not be a global recession, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

Global stock markets plummeted following the announcement and many have not recovered since - with the FTSE 100 index of the largest firms listed in the UK still 4.6% lower than a month ago.

Meanwhile, predictions of a global recession have risen as firms slash spending and investment amid the uncertainty and some countries respond to Trump with tariffs of their own.

On Wednesday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) forecast that global trade will fall this year because of Trump's tariffs.

It follows similar comments from the Bank of England, which has said that rising trade tensions from tariffs have "contributed to a material increase in the risk to global growth" and financial stability.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday it had reduced its key interest rate "owing to rising trade tensions".

But the IMF's outlook is rosier by contrast. "[This] is a call to respond wisely," said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday.

"A better balanced, more resilient world economy is within reach. We must act to secure it."

She added "all countries must redouble efforts to put their own houses in order" in response to the uncertainty.

She specifically called on Europe to cut down on "restrictions on internal trade in services" and "deepen" its single market.

She also said China needs to increase its social safety net so that there is less "precautionary saving" and said the US government needs to reduce its debt.

The international economic group predicts "notable markdowns, but not recession".

IMF: No global recession despite Donald Trump's tariffs

Google has illegal advertising monopoly, judge rules

16 minutes ago Share Save Imran Rahman-Jones Technology reporter Share Save

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A US judge has ruled tech giant Google has a monopoly in online advertising technology. The US Department of Justice, along with 17 US states, sued Google, arguing the tech giant was illegally dominating the technology which determines which adverts should be placed online and where. This is the second antitrust case Google has lost in a year, after it was ruled the company also had a monopoly on online search. Google said it would appeal against the decision.

"Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective," the firm's head of regulatory affairs Lee-Ann Mulholland said. US district judge Leonie Brinkema said in the ruling Google had "wilfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts" which enabled it to "acquire and maintain monopoly power" in the market. "This exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google's publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web," she said. Google lost on two counts, while a third was dismissed. "We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half," Ms Mulholland said. "The court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don't harm competition." Google's lawyer had argued the case focused too much on its past activities, and prosecutors ignored other large ad tech providers such as Amazon. "Google has repeatedly used its market power to self-preference its own products, stifling innovation and depriving premium publishers worldwide of critical revenue needed to sustain high-quality journalism and entertainment," said Jason Kint, head of Digital Content Next, a trade association representing online publishers.

'Structural changes'

It is the second major case Google has lost in a year, after it was found to have a monopoly on online search.

Google has illegal advertising monopoly, judge rules

'Scammers used fake app to steal from me in person'

8 hours ago Share Save Nathan Heath BBC West Investigations Share Save

BBC Anthony Rudd had power tools stolen in a fake banking app scam

A man who lost £1,000 worth of tools after being scammed by a fake banking app has said it makes you "lose faith in humanity". The apps mimic legitimate mobile banking platforms and allow fraudsters to fake bank transfers in person, show the seller a "successful payment" message and then walk away, leaving sellers thousands of pounds out of pocket. Dr Tim Day, lead in doorstep crime and scams for the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), described the apps as an "emerging threat." He added: "The in-person nature of this scam is unusual." Victim Anthony Rudd said: "I found it absolutely sickening that you could look someone in the eye, shake their hand, and then rob them."

About 500 reports of crimes involving fake banking apps have been made to Action Fraud in the past three years. Some of these apps were available on the Google Play store in the past but were removed. Google said the "safety and security of users is our top priority". Now, BBC West Investigations have found versions of the apps available elsewhere online which can be downloaded directly to Android phones without the use of an official app store.

Mr Rudd's power tools were listed for sale on a social media platform

Mechanic Mr Rudd was selling more than £1,000 worth of power tools on a social media platform when he received a message from a profile named Liam Wright. When "Mr Wright" said he was interested in viewing them, Mr Rudd invited him to come to his workshop in Salisbury, Wiltshire. After the man arrived, he checked over the tools, offered a bank transfer and opened what appeared to be a banking app. "He handed his phone over to me and I typed in my account details, clicked send, and it came up with a successful payment notification," Mr Rudd said. "It looked absolutely genuine." While Mr Rudd was waiting for the money to appear in his bank account, he turned his back to pick up accessories to hand over as part of the sale. The scammer used this opportunity to leave with all the tools, but the money never arrived in Mr Rudd's bank account.

John Reddock The fake banking apps have features that mimic legitimate banking platforms

"He came into my workplace and took my tools," Mr Rudd said. "It angered me so much that someone could be so brazen, but it's also embarrassing that I allowed this to happen." Mr Rudd resigned from his job because he said the scam had "a huge impact" on his mental health. "You lose faith in humanity, that someone could be that low," he said. Wiltshire Police told Mr Rudd it will not be taking any further action as it has been unable to identify the suspect since the incident on 11 February.

John Reddock John Reddock was selling a gold bracelet online when he was scammed

It was a similar story for John Reddock, from Liverpool. He was selling a gold bracelet in the hope he could use the money to take his two children on holiday to Spain. He also used a social media platform to advertise the item, which he listed for £2,000. "I was trying to do something nice for my kids and it backfired on me," said Mr Reddock. Two men arrived at his house to view the bracelet and decided they were happy to go ahead with the purchase, offering a bank transfer. Mr Reddock told them his bank account details and one of them typed it into what appeared to be a banking app on their phone. It then showed a payment successful notification.

John Reddock Mr Reddock was hoping to use the money from selling the gold bracelet to take his children on holiday

They left with the bracelet but Mr Reddock never received the money. "It's given me nightmares and sleepless nights. I'm disgusted about what they've done to me," he said. "It's made me really angry because I was trying to do something good for my kids, and they came to my property to steal from me." Mr Reddock reported the incident to the police but no further action was taken.

John Reddock The men faked a bank transfer of £2,000 for the gold bracelet

BBC West Investigations found the fake banking apps - which we are not naming so as not to promote them - are available to download onto an Android phone directly from the internet. Dr Day said: "So much of fraud is now happening online that it's easy to drop our guards when dealing with people in person. "It gives us a false sense of security but fraud and scams are just as likely to happen in this space." Dr Day said it also shows how scams are becoming "more complex and sophisticated". "The amount of money which is available as a result of fraud is so huge and the relative levels of enforcement possible means it's a crime type which is attracting more and more professional criminals," he added. He said that tech companies need to be "more engaged" in driving out fraud on online platforms.

How to avoid the scam

UK Finance represents more than 300 firms in the UK's banking and financial industry. A spokesperson said the fake banking app scam is "a concern" and they gave the following safety advice: Do not be pressured into accepting payment by bank transfer

Never hand over goods unless you are sure you have received the money and check your own bank account to see if the payment has arrived

Check if the buyer has a newly registered profile before you meet them as this may mean they are not who they say they are More information about staying safe from scams can be found here.

Sebastian Liberek sells and repairs phones and computers

But this is of little comfort to Sebastian Liberek, who runs his business Seb's Repairs in Gloucester. He sells and repairs phones, tablets and computers and has been targeted by fraudsters – who walked directly into his shop - using fake banking apps on three occasions in recent months. He said he has lost hundreds of pounds to a bank transfer faked by a customer. "It makes you feel angry and vulnerable," Mr Liberek said. "When you've spent 15 years building a business and someone can chip at it and take pieces away without consequences." Mr Liberek has now installed extra security measures such as CCTV to protect his business from future attempts. "The fact it's happened three times, it will probably happen a fourth time," he said. "There's nowhere to go, you cannot find them, you can report them to police, but chances of anything being done about it are fairly slim. "It's a situation without answer, or ending."

A government spokesperson said they were taking "ambitious steps to tackle the evolving threat of fraud". "In the coming months, we will set out further details including plans to strengthen international cooperation, introduce better protections against AI-enabled fraud, and increase collaboration between government and the private sector," they added.

Fake bank apps mimic legitimate mobile banking platforms, allowing fraudsters walk away with high-value items.

'Fake bank app allowed scammers to shake my hand and steal from me'

Supermarket price war looms as Sainsbury's joins fight

1 hour ago Share Save Dearbail Jordan Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

PA Media

Sainsbury's has forecast that shop profits will flatline or fall in the coming year as the supermarket sector prepares for a possible price war. The retailer said it expects income to dip to £1bn as it continues to invest in lowering grocery prices. Last week, Tesco admitted that it could take a significant hit if it is forced to cut prices after Asda - now under the leadership of industry veteran Allan Leighton - announced it would reduce grocery costs to boost the struggling store. A race to lower prices could help households who are still struggling with the cost of living at a time when bills, such as energy and water, are increasing.

"We're in the strongest position we've ever been [on price competition] and we intend to stay there," said Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts. The company expects the impact of lowering prices to be relatively small compared to a potential £400m hit announced by Tesco. Sainsbury's predicts underlying retail profit will tick down by around £36m over the year. This, said Bernstein analyst William Woods, gives the supermarket "wiggle room" to fight with Tesco and Asda if needed. While supermarkets are always competing with each other over price, the threat of a more intensive clash arose in March when Mr Leighton said Asda would take a hit to its profits in order to reduce prices, rebuild market share and win back customers. At the time, the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's saw their share prices plunge on speculation they would be forced to fund millions of pounds worth in price cuts to compete with Asda. Mr Leighton was Asda's chief executive between 1996 and 2001 and returned last year as executive chairman to turn the business around after a period of falling sales and under-investment.

The supermarket giant forecasts pressure on profits as competition for customers intensifies.

Sainsbury's profit set to dip as supermarket price war looms

China is encouraging it's retirees to spend their savings on fun initiatives to help boost its economy - including "silver trains".

They take older travellers to underdeveloped areas they might not normally visit, including those that need a financial shot in the arm.

It's hoped the increase in domestic spending would help offset the impact of Trump's tariffs.

Watch as the BBC's China correspondent Stephen McDonell joins retirees aboard one of these "silver trains".

China is encouraging it's retirees to spend their savings on fun initiatives to help boost its economy, as the country's trade war with the US rages on.

BBC joins retirees aboard China's 'silver trains' that aim to boost economy

Tariffs will hit US economy and raise prices, Fed boss warns

11 hours ago Share Save Michael Race Economics reporter, BBC News Share Save

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US economic growth will be hit and prices will rise for consumers as a result of new tariffs on goods entering the country, the head of America's central bank has warned. Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said the import taxes recently announced by President Donald Trump were larger than the bank had expected, going beyond the higher end of its estimates. His comments followed a period of turmoil on global stock markets as investors reacted to trade tariffs coming into force and the escalating trade war between the US and China. Powell said surveys of households and businesses reported a "sharp decline" in their sentiment over the economic outlook, largely due to tariff concerns.

Since returning to office, Trump has stoked a trade war by introducing a 10% tax on goods being imported to the US from the vast majority of countries. He has escalated tariffs further with China by putting a 145% tax on Chinese goods, though there are some exemptions for smartphones. China has hit back with tariffs of 125% on US products. The White House said on Wednesday that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%. "The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated," Powell said in his starkest warning on the effects of the new tariffs regime. "The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth." The US president has said tariffs will boost US manufacturing and jobs, but stock markets have been spooked. Powell said on Wednesday that impact of the Trump administration's changes to trade as well as immigration, fiscal policy and regulation on the US economy remained "highly uncertain". US tariffs will make global trade shrink, says WTO

Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said Donald Trump's new import taxes were larger than expected.

Tariffs will hit US economy and raise prices

'Getting Instagram to fix my account was almost traumatising'

8 hours ago Share Save Jane Wakefield Technology reporter Share Save

Catherine Deane Wedding dress designer Catherine Deane says that dealing with Meta was "almost traumatising"

When wedding dress designer Catherine Deane saw her company's Instagram account get hacked, she says it was "devastating". "It felt like the rug had been pulled from under us. Instagram is our primary social platform, and we've invested the most amount of time and business resources into it. "To keep the account current we post content every day. Suddenly all this work… it was just pulled." Ms Deane's UK-based business, which is named after her, sells wedding dresses online, with her biggest market being the US. On Instagram it now has 59,000 followers, but a few years ago the firm lost control of the account after a member of its social media team received a message suggesting that the business had been selected to get blue-badge verification from Instagram, which is owned by Facebook's Meta. This was the stamp of authenticity that Ms Deane had long sought. "We were obviously very excited about that," she says.

So her employee opened a link to what turned out to be a fake Instagram verification form that requested log-in credentials. She filled it in, divulging the username and password, and shortly afterwards the account was taken over by hackers. What added to Ms Deane's anguish was that she says she had to fight with Meta to get her account back, which took four months. Initially she filled out the admin dispute form and sent it off, but heard nothing. Multiple emails followed but no action was taken. "It's so incredibly frustrating when you're dealing with your account being hacked and there is no-one to talk to," she says. "It's almost traumatising because there is no-one who understands and can help escalate it." Eventually an email came from Meta, telling her that the case was closed, even though she was still unable to access her page. In the end the matter was finally resolved for Ms Deane because someone in the firm had a contact at Facebook, and the team emailed that person daily for the four months. "Finally, I think they just needed to get us off their backs and they reinstated the account," says Ms Deane.

Catherine Deane Catherine Deane lost control of her business' Instagram account for four months

According to Jonas Borchgrevink, boss of US-based cyber security firm Hacked.com, Ms Deane is far from a unique case among people with business accounts on Instagram and Facebook. "I would say that it is a massive problem," says Mr Borchgrevink. "There are probably thousands every day that are losing their business pages." His company helps firms recover their Instagram and Facebook accounts, and he gets "10 to 15 clients per week". "But those are just the ones that know about us and are able to pay the price, because these cases can take up to six months to sort." The BBC asked Meta to provide some numbers that would reveal the extent of the problem, and how it was tackling it, but it declined. However, it said in a statement, that "we take the safety and security of our community seriously and encourage everyone to create a strong password, enable two factor authentication and to be suspicious of emails or messages asking for personal details. "We also have a feature called Security Check-up to help people keep their Instagram and Facebook accounts secure."

Getty Images Meta's headquarters in Silicon Valley at 1 Hacker Way

Hackers want to take over business social media accounts for a number of reasons. These including using the pages to sell fake products or place scam adverts, harvesting personal information, spreading malware, tricking people into sending money, or blackmailing the company in question to unblock the account. The last of these happened last year to David Davila, who is part of the marketing team at Quantum Windows & Doors, a small, family-run business based in Washington state in the US. He got locked out of the firm's social Facebook account when he responded to what turned out to be a fake message purporting to be from Meta. Because his phone number was linked to the account, that also fell into the hands of the scammers and, soon after the lock-out, he got a WhatsApp message demanding $1,200 (£900) to unlock the account. Unable to find a helpline, he searched on Google, but the number he rang put him through to more scammers. That link has since been removed by Google. Thankfully, Mr Davila was able to get the Facebook account unlocked a few days later.

Mr Borchgrevink believes that Meta is overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. "It has implemented different security measures over the years and yet we still receive the same amount of clients, so I don't think there's been a lot of change there," he says. In fact, with scammers now utilising AI to make their messages seem even more believable, Mr Borchgrevink thinks the situation could get a lot worse. He tells the BBC that scammers are behind many of these lock-outs and one of their preferred methods of fooling people is to masquerade as customer support agents. "They pretend to be Meta Support and send the business an email saying that they have infringed some kind of copyright or broken terms and conditions in some way, and that they need to verify themselves. "The messages have the Facebook logo and are very believable. But when you start to verify your business page, they ask for the password and redirect you to a fake Meta site to steal log-ins." He said that the fraudsters often target a personal Facebook page first, because all business accounts need to be linked to one. "Your personal account will also have admin rights to your business account. The scammers go into your business account and transfer the admin rights to their own or to fake profiles. "Then they go back to your personal account and disable it by posting inappropriate content like terror-related or pornography-related. That disables your account and makes it really hard to recover either that or your business account."

David Davila Hackers sent David Davila a random demand

Small businesses say Meta is not helping them recover their hacked Instagram and Facebook accounts.

'Getting Instagram to fix my account was almost traumatising'

Why China curbing rare earth exports is a blow to the US

6 hours ago Share Save Ayeshea Perera Asia digital editor Reporting from Singapore Share Save

Getty Images Neodymium is used to make the powerful magnets used in loudspeakers and computer hard drives

As the trade war between China and the US escalates, attention has been focused on the increasingly high levels of tit-for-tat tariffs the two countries are imposing on one another. But slapping reciprocal tariffs on Washington is not the only way Beijing has been able to retaliate. China has now also imposed export controls on a range of critical rare earth minerals and magnets, dealing a major blow to the US. The move has laid bare how reliant America is on these minerals. This week, Trump ordered the commerce department to come up with ways to boost US production of critical minerals and cut reliance on imports - an attempt by Washington to reclaim this critical industry. But why exactly are rare earths so important and how could they shake up the trade war?

What are rare earths and what are they used for?

"Rare earths" are a group of 17 chemically similar elements that are crucial to the manufacture of many high-tech products. Most are abundant in nature, but they are known as "rare" because it is very unusual to find them in a pure form, and they are very hazardous to extract. Although you may not be familiar with the names of these rare earths - like Neodymium, Yttrium and Europium - you will be very familiar with the products that they are used in. For instance, Neodymium is used to make the powerful magnets used in loudspeakers, computer hard drives, EV motors and jet engines that enable them to be smaller and more efficient. Yttrium and Europium are used to manufacture television and computer screens because of the way they display colours. "Everything you can switch on or off likely runs on rare earths," explains Thomas Kruemmer, Director of Ginger International Trade and Investment. Rare earths are also critical to the production of medical technology like laser surgery and MRI scans, as well as key defence technologies.

What does China control?

China has a near monopoly on extracting rare earths as well as on refining them - which is the process of separating them from other minerals. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that China accounts for about 61% of rare earth production and 92% of their processing.

That means it currently dominates the rare earths supply chain and has the capacity to decide which companies can and cannot receive supplies of rare earths. Both the extraction and processing of these rare earths are costly and polluting. All rare earth resources also contain radioactive elements, which is why many other countries, including those in the EU, are reluctant to produce them. "Radioactive waste from production absolutely requires safe, compliant, permanent disposal. Currently all disposal facilities in EU are temporary," says Mr Kruemmer. But China's dominance in the rare earth supply chain didn't take place overnight - but rather, is the result of decades of strategic government policies and investment.

Getty Images The Bayan Obo mining town in Inner Mongolia has one of the largest deposits of rare earth metals

In a visit to Inner Mongolia in 1992, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who oversaw China's economic reform, famously said: "The Middle East has oil and China has rare earths". "Beginning in the late 20th century, China prioritised the development of its rare earth mining and processing capabilities, often at lower environmental standards and labour costs compared to other nations," said Gavin Harper, a critical materials research fellow at the University of Birmingham. "This allowed them to undercut global competitors and build a near-monopoly across the entire value chain, from mining and refining to the manufacturing of finished products like magnets."

How has China restricted exports of these minerals?

In response to tariffs imposed by Washington, China earlier this month began ordering restrictions on the exports of seven rare earth minerals - most of which are known as "heavy" rare earths, which are crucial to the defence sector. These are less common and are harder to process than "light" rare earths, which also makes them more valuable. From 4 April, all companies now have to get special export licenses in order to send rare earths and magnets out of the country. That is because as a signatory to the international treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China has the ability to control the trade of "dual use products". According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this leaves the US particularly vulnerable as there is no capacity outside China to process heavy rare earths.

Getty Images A rare earth metals mine at Nancheng county in Jiangxi province

How could this impact the US?

A US Geological report notes that between 2020 and 2023, the US relied on China for 70% of its imports of all rare earth compounds and metals. This means that the new restrictions have the ability to hit the US hard. Heavy rare earths are used in many military fields such as missiles, radar, and permanent magnets. A CSIS report notes that defence technologies including F-35 jets, Tomahawk missiles and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles all depend on these minerals. It adds that this comes as China "expands its munitions production and acquires advanced weapons systems and equipment at a pace five to six times faster than the United States". "The impact on the US defence industry will be substantial," said Mr Kroemmer. And it's not only in the field of defence. US manufacturing, which Trump has said he hopes to revive through the imposition of his tariffs, stand to be severely impacted. "Manufacturers, particularly in defence and high-tech, face potential shortages and production delays due to halted shipments and limited inventories," said Dr Harper.

Getty Images Rare earth metals are required for making magents that are a key compnent in the engines of electric vehicles

"Prices for critical rare earth materials are expected to surge, increasing the immediate costs of components used in a wide range of products, from smartphones to military hardware," he says, adding that this could result in potential production slowdowns for affected US companies. If such a shortage from China persists in the long-run, the US could potentially begin diversifying its supply chains and scaling up its domestic and processing capabilities, though this would still require "substantial and sustained investment, technological advancements and potentially higher overall costs compared to the previous dependence on China". And it's clear this is something already on Trump's mind. This week, he ordered an investigation into the national security risks posed by the US' reliance on such critical minerals. "President Trump recognises that an overreliance on foreign critical minerals and their derivative products could jeopardise US defence capabilities, infrastructure development, and technological innovation," said the order. "Critical minerals, including rare earth elements, are essential for national security and economic resilience."

Can't the US produce its own rare earths?

As the trade war continues to escalate, China has hit back at Trump by suspending exports of rare earth minerals.

Why China curbing rare earth exports is a huge blow to the US

Gold hits new record over US-China trade war fears

The precious metal is viewed as a safer asset for investors during times of economic uncertainty.

The rise follows comments by the head of US central bank who said President Donald Trump's tariff policies are likely to mean slower growth, higher prices and unemployment risks.

Spot gold touched $3,357.40 (£2,540) per ounce on Wednesday, before dipping from its peak. It has risen by around a third since the start of the year.

Gold has jumped to a fresh high as investors fret over the impact of the trade war between the US and China.

At the Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said higher-than-expected tariffs announced in recent weeks could result in slowing US economic growth and rising prices for consumers.

Mr Powell gave his speech after a period of turmoil on global financial markets as investors reacted to the new import taxes coming into effect and the escalating trade war between the US and China.

Gold is in "full lifeboat mode" as it has become "the most crowded trade on the planet," said Stephen Innes, head of trading and market strategy at SPI Asset Management.

"The dollar is stumbling under the weight of trade-policy whiplash, and portfolio managers have lost faith in anything that involves political discretion," he added.

Analysts have compared this year's gold rally to the Iranian Revolution more than four decades ago, when prices jumped by almost 120% from November 1979 to January 1980.

Gold crossed $3,000 an ounce for the first time last month as uncertainty over the impact of a global trade war set in.

Jesper Koll from advisory firm Monex Group said investors have flocked to gold as "a trust hedge against both inflation and government recklessness".

"Everyone is looking for 'real' assets. It's increasingly clear that Team Trump's 'move fast and break things' approach to policy making will not change," he added.

The introduction of tariffs by the Trump administration, which are taxes charged on businesses importing goods from overseas, has fuelled fears of inflation, which has driven investors to so-called safe haven assets like gold.

Trump has put taxes of 145% on China since he returned to the White House in January, and China has retaliated with a 125% tariff on US imports.

There is also uncertainty about whether sweeping US tariffs on a host of other countries will go into effect, after being paused for 90 days.

The Trump administration has said the measures will bring manufacturing back to the US, create jobs for American workers and generate billions of dollars of tax revenues.

Prices rose after the US Fed's chair warned tariffs could hit economic growth and fuel inflation.

Trump tariffs: Gold hits new record over US-China trade war fears

Shein and Temu warn tariffs will raise prices in US

Their popularity has put pressure on Amazon, prompting it to launch a new platform called Haul last November, featuring items for under $20 (£15.10).

The shopping sites have gained tens of millions of customers in the US, attracted by their ultra-low prices.

In almost identical statements, the rival companies said they have seen operating expenses rise "due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs", adding they will make "price adjustments" from 25 April.

Chinese online retail giants Shein and Temu have warned US customers that goods will get pricier from next week, after President Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs on goods from China.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed taxes of up to 145% on imports from China. His administration said this week that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.

Trump has also ended a duty-free exemption for goods worth less than $800, which helped Shein and Temu make rapid inroads to the US market.

US lawmakers on both sides had raised concerns about how these companies had "exploited" the provision.

An estimated 1.4 billion packages entered the US under this arrangement last year, up from 140 million in 2013, according to US customs authorities.

Since Trump started imposing the tariffs, Shein and Temu have seen the ranking of their apps fall sharply.

Temu is now the 75th most downloaded free app on the US Apple Store, after having consistently taken one of the top five spots in the last two years. Shein is in 58th place, down from number 15 last month.

But other Chinese retail apps continue to be ranked highly in the US, including DHgate in second place and Alibaba's Taobao at number seven.

Shein and Temu have also slashed their advertising spending in the US.

Temu has "turned off all their Google Shopping ads in the US" as of 9 April, Mike Ryan, head of e-commerce insights at online advertising agency Smarter Ecommerce, said on LinkedIn.

Temu's average daily US advertising spend on social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram and YouTube fell by 31% in the two weeks leading to 13 April, compared with the past month.

Shein's average daily US ad spend fell by 19% over the same period, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

In their statements, Temu and Shein encouraged customers to shop before higher prices kick in.

"We stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time.

"We're doing everything we can to keep prices low and minimize the impact on you. Our team is working hard to improve your shopping experience," the statements said.

Temu and Shein did not immediately respond to requests from the BBC for further comment.

The firms said operating expenses have risen "due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs".

Trump tariffs: Shein and Temu warn US import taxes will push up prices

Tesla whistleblower wins legal battle against Elon Musk

55 minutes ago Share Save Graham Fraser Technology reporter Share Save

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A Tesla whistleblower who has fought Elon Musk and his company through the courts for years has won the latest round of a long-running legal battle. Engineer Cristina Balan lost her job after she raised a safety concern in 2014 about a design flaw which could affect the cars' braking. Her defamation claim against the firm seemed to have run out of road when a judge confirmed an arbitration decision dismissing her case - but a panel of appeal judges in California has reversed this decision in her favour. She told BBC News she now wants to face Elon Musk and Tesla in open court. Tesla has not responded to a request for comment.

Ms Balan said she believes the case will now in effect go back to square one, and new proceedings can be launched. "We are hoping we will start a new lawsuit and we will have the chance to take on Elon Musk in front of a jury and judge," she said. The engineer was once so prominent at Tesla that her initials were engraved on the batteries inside Model S vehicles. In an interview with BBC News last year, she said she is determined to prove her innocence for the sake of her son. She also revealed she was in remission from stage-3B breast cancer, and her biggest worry was she may not live to see her final day in court.

Cristina Balan Cristina Balan finishing her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer

Ms Balan claimed she was worried the carpets were curling underneath some pedals in Tesla models, creating a safety hazard. She said managers rebuffed her concerns, became hostile, and she lost her job. She then won a wrongful dismissal case - but this turned out to be the start of a long journey through the courts. Ms Balan was publicly accused by Tesla of using its resources for a "secret project" - accusations which amount to embezzlement, a crime under US law. She has consistently denied the accusation, and decided to bring a defamation case against the firm in 2019. "I want to clear my name," she told BBC News last year. "I wish Elon Musk had the decency to apologise."

Cristina Balan The initials CB on a Tesla Model S battery, following Cristina Balan's design input

Engineer Cristina Balan raised a safety concern about a design flaw which could affect the cars' braking in 2014.

Tesla whistleblower wins legal battle against Elon Musk

Brazilian butt lift ads banned by UK regulator

19 hours ago Share Save Michelle Roberts Digital health editor, BBC News Share Save

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Adverts from six companies selling liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs) have been banned in the UK for trivialising the risks and exploiting women's insecurities around body image. All of them appeared on Facebook or Instagram and used time-limited deals to "irresponsibly pressurise" customers into booking, says the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). One ad, for example, tried to entice customers with an "exclusive opportunity" to get a "perfect peachy look". Liquid BBLs involve injecting filler into the buttocks to lift them and make them look bigger or rounded.

The ASA says because of the risks involved, cosmetic surgery should be portrayed as a decision that needs time and thought, rather than urgency to book quickly and grab a deal. Clinics must be socially responsible and should not trivialise procedures or play on consumers' insecurities, it says. One ad said: "Get the curves and contours you've always wanted with our safe and effective body filler treatments. Feel confident every step of the way! Safe, proven, and beautifully natural results." Another claimed a 0% infection rate at its sterile clinic, with minimal pain. The ASA says liquid BBLs would carry some level of risk to the patient, such as infections. It adds: "Marketers must not suggest that happiness or wellbeing depends on conforming to a particular body shape or physical appearance."

The advertising watchdog says it has been using AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules. Three of the clinics - Beautyjenics, Bomb Doll Aesthetics and Ccskinlondondubai -did not respond to the ASA's inquiries. Rejuvenate Clinics said it has reviewed ASA guidance and will remove all references to time-limited offers and state in ads that the surgery is carried out by a medical professional with ultrasound, to minimise risks and enhance safety. EME Aesthetics said all its clients are given a full consultation and are under no obligation to book any procedures, and it therefore considers that its ad had not pressured consumers or trivialised the risks of cosmetic procedures. Dr Ducu said it will ensure it follows the ASA's rules and guidance, that the time-limited Black Friday offer was intended to provide consumers with an opportunity to access the company's services at a discounted rate, and it always encourages consumers to make informed decisions without pressure.

Liquid BBL facts

The ads used time-limited deals to "irresponsibly pressurise" customers into booking, says the Advertising Standards Authority.

Brazilian butt lift ads banned by UK regulator

Spotify 'back and functioning normally' after global outage

Downdetector, which tracks problems with online services, showed 20,000 people reported Spotify was not working at around 13:30 GMT Wednesday.

Spotify has not explained what caused the problems, but it had earlier said reports of a "security hack" were "completely inaccurate".

The firm said the the platform was now "back up and functioning normally".

Spotify says it has fixed an outage that left tens of thousands users around the world unable to stream music on the app.

Spotify says it has more than 675 million users worldwide.

During the outage users reported they were still able to play music they had downloaded onto their device, however they were unable to view artists or use the search function on the app.

After trying to search for music, the app appeared to time out and displayed a message reading "something went wrong" with a refresh button.

"We're aware of some issues right now and are checking them out," the firm wrote on social media in response to rising complaints from users.

On social media a number of users told the company they were unhappy with the outage, and the impact the loss of music was having.

One urged the platform to hurry up and fix the issue as they were at the gym, while another pleaded for a quick fix as the loss of music was disrupting their revision.

More significantly, some said they would switch to rival streaming platforms such as YouTube or Apple Music.

Downdetector, which tracks platforms, showed more than 20,000 people reported Spotify was not working on Wednesday.

Spotify 'back and functioning normally' after global outage

US tariffs will make global trade shrink, says WTO

2 hours ago Share Save Charlotte Edwards Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

EPA WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called US-China relations "really worrying" at a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has forecast that global trade will fall this year because of US President Donald Trump's tariffs. It added "severe downside risks", including reciprocal tariffs and political uncertainty, could lead to an even sharper decline in global goods trade. "The decline is expected to be particularly steep in North America," the WTO said, forecasting trade to drop by more than a tenth in that region. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO director general, called the "decoupling" of the US and China "a phenomenon that is really worrying to me".

The WTO previously expected global goods trade to expand by 2.7% in 2025 but it now forecasts it will fall by 0.2%. Chief economist Ralph Ossa said: "Tariffs are a policy lever with wide-ranging, and often unintended consequences. "Our simulations show that trade policy uncertainty has a significant dampening effect on trade flows, reducing exports and weakening economic activity," he added. Also on Wednesday, the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, released its own report which forecasts global growth to slow to 2.3% in 2025 due to escalating trade tensions and uncertainty. It said the projection was below "the 2.5% threshold widely viewed as signalling a global recession".

Some regions could still see trade growth

Getty Images

A baseline tariff of 10% on almost all foreign imports to the US kicked in on 5 April, although some countries and goods are exempt. China has a much higher tariff, which now totals 145% on most goods. The US stock market slid on opening on Wednesday with the big indexes falling amid the ongoing uncertainty. Despite the prediction of plunging trade with the US, the WTO expects some regions will still see trade growth. It said Asia and Europe were still projected to post modest growth in both exports and imports this year. "The collective contribution to world trade growth of other regions would also remain positive," the WTO report said. For the first time, the report contains a forecast for services trade - which is when countries buy and sell services to each other instead of goods. This is common in industries such as tourism or finance where nothing physical is shipped but a service is provided. The WTO forecasts services trade to grow by 4% in 2025, which is around one percentage point less than expected.

Trump's tariff announcements and climbdowns

The Geneva-based institution says American tariffs will send international trade into reverse.

Donald Trump's tariffs will make global trade shrink, says WTO

UK bans EU cheese and meat imports to prevent disease spreading

34 minutes ago Share Save Tom Espiner Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

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The UK government has brought in a temporary ban on holidaymakers bringing in cheese and meat products from the EU in a bid to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Travellers have not been allowed to bring back items such as cured meat and cheese, including in sandwiches, since Saturday due to the growing outbreak on the continent. The restrictions apply regardless of whether the goods are packed or packaged, or bought from duty free. It follows an earlier ban of similar products from Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria after rising cases of the cattle disease in those countries.

The restrictions apply to people arriving in Great Britain, not Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or the Isle of Man. Products will be seized and destroyed if people try to bring them in, and in "serious cases" people could be fined up to £5,000. The list of restricted products includes: pork beef lamb mutton goat venison other products made from these meats, for example sausages milk and dairy products like butter, cheese and yoghurt People can bring up to 2kg per person of powdered infant milk, infant food, or special food needed for medical reasons.

Foot and mouth disease is a highly infectious virus which causes blisters inside an animal's mouth and under their hooves, and can cause lameness and problems feeding. There are currently no cases of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK. The last outbreak in the UK was in 2001. Although there were only 2,000 confirmed cases, more than six million sheep, cattle and pigs were slaughtered. This is because each of those cases meant a farm having all of its livestock killed and burned. Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers Union, said the government had been "quick" to bring in the initial ban, and that the NFU was "glad" the government was now extending it. He said that "stricter border controls are essential" to contain the disease. Mr Bradshaw called for "a comprehensive cross-government biosecurity plan with the necessary investment behind it, and which would place these restrictions on a permanent legislative footing".

People coming into Great Britain can no longer bring cured meats or cheese from the EU following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

UK bans EU cheese and meat imports to prevent disease spreading

China appoints new trade envoy in face of tariff turmoil

5 hours ago Share Save Suranjana Tewari Asia Business Reporter Reporting from Singapore Share Save

Getty Images Li Chenggang is a former World Trade Organisation and UN representative

China has unexpectedly appointed a new trade envoy, as officials said the US's practice of "tariff barriers and trade bullying" is having a serious impact on the global economic order. Li Chenggang, a former assistant commerce minister and WTO ambassador, is taking over from veteran trade negotiator Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen. The shift comes as Beijing refuses to back down in an escalating trade war with Washington triggered by US President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on Chinese goods. China's already sluggish economy is bracing for the impact on a key source of revenue - exports.

Beijing announced on Wednesday its GDP grew by 5.4% between January and March, compared with the same period a year earlier. The figure has exceeded expectations but reflects the period before US tariffs jumped from 10% to 145%, and Chinese officials warned of more economic pain ahead. While both Washington and Beijing have said they are open to negotiating, neither have made a move to do so yet. When that happens, Li, 58, will play a key role. He previously served as a deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and has held several key jobs in the commerce ministry. Speaking to Reuters, one expert said the change in jobs was "very abrupt and potentially disruptive" given the current trade tensions - adding that Wang also had experience negotiating with US since the first Trump administration. "It might be that in the view of China's top leadership, given how tensions have continued escalating, they need someone else to break the impasse... and finally start negotiating," said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior adviser to the Conference Board's China Centre. However, another analyst who spoke to Reuters suggested the move could just be a "routine promotion" that just happened to come at a particularly tense period in time.

The US should 'stop whining'

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Sheng Laiyun, deputy commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) warned that US levies would put pressure on China's foreign trade and economy, but added that China's economy is resilient and should improve in the long term. "We firmly oppose the US practice of tariff barriers and trade bullying," said Sheng. "It violates the economic laws and the principles of the World Trade Organization, has a serious impact on the world economic order, and drags down the recovery of the world economy." In an editorial by state news outlet China Daily earlier this week, the outlet described the US's behaviour as "capricious and destructive", adding that it should "stop whining about itself being a victim in global trade". "The US is not getting ripped off by anybody...rather... [it] has been taking a free ride on the globalisation train," the editorial went on to say.

Getty Images Retail sales were up in March as policies to boost economy took hold

Promising growth - but will it last?

The shift comes as Beijing refuses to back down in an escalating trade war with Washington.

China appoints new trade envoy in face of tariff turmoil

Prices in the UK rose by 2.6% in the 12 months to March, less than in the previous month but still above the Bank of England's target.

The Bank moves interest rates up and down to try to keep inflation at 2%, and has cut three times since August 2024.

It has warned that it expects inflation to rise again in 2025.

The rate at which prices are rising remains above the Bank of England's 2% inflation target.

UK inflation rate: How quickly are prices rising?

EY faces investigation over Post Office Horizon audit

3 hours ago Share Save Charlotte Edwards Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

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Accounting giant EY is being investigated over its audits of the Post Office in relation to the Horizon scandal from March 2015 to March 2018. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK's accounting regulator, said it will check whether EY met its standards "with particular reference to matters related to the Horizon IT system". The software developed by Fujitsu was at the heart of the Post Office scandal that saw hundreds of postmasters wrongly convicted. EY said it takes its responsibilities "extremely seriously" and will be "fully cooperating" with the FRC.

The Post Office declined to comment. The news of the investigation comes as sub-postmaster campaigners Lee Castleton, Seema Misra, and Chris Head will be made OBEs at Windsor castle on Wednesday. More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system. It has been called the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice. The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015.

The UK accounting regulator says it will look at whether EY met accounting standards.

Accounting giant EY faces investigation over Post Office Horizon audit

Food bank cuts staff due to funding shortage

3 hours ago Share Save Stuart Whincup BBC Look North Share Save

BBC King’s Food Bank is having to downscale despite an increase in demand

A food bank which provides thousands of free meals to struggling families each week said it had been forced to make most of its staff redundant due to a funding shortage. King's Foodbank, which operates out of King’s Church in Darlington and is funded by donations, provided more than 125,000 free meals to people last year. Michael Coltman from the church said an increase in demand for the service due to the cost of living crisis meant it no longer had enough money to pay four of its five staff members. He said: “It’s sad when you’re forced into a decision based on finances, not because the need has dried up.”

Mr Coltman said the service, which is open to the public, would have to be scaled down. He said food parcels would have to go to those most in need who had been referred by social services, doctors or charities. “We‘ve had to make change to the service we provide to people in need, based on finances and because we don’t have the provision to do it," he said.

Michael Coltman says the church is committed to keeping the service running

Manager Caroline Todd said the vast majority of people who had been accessing the service had “no other choice”. She said: ''We see proud people coming here in tears. That’s just what absolutely breaks my heart, that people don’t want to access a food bank.“ “This is their last port of call.” Staff said demand for the service had increased year on year, with many working families needing help with the cost of living. Mr Coltman said the church was committed to keeping the service running in some capacity. He said: ''People in Darlington have been so kind and generous over the years and I'd ask if they could continue with their fantastic support as we try to provide for those in the most need.”

The food bank in Darlington says it can no longer afford to pay four out of five of its staff.

Darlington food bank forced to cut staff amid funding shortage

UK inflation rate has fallen. Here's why it won't last long

2 hours ago Share Save Kevin Peachey Cost of living correspondent Share Save

Getty Images

The rate of rising prices - inflation - has eased for the second month in a row, official figures show. In March, prices rose at an annual rate of 2.6%, far slower than the 11% inflation peak seen in 2022. Petrol and toy prices have fallen, a relief for drivers and parents, while food prices are unchanged. However, this data is for last month, and analysts suggest it is the "calm before a storm". Exact predictions are difficult, but here are three key areas where inflation is expected to rise.

1. April's bills and costs

A host of household bills went up at the start of April, on top of continued rent rises. They included utilities such as domestic energy and water. Council tax also rose significantly for millions of people, and there were hikes for many on phone and broadband contracts, as well as the TV licence. For businesses, the rise in employer National Insurance contributions in April may have led them to immediately put up their prices. Some of these increased costs will feed into the next set of inflation data published in May. As a result, analysts think this will see the inflation rate quickly climb over 3% (remember the government and Bank of England's target is 2%). After that, there's significant uncertainty. Commentators suggest inflation may not stay as high, for as long, as previously thought, for reasons we'll come to next.

2. The Donald Trump tariffs effect

The rollercoaster ride of US tariff policy has dominated the headlines and airwaves in the last few weeks. The US president announced taxes on goods imported into the US from around the world, then rowed back or delayed many, but doubled down on Chinese imports. Some countries have hit back with tariffs of their own; others - such as the UK - are trying to negotiate. We are in relatively unknown territory in modern economics and the picture seems to change almost every day, so predictions have to be taken with a large dose of salt. In theory, when tariffs are announced, and retaliation comes, then higher taxes all round will make goods more expensive for consumers. But, particularly for the UK, things are far more nuanced. The 10% tariff on UK goods imported by the US is lower than feared, and retaliation looks unlikely. Indeed, there are heightened expectations of a UK-US trade deal, rather than a trade war. So, any price rises would be limited. China is facing massive 145% tariffs on all its goods bound for the US. If that puts up barriers to the US market, it may find other places to sell its - often cheaply manufactured - products, such as the UK. A so-called dumping of cheap Chinese products in the UK will increase price competition and could slow the rate of inflation.

3. Performance of the UK economy

Growth in the UK economy has been sluggish for some time, although the latest data was more positive than many had expected. But, again connected to the issue of tariffs, there are warnings that the improvement in UK economic growth could be short-lived with some even predicting a recession. That's not good news for the government, which has made economic growth its priority. Nor is it good news for workers, whose job security becomes less stable if businesses draw back on investment and start to cut costs. No job means less money to spend. That would bring down the inflation rate, but would be small mercy to anyone who is suddenly unemployed. Alternatively, the government's drive for growth could successfully propel the economy against these headwinds. And there is even greater pressure on policymakers at the Bank of England to help boost growth by cutting interest rates, lowering the cost of borrowing for loans and mortgages. Cutting interest rates usually adds to consumer demand, and risks raising prices and the rate of inflation further from its 2% target. So the Bank's rate-setters face a delicate balancing act for the rest of the year, starting at their next meeting in May, particularly because nobody is sure how much the tightrope is going to wobble.

Economic uncertainty globally and in the UK means there are conflicting forces at play with prices.

UK inflation rate has fallen. Here's why it won't last long

UK inflation falls as price of petrol comes down

15 minutes ago Share Save Faarea Masud BBC Business reporter Share Save

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Falling petrol prices drove UK inflation down by more than expected in the year to March. Inflation was 2.6%, down from a rate of 2.8% in February, according to official data. But the fall may only be temporary as analysts say it's expected to spike from April as rising bills and higher business costs take hold. "The only significant offset came from the price of clothes which rose strongly this month," said Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The inflation decrease was also driven by a drop in recreation and culture prices, with toys, games, and hobbies falling particularly sharply. Wages continue to outpace inflation with salary raises for public sector workers growing more than those in the private sector. The average rise in wages was 5.9%, data released by the ONS on Tuesday showed.

Inflation falls in the year to March as the price of petrol drops.

UK inflation falls as price of petrol drops

'This is so hard': The Chinese small businesses brought to a standstill by Trump's tariffs

9 hours ago Share Save Laura Bicker China correspondent Reporting from Guangzhou Share Save

The BBC's Laura Bicker: ''A number of businesses in limbo'' in China, after US tariffs on imports

"Trump is a crazy man," says Lionel Xu, who is surrounded by his company's mosquito repellent kits – many were once best sellers in Walmart stores in the United States. Now those products are sitting in boxes in a warehouse in China and will remain there unless President Donald Trump lifts his 145% tariffs on all Chinese goods bound for the US. "This is so hard for us," he adds. Around half of all products made by his company Sorbo Technology are sold to the US. It is a small company by Chinese standards and has around 400 workers in Zhejiang province. But they are not alone in feeling the pain of this economic war. "We are worried. What if Trump doesn't change his mind? That will be a dangerous thing for our factory," says Mr Xu.

Nearby, Amy is helping to sell ice cream makers at her booth for the Guangdong Sailing Trade Company. Her key buyers, including Walmart, are also in the US. "We have stopped production already," she says. "All the products are in the warehouse." It was the same story at nearly every booth in the sprawling Canton Fair in the trading hub of Guangzhou. When the BBC speaks to Mr Xu, he is getting ready to take some Australian buyers to lunch. They have come looking for a bargain and hope to drive down the price. "We will see," he says about the tariffs. He believes Trump will back down. "Maybe it will get better in one or two months," Mr Xu adds with his fingers crossed. Maybe, maybe..."

Rachel Yu/ BBC The US and China have both slapped high tariffs on each other

Last week, President Trump temporarily paused the vast majority of tariffs after global stock markets tumbled, and a sell-off in the US bond market. But he kept the import levies targeted at Chinese goods being shipped to the US. Beijing responded by imposing its own 125% levies on American imports. This has bewildered traders from more than 30,000 businesses who have come to the annual fair to show off their goods in several exhibition halls the size of 200 football pitches. In the homeware section, firms displayed everything from washing machines to tumble dryers, electric toothbrushes to juicers and waffle makers. Buyers come from all over the world to see the products for themselves and make a deal. But the cost of a food mixer or a vacuum cleaner from China with the added tariffs are now too high for most American firms to pass on the cost to their customers. The world's two largest economies have hit an impasse and Chinese goods meant for US households are piling up on factory floors. The effects of this trade war will likely be felt in kitchens and living rooms across America, who will now have to buy these goods at higher prices. China has maintained its defiant stance and has vowed to fight this trade war "until the end." It is a tone also used by some at the fair. Hy Vian, who was looking to buy some electric ovens for his firm, waved off the effects of tariffs. "If they don't want us to export – then let them wait. We already have a domestic market in China, we will give the best products to the Chinese first."

Rachel Yu/ BBC Lionel Xu says he is worried about what happens if Trump does not lift the tariffs on China

China does have a large population of 1.4 billion people and in theory this is a strong domestic market. Chinese policymakers have also been trying to stimulate more growth in a sluggish economy by encouraging consumers to spend. But it is not working. Many of the country's middle classes have invested their savings in buying the family home, only to watch their house prices slump in the last four years. Now they want to save money – not spend it. While China may be better placed to weather the storm than other countries, the reality is that it is still an export-driven economy. Last year, exports accounted for around half of the country's economic growth. China also remains the world's factory – with Goldman Sachs estimating that around 10 to 20 million people in China may be working on US-bound exports alone. Some of those workers are already feeling the pain. Not far from the Canton Fair, there are warrens of workshops in Guangdong making clothes, shoes and bags. This is the manufacturing hub for companies such as Shein and Temu. Each building houses several factories on several floors where workers will labour for 14 hours a day.

Xiqing Wang/ BBC The BBC visited a workshop in a Guangzhou village, which has changed from being export-oriented to focussing on domestic markets

On a pavement near some shoe factories, a few workers were squatting down to chat and smoke. "Things are not going well," says one, who was unwilling to give his name. His friend urges him to stop talking. Discussing economic difficulties can be sensitive in China. "We've had problems since the Covid pandemic, and now there's this trade war. I used to be paid 300-400 yuan ($40-54) a day, and now I will be lucky if I get 100 yuan a day." The worker says it is difficult to find work these days. Others making shoes on the street also told us they only earned enough to live a basic life. While some in China feel pride in their product, others feel the pain of increasing tariffs and wonder how this crisis will end. China is facing the prospect of losing a trading partner which buys more than $400bn (£302bn) worth of goods each year, but the pain will also be felt on the other side, with economists warning that the US could be heading for a recession.

Xiqing Wang/ BBC Businesses at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou said they have stopped sending goods to the US

Stock is piling up in warehouses as exporters grapple with new levies that total up to 145%, reports the BBC's China correspondent Laura Bicker.

Trump tariffs: US orders from Chinese small businesses on hold

Nvidia expects $5.5bn hit as US tightens chip export rules to China

The rules come amid an escalating trade war between the US and China, with both countries introducing steep trade tariffs on each other covering various goods.

The chip manufacturing giant, which has been at the heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, will require licences to export its H20 AI chip to China, which has been one of its most popular.

Microchip maker Nvidia said it would be hit with $5.5bn (£4.2bn) in costs after the US government tightened export rules to China.

Nvidia announced on Tuesday that the US government had told it last week that the H20 chip required a permit to be sold to China, including Hong Kong.

The tech giant said federal officials had advised them the licence requirement "will be in effect for the indefinite future".

"The [government] indicated that the license requirement addresses the risk that the covered products may be used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China," Nvidia said.

The company declined to comment further when contacted by the BBC.

Marc Einstein from the Counterpoint Research consultancy said the $5.5bn hit estimated by Nvidia was in line with his estimates.

"While this is certainly a lot of money, this is something Nvidia can bear," he said.

"But as we have seen in the last few days and weeks, this may largely be a negotiating tactic. I wouldn't be surprised to see some exemptions or changes made to tariff policy in the near future, given this not only impacts Nvidia but the entire US semiconductor ecosystem," Mr Einstein added.

Chips remain a battleground in the US-China race for tech supremacy, and US President Donald Trump now wants to turbocharge a highly complex and delicate manufacturing process that has taken other regions decades to perfect.

Nvidia's AI chips have been a key focus of US export controls. Founded in 1993, it was originally known for making the type of computer chips that process graphics, particularly for computer games.

Long before the AI revolution, it started adding features to its chips that it says help machine learning. It is now seen as a key company to watch to see how fast AI-powered tech is spreading across the business world.

The company's value took a hit in January when it was reported that a rival Chinese AI app, DeepSeek, had been built at a fraction of the cost of other chatbots.

At the time, the US was considered to have been caught off guard by their rival's technological achievement.

Nvidia said its $5.5bn charges would be associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments and related reserves.

Rui Ma, founder of the Tech Buzz China podcast, said she expects the US and China AI semiconductor supply chains to be "fully decoupled" if restrictions stay in place.

She added: "It doesn't make any sense for any Chinese customer to be dependent on US chips" especially since there is an oversupply of data centres in China.

The chip manufacturing giant, which has been at the heart of the AI boom, will require licences to export its H20 AI chip to China.

Nvidia expects $5.5bn hit as US tightens chip export rules to China

Companies have been sharing their concerns about the impact of US tariffs at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, the world's longest running import-export fair.

"We've been hearing from several Chinese companies who've told us that their products are stuck in ports here, waiting to go to the United States. The tariffs are simply too high for US buyers to afford them." "So now we have a number of businesses in limbo," reports BBC China correspondent Laura Bicker.

BBC China correspondent Laura Bicker has been speaking to companies at the world's longest running import-export fair.

'A number of businesses in limbo' in China after US tariffs on imports

How much vital UK infrastructure does China own?

2 hours ago Share Save Ben Chu & Lucy Gilder BBC Verify Share Save

Reuters

The fate of the Scunthorpe steel works has shone a fresh spotlight on Chinese investment in the UK economy with critics raising questions over potential security risks. The British Steel plant had been owned by China's Jingye Steel. But the UK government has now taken control of the Scunthorpe site, amid claims the Chinese owners were planning to permanently decommission its two blast furnaces and use its rolling mills to process imported Chinese-made metal instead. BBC Verify looks at what we know about the extent of Chinese investment in the UK economy - and how much of a concern it should be.

How much Chinese investment is there in the UK in total?

Data from the Office for National Statistics suggests total Chinese investment in the UK in 2023 amounted to about £4.3bn - a small fraction of the total £2 trillion of overseas investment in the British economy in that year. However, this is likely to be a considerable underrepresentation of the true scale of Chinese investment in the UK because the official data only includes the immediate investing country, not the ultimate source of the money - and because of a lack of transparency from Beijing when it comes to overseas ownership stakes. Independent estimates from the American Enterprise Institute think tank, using corporate reports, suggest total public and private Chinese investment in the UK between 2005 and 2024 added up to $105bn, or £82bn. This would have made Britain the third largest national destination of Chinese investment over this period, after only the US and Australia.

What have Chinese firms invested in?

There is a wide range of Chinese investment in the UK, ranging from critical energy and transport infrastructure, to stakes in private companies and football clubs. Significant Chinese investments in UK infrastructure include a 10% stake in London's Heathrow airport by the China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the Chinese state. The Hong Kong-based industrialist Li Ka-shing's investment group owns UK Power Networks, which operates electricity distribution infrastructure across London, the South East of England and the East of England. The billionaire's group also owns a 75% stake in Northumbrian Water Group, which provides water supply and sewerage in the north east of England.

There is also a large Chinese investment in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset. China General Nuclear Power Group originally had a 33.5% stake, with the rest owned by the French company EDF. But EDF reports that the Chinese company has stopped contributing additional financing to the joint project - which has been running over budget - and, as a result the Chinese stake at the end of last year had declined to 27.4%. The same Chinese company has an even larger stake - 66.5% - in the proposed Bradwell B nuclear site in Essex, according to the project website. EDF owns the rest.

China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) recently halted its funding of the Hinkley Point C nuclear site, although it still has stakes in the project.

How much of a threat could these investments pose?

The potential danger posed by Chinese investment in UK infrastructure has been extensively debated in recent years - and a particular flashpoint was the involvement of the Shenzhen-based Chinese technology company Huawei in building the UK's 5G communications infrastructure. Huawei was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese army officer, in 1987. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre initially judged in 2019 that any risk posed by Huawei was manageable. But the UK, nevertheless, required the Chinese company to begin pulling out of the UK's telecoms infrastructure in 2020, after coming under pressure from the US government during Donald Trump's first term as President. The involvement of Huawei in UK networks was also opposed by a number of MPs.

Getty Images Huawei began to be removed from the UK's telecoms infrastructure in 2020.

BBC Verify looks at what we know about the extent of Chinese investment in the UK economy.

How much vital UK infrastructure does China own?

Parents 'punished' by highest childcare costs in Britain

8 hours ago Share Save Bethan Lewis Education & family correspondent, BBC Wales News Sanjana Idnani BBC News Share Save

BBC Katie Bromley, a mum of three, says the cost of childcare means she is not able to return to work

Families in Wales are being "punished" by childcare bills for under-twos that are more than double the average of those in England, Oxfam Cymru has said. Parents in Wales with children who are under two do not receive any government help with childcare costs, whereas in England parents can claim 15 hours of free childcare a week for children aged between nine months and two years. Children's charity Coram said nursery costs for under-twos were now more expensive in Wales than anywhere else in Great Britain. The Welsh government said it had invested more than £100m a year to sustain and grow high quality childcare.

According to a survey by Coram, the cost of a part-time (25 hours per week) nursery place for a child under two in Wales is now £155. In England, the cost of a part-time place - once the funded hours are taken into account - has fallen to £70. "These are bills that many families simply cannot afford - and risk keeping parents locked out of the workplace," said Lydia Hodges, head of Coram Family and Childcare. Sarah Rees, head of Oxfam Cymru, said the data showed families in Wales were "really being punished in comparison to the offers being provided to families who need childcare in England". "People in England have access to childcare support for younger children – from nine months onwards – and that means their bills are practically half of what bills are for families in Wales."

'Childcare costs have gone up'

The cost of childcare is why mum-of-three Katie Bromley feels she is not in a position to go back to work. "Childcare costs have gone up," said Ms Bromley, who was with her one-year-old daughter at a Salvation Army baby and parent group in Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, while her two older children were at school. "Even with my husband working full-time every day it's still expensive and hard to get back into work. "If I had more support I would definitely be looking for a job... so I can get a bit more freedom and find a job that could help me get back out there."

Parents in Wales should have help towards childcare costs from nine months, according to mum-of-three Ffion Ryan

Mum-of-three Ffion Ryan said it was a "struggle" until children turned three, after which parents can claim financial help with childcare costs wherever they live in Wales. "We're expected to go back to work after nine months and obviously it's a long time from then until three and that's when you need the help really," said Ms Ryan, a teacher from Llansannan in Conwy county who is currently on maternity leave. Ms Ryan said she believed financial support towards childcare should be available at the point that maternity pay ends. In the UK, statutory maternity pay ends at 39 weeks, or roughly nine months. "If you're asking women to go back to work after nine months, then the help should be there," said Ms Ryan.

What childcare help is there for parents?

In England, working parents of children between nine months and two years can claim 15 hours of free childcare a week, which will be expanded to 30 hours for all under-fives from September 2025. However, some childcare providers in England have expressed concerns about rising costs, leading to fears over a shortage of spaces. In Wales, funded childcare is available for children aged two, three and four. Under the Childcare Offer, parents and guardians of three and four-year-old children can claim up to 30 hours of free childcare each week, for up to 48 weeks of the year. The Flying Start programme provides 12.5 hours of free childcare to two-year-olds in eligible areas. It is being rolled out gradually to all two-year-olds, prioritising the most disadvantaged. Oxfam Cymru said it should be rolled out "much quicker" and that only 60% of families with two-year-olds had access to it so far. But nursery owner Lisa Owen said she did not believe the childcare system could support free care for children from nine months, even though she agreed with the principle.

Nursery owners like Lisa Owen are warning the sector is facing higher costs, with no option but to increase charges

Ms Owen said the money which providers received from the Welsh government for delivering the Childcare Offer did not meet costs and had an impact on parents' bills. "All of our costs have gone up," said Ms Owen, owner of Chuckles nursery in Newport. "We have staff ratios to maintain so when costs go up, the only thing we can do is put charges up. "The Childcare Offer unfortunately underfunds so we're losing money. To try to recoup those costs we've had to put our overall rates up which has a massive impact on the children two years and under." She said the increase to nurseries' National Insurance bills added to problems. "We're losing money hand over fist every day," she said, warning some settings were at risk of closing.

Getty Images Wales is the most expensive place in Great Britain for childcare for under-twos, according to Coram

Childcare costs for parents of under-twos in Wales are more expensive than anywhere else in Britain.

Childcare costs: Parents in Wales 'punished' with highest bills

China's Xi urges Vietnam to oppose 'bullying' as Trump mulls more tariffs

4 hours ago Share Save Annabelle Liang Business reporter Share Save

Getty Images Xi started his South East Asia trip in Vietnam

China's President Xi Jinping has called on Vietnam to oppose "unilateral bullying" to upkeep a global system of free trade - though he stopped short of naming the US. It comes as Xi is on a so called "charm offensive" trip across South East Asia, which will also see him visit Malaysia and Cambodia. Though the trip was long-planned, it has taken on heightened significance in the wake of a mounting trade war between the US and China. Vietnam was facing US tariffs of up to 46% before the Trump administration issued a 90-day pause last week. US President Donald Trump called Xi's meeting with Vietnamese leaders a ploy to figure out how to "screw the United States of America".

According to state media outlet Xinhua, Xi told Vietnam's Communist Party Secretary-General To Lam to "jointly oppose unilateral bullying". "We must strengthen strategic resolve... and uphold the stability of the global free trade system as well as industrial and supply chains," he said. Stephen Olson, a former US trade negotiator, said Xi's comments were "a very shrewd tactical move". "While Trump seems determined to blow up the trade system, Xi is positioning China as the defender of rules-based trade, while painting the US as a reckless rogue nation," he added. Speaking to reporters in the Oval office on Monday, Trump said he does not "blame" China or Vietnam but alleged that they were focused on how to harm the US. "That's a lovely meeting. Meeting like, trying to figure out, how do we screw the United States of America?" said Trump. The world's two largest economies are locked in an escalating trade battle, with the Trump administration putting tariffs of 145% on most Chinese imports earlier this month. Beijing later responded with its own 125% tariffs on American products coming into China. On Saturday, a US customs notice revealed smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices would be excluded from the 125% tariff on goods entering the country from China. But Trump later chimed in on social media saying there was no exemption for these products and called such reports about this notice false. Instead, he said that "they are just moving to a different tariff 'bucket'".

A 'golden opportunity' for Xi

Trump called Xi's meeting with Vietnamese leaders a ploy to figure out how to 'screw' the US.

China's Xi urges Vietnam to oppose 'bullying' as Trump mulls more tariffs

A UK-US deal sounds good but it is all about the detail

US Vice-President JD Vance said there was a "good chance" a trade deal could be reached with the UK, suggesting it would be easier to land than with other European countries due to "a much more reciprocal relationship".

UK business and trade minister Sarah Jones welcomed Vance's comments and said talks to secure a deal with the US were ongoing, but declined to provide a timeline on their progress.

"Nobody wants tariffs. No one wants a tariff war. We want to secure a deal with the US," she added.

The real question about positive comments by Vice-President JD Vance and Jones about a UK-US trade deal, is what they actually mean by the term "deal".

Just after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's visit to the White House in February, it was rather telling that the UK delegation referred to what was being negotiated as an "economic deal".

This was meant to show that this "deal" was not about an extensive free trade agreement, covering nearly all goods.

In Trump's first term, negotiations between the UK and US progressed fairly well up until the point controversial issues about medicine pricing and food standards emerged.

Trump's team told me back then that they were waiting to see how close the UK would remain to European Union rules after Brexit.

This time around, the "deal" seems to have been about science, technology and artificial intelligence cooperation in return for avoiding tariffs.

The US has wanted to talk about the UK's "tech tax" on mainly US digital companies, and has raised issues about the Online Safety Act.

However, there is a big problem now.

The US has now levied a 10% tax on UK imports as part of what it called its "reciprocal tariffs".

But there is no general problem with this trading relationship. In fact, the UK buys more from the US than the other way around.

The mood music from Washington is that this 10% tariff is not for negotiation with anyone. That is the baseline tariff that has been levied on nearly all of America's trading partners.

Making an exception for one country would simply invite significant trade diversion.

Britain is being taxed by US despite having no trade deficit but the UK may have some leverage.

A UK-US deal sounds good but it is all about the detail

Finland's bid to win Europe's start-up crown

8 hours ago Share Save Maddy Savage BBC News, Helsinki Share Save

Maria 01 Maria 01 plans to become the biggest start-up campus in Europe

Yellow diggers are shoring up mounds of earth, as construction workers prepare to lay the foundations for what's set to become the largest start-up campus in Europe. The project is an expansion of Maria 01, a co-working and event space for entrepreneurs and investors, as well as larger corporations that want to collaborate with tech start-ups. Its existing facilities across the street already house around 240 start-ups. They are spread across six buildings that used to make up the city's first hospital, founded in the 19th Century and notorious in Helsinki for treating patients with the plague. Now, the current 20,000 sq m site is a hub for companies developing innovative health technologies, alongside AI, cybersecurity, gaming and defence tech start-ups. "The whole place is really based on community," says Maria 01's CEO Sarita Runeberg. "We bring people together so they can network… and find different kinds of resources to grow their businesses." There are also office perks including a pool table, table football, running and ice bathing clubs, and in true Finnish-style, a sauna. "We wouldn't be a proper start-up hub if we didn't have our own sauna here!" laughs Ms Runeberg.

Maddy Savage Sarita Runeberg is overseeing the big expansion of Maria 01

While co-working spaces for tech companies are well established across the Nordics, Maria 01 is the largest of its kind in the region. It is run as a not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the city of Helsinki, which has invested more than €6m ($6.7m; £5.2m) in the hub since its launch in 2016. Ms Runeberg believes it will become the biggest start-up campus in Europe following the completion of three new buildings by 2028, adding a 50,000 sqm floor area. Later this year it is launching an accelerator programme designed to support and guide high-growth start-ups. The hub's current and former members have already collectively raised over €1bn in funding. This represents around 40% of all early stage funding raised annually by Finnish start-ups. Ruben Byron is the Belgian co-founder of a start-up offering cloud services to AI developers. He has already scaled his business from a handful of staff using the hub's hot desks to a team of around 40 working from private offices in the former hospital, as well as remotely. "That has been a great experience, that we've kind of been able [to] be nurtured here in a way," he says.

Maddy Savage Ruben Byron has grown his company to 40 staff at the Helsinki start-up hub

Although not as mature – or well known globally – as other European start-up hubs like Sweden and the UK, Finland has been steadily making a name for itself in the tech scene over the last two decades. The small Nordic nation, which has a population of around 5.6 million, has spawned 12 unicorn businesses – firms worth a billion dollars or more – including sleep and fitness tracking ring Oura, game developers Supercell, Rovio (the creators of the Angry Birds game), and food delivery platform Wolt. Last year, Startup Blink, a global index mapping more than 100 countries ranked Finland's start-up ecosystem the 7th best in western Europe, and 14th in the world. The index cites factors including hubs like Maria 01, alongside high levels of state and university support, and Slush - a huge annual non-profit gathering for global start-ups and investors. It also highlights Finland's transparent and open business culture. "There is an authenticity with the Finns," says Jack Parker, a Helsinki-based founder originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, who runs a healthcare innovation start-up. "Ego doesn't really play a part. So if I reach out to somebody, it's quite likely eight out of 10 times that they will respond."

Maddy Savage British entrepreneur Jack Parker says Finns have been very welcoming

Finland's right-wing coalition, which came into power in 2023, is on a mission to push the country even further up global indices, stating in its official government programme that it wants the Nordic nation to become a leader in fostering a dynamic start-up and growth company ecosystem. "It's not just about rankings," says Marjo Ilmari, who runs the start-up services team at Business Finland, the government agency that promotes investment and innovation. In 2024 Business Finland alone invested €112m in start-ups, an increase of 30% compared to the previous year. "The real goal is to create an environment where our ground-breaking start-ups can emerge and really tackle global challenges." The agency hopes this will help drive growth in the Finnish economy, which went into recession in 2023 and is currently making a sluggish recovery, with the Bank of Finland forecasting an increase of less than 1% this year.

The country is also trying to attract more global talent by offering start-up permits for international founders who want to grow their businesses in Finland. These entrepreneurs are eligible for a so-called soft-landing support package provided by Business Finland. "They give you advice, support, sometimes grants to support the initiation phase," explains Lalin Keyvan, a Turkish-born entrepreneur at Maria 01 who says the scheme was one of the main reasons why she relocated to Helsinki. Business Finland's marketing campaigns for would-be movers highlight social and lifestyle factors too: Finns tend to prioritise wellbeing, plus there's free education and subsidised healthcare and childcare. "You don't really have to choose between building a high-growth company and enjoying life, because you can do both," says Ms Ilmari.

Getty Images Business Finland highlights lifestyle reasons for choosing Helsinki

But whether all this is enough for Finland to compete with Europe's more established start-up hubs is up for debate. Data suggests it still has a long way to go to catch up with neighbouring Sweden, long the Nordic darling of the European start-up scene. It is home to more than 40 unicorn businesses including Spotify, payments platform Klarna and game developer King. In Startup Blink's ecosystem ranking Sweden ranks second in Europe after the UK, and top in the EU. In the last decade it has attracted more than $29bn in funding compared to just over $8bn in Finland, according to the annual State of European Tech report by investment company Atomico. "I love Finland's bold approach," says Charlotte Ekelund, CEO of Sting, a non-profit organisation that helps develop start-ups in Stockholm. However she believes Finland is still years behind Sweden in terms of pulling in capital and developing its ecosystem. "We observe some of the things that the Finnish ecosystem is doing now, Sting was part of driving 10 or 15 years ago here - co-working spaces, [and] new organisations in the ecosystem that can support in different ways."

Helsinki wants to become a top European start-up hub, but can it challenge London and Stockholm?

Finland's bid to win Europe's start-up crown

Biggest choice of low-deposit mortgages for 17 years

8 hours ago Share Save Kevin Peachey Cost of living correspondent Share Save

Getty Images

More low-deposit mortgages are available to choose from than at any time since the financial crisis of 2008, according to new figures. The number of deals that need a deposit of 5% or 10% have risen to their highest level since then, data from financial information service Moneyfacts suggests. The extra choice is a boost for first time buyers, although house prices and mortgage rates are higher than they were for much of the last 17 years. And competition is tough, with homes typically listed for just over a month before a sale is agreed, according to separate figures from property website Zoopla show.

The UK housing market has been relatively settled in recent times, although buyers still need to navigate uncertainty over interest rates and changes to stamp duty in England and Northern Ireland.

'Flourishing choice'

For buyers able to offer a deposit of 5% of the home loan, there are 442 mortgages to choose from, according to Moneyfacts. Two years ago, the choice was from fewer than half of that total, at 204. Borrowers able to pay a 10% deposit now have 845 products to choose from, up from 684 in April 2023. However, they still have to pay a mortgage rate of well over 5% on average, while a borrower who pays a 40% deposit typically pays a rate of under 5%. It has been hard for many prospective first-time buyers to save due to the rising cost of renting in recent years. But Rachel Springall, from Moneyfacts, said there was a flourishing choice of mortgages for those whose ability to pay a deposit is stretched. "A rise in product availability for aspiring homeowners is a healthy step in the right direction," she said. However she said only 6% of all deals available to borrowers across fixed and variable mortgages had a deposit requirement of 5%, so there was still "room for improvement". Mortgage rates remain difficult to predict owing to uncertainty created by US tariff policy on the wider economy.

While securing a mortgage is one thing, buyers also need to act relatively quickly when it comes to finding a new home, data suggests. Homes in England and Wales spend an average of 36 days on the market before a sale is agreed, according to news figures from the property portal Zoopla. Sales were agreed on half of homes within two months of being listed, it said. To complete a sale, sellers and buyers will typically need another four to six months, depending on the complexity of the transaction. The fastest sales were agreed for two-bedroom homes, at an average of 23 days, while homes with four bedrooms or more typically took an extra 15 days. Homes in northern regions of England tended to sell faster than homes in the south, where prices are higher, it said. Even so, the fastest selling, with an agreed sale taking an average of 19 days, had a north-south mix, with Manchester and the London borough of Waltham Forest hitting that mark. "Households that are thinking about listing their home and moving in 2025 need to set their asking price at the right level and take the advice of local agents," said Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla. "Buyers have a lot more choice of homes for sale than a year ago. Aiming too high on the asking price is likely to impact saleability and how long you may have to wait to agree a sale." Zoopla uses a median average figure (the mid-point) for its data. It also discards homes that have been listed for more than six months, as it considers them to be unlikely to sell.

First-time buyers will welcome the greater choice although prices are still on the rise.

Biggest choice of low-deposit mortgages for 17 years

Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta in social media monopoly trial

5 hours ago Share Save Lily Jamali • @lilyjamali North America Technology Correspondent Reporting from San Francisco Share Save

Getty Images Mark Zuckerberg leaves court on Monday

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has taken the witness stand in a landmark antitrust trial to defend his company against allegations that his company operates a social media monopoly. His testimony is part of a case first brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2020 during the final days of the first Trump administration. The US competition watchdog alleges Meta unfairly dominated the market through its acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and the messaging service WhatsApp in 2014. The FTC is seeking to break up Meta by forcing a spinoff of Instagram or WhatsApp. Meta says there's plenty of competition in social media, including from apps such as TikTok, X, and YouTube.

Wearing a dark suit and light blue tie, Mr Zuckerberg was the first witness in the case on Monday at a federal court in Washington DC. The trial is expected to last for two months. The FTC pointed to a 2011 email Mr Zuckerberg sent saying: "Instagram seems like it's growing quickly." The following year, he sent another email saying the company was "so far behind that we don't even understand how far behind we are... I worry that it will take us too long to catch up". On the stand, Mr Zuckerberg defended his statements, calling the emails "relatively early" conversations about buying the app. He added that Meta had improved Instagram over the years.

Reuters The trial could last until July

Mr Zuckerberg also said he wanted to buy Instagram because of its camera technology, not because of its social network. He is expected to continue his testimony on Tuesday. The FTC says the company overpaid when it acquired Instagram for $1bn and WhatsApp for $19bn as a defensive move. "They decided that competition was too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them," said FTC lawyer Daniel Matheson in his opening statement at Monday's trial. Meta countered that the lawsuit from the FTC, which originally reviewed and approved both those acquisitions, was "misguided". Meta "acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to improve and grow them alongside Facebook", the company's attorney Mark Hansen argued. The FTC lawyer cited a 2012 memo from Mr Zuckerberg in which he discusses the importance of "neutralising" Instagram. Mr Matheson called that message "a smoking gun". Meta, on the other hand, said the purchases made the consumer experience better. "Acquisitions to improve and grow" have never been found unlawful, Meta's lead litigator, said on Monday, "and they should not be found unlawful here". Meta said last year that it had 3.27 billion daily active users across its products. Instagram was expected to account for more than half of Meta's advertising revenue in the US in 2025. according to research firm Emarketer.

Meta has been making regular overtures to Trump since his election. The company contributed $1m to Trump's inaugural fund, and has added former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) boss Dana White, a Trump ally, to Meta's board of directors this year. The company also announced in January that it was rolling back content moderation policies that Republicans said had amounted to censorship. It also agreed to pay Trump $25m to settle a lawsuit over the suspension of his accounts after the US Capitol riot in 2021. Mr Zuckerberg has also visited the White House in recent weeks. The Meta boss has lobbied Trump in person to have the FTC drop the case, according to the Wall Street Journal. When asked by the BBC to confirm that report, Meta sidestepped the question but said in a statement: "The FTC's lawsuits against Meta defies reality."

The US government is seeking to break up Meta by forcing a spinoff of Instagram or WhatsApp.

Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta in social media monopoly trial

'Good chance' of US-UK trade deal, says Vance

The unprecedented US trade policy manoeuvre included a 10% "baseline" tariff on all imports from the UK , France and other long-standing trade partners.

The global stock market has been rocked by turbulence since 2 April, after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nearly every country.

"We're certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer's government," Vance said in an interview on Monday with the UnHerd website.

US Vice-President JD Vance said there was a "good chance" a trade deal could be reached with the UK, as the dust continues to settle from America's global trade shakeup.

What are tariffs and why is Trump using them?

UK government sources have suggested that recent talks with the US on a trade deal have been making good progress. It is understood that any deal would focus on more than just lowering tariffs, and cover elements of trade in both goods and services.

In Vance's wide-ranging interview with UnHerd, he suggested a US-UK trade deal would be easier to land than with other European countries due to "a much more reciprocal relationship".

He mentioned Germany as an example of a country that exported heavily to the US but by comparison was "pretty tough on a lot of American" exports.

After Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs, stock markets across the globe took a tumble, with trillions of dollars wiped from the US Stock market in the days after.

The president has since made some exemptions, and stock markets on Monday showed signs of recovery, although they are still down on the month.

Vance said any implementation of a new system is going to make financial markets "jittery" and that Trump is committed to the tariff strategy as "a long-term play".

"What we want is to see lower trade deficits, really across the board," Vance said.

The vice-president also expressed an affinity for Europe, after disparaging remarks between him and other top US officials were leaked from a private chat.

"I love European people. I've said repeatedly that I think that you can't separate American culture from European culture," Vance said.

He also emphasised points that he and the White House have made repeatedly, saying that Europe needs to better fortify its own self defence.

"It's not in Europe's interest, and it's not in America's interest, for Europe to be a permanent security vassal of the United States," Vance said.

Vance went on to address the war in Ukraine and criticism that the US might be getting too cosy with Russia President Vladimir Putin.

He reiterated the administration's messaging that to end the war "you have to try to understand" both sides.

"That doesn't mean you morally support the Russian cause, or that you support the full-scale invasion," Vance said.

"But you do have to try to understand what are their strategic red lines, in the same way that you have to try to understand what the Ukrainians are trying to get out of the conflict," he continued.

On Sunday, Russia launched its deadliest attacks on Ukraine this year, killing at least 35 people and prompting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to invite Trump to visit his country before any deal is struck with Russia.

The Trump administration's trade policy shakeup has caused global economic turmoil.

'Good chance' of US trade deal with UK, says Vice-President Vance

Pay continues to grow in UK but faces pressure

Average UK pay rose by 5.9%, official data suggests, while vacancies fell to their lowest since before Covid.

Wage growth is slightly ahead of the previous period and was lifted by the public sector, according to Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics which published the figures.

But some economists warned that salaries will come under pressure after increases to the amount of National Insurance employers pay came into force this month at the same time as rises to the National Minimum Wage.

Meanwhile, the number of jobs on offer dropped to 781,000 in the first three months of the year, falling below pre-pandemic levels in 2020.

Average wages rose by 5.9% between December and February while vacancies shrank.

Pay continues to grow in UK but faces pressure

Supplies to be sent to Scunthorpe to keep blast furnaces going

3 hours ago Share Save Michael Race Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images

British Steel's blast furnaces are set to continue running with a delivery of enough raw materials to keep them alight for the "coming weeks" due on Tuesday, the government has said. Coking coal and iron ore from the US will be unloaded at Immingham docks and transported to the Scunthorpe site after a scramble for supplies. A separate shipment of materials is back on its way to the UK from Australia after a legal dispute over who owned the cargo was resolved between the government and British Steel's owner Jingye. The government seized control of the business over the weekend following a breakdown in talks with its Chinese owner amid accusations it was planning to switch the furnaces off.

If the furnaces were starved of fuel and went out, the UK would no longer have the capability to produce so-called virgin steel, due to the process of restarting them being extremely difficult and costly. Virgin steel-making involves iron being extracted from its original source to be purified and treated to make all types of steel used in major construction projects, such as new buildings and railways. Scunthorpe's furnaces produce molten iron by splitting rocks containing iron ore in a chemical reaction that requires intense heat. Even if the temperature of the furnaces drops too low, it can lead to permanent damage. The government said the materials from the US would be enough to keep the steel-producing furnaces running for the coming weeks and added officials were working to "get a steady pipeline of materials to keep the fire burning". The materials have been paid for by the government, but the cost has not been revealed. The plant, which employs 2,700 people, is said to be in a "far better position" as a result of the government's intervention, according to union officials. On Tuesday, the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will travel to Immingham in north east Lincolnshire where the raw materials will be unloaded and transported to British Steel. He said the government had moved "decisively" to secure the raw materials needed to "help save British Steel", adding that UK industries depended on the company.

Coking coal and iron ore from the US will keep the British Steel blast furnaces running for the coming weeks, says the government.

Supplies to be sent to Scunthorpe to keep blast furnaces going

US stock markets rise on Trump tariff rollback

1 hour ago Share Save Dearbail Jordan and Mitchell Labiak Business reporters, BBC News Share Save

Watch: US markets rise at open after turbulent week

US stock markets rose on Monday after the White House said tariffs on imports of Chinese-made smartphones and some other electronics devices would not apply. The rollback, issued early on Saturday, may end up being short-lived after President Donald Trump said these goods were simply being moved into a different tariff group or "bucket". In Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 closed up 2.1% while the main stock indexes in France and Germany both climbed. Despite the partial rebound, global stock markets are still lower than before Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs announcement on 2 April.

The main US and European stock markets suffered historic falls followed by record rises after Trump suspended many tariffs for 90 days. Most imports from China to the US had faced a levy of 145% under Trump's new trade regime. Beijing responded with its own 125% tariffs on American products coming into China. The Trump administration is expected to announce tariffs on semiconductors on Monday, and smartphones, computers and other electronic devices exempted will fall into this category. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index was up 1.7% on Monday. The S&P 500 nudged up 0.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%. Apple - which makes most of its iPhones intended for sale in the US in China - saw its share price jump 5% in early trading on Monday's before settling to 2.3% higher. Chip maker ASML and tech firm Dell also rose. "Investors were so relieved to have some good tariff news to latch onto for a change that they weren't overly concerned with the potential complications which may be coming down the line," said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell's head of financial analysis.

Getty Images

The US president exempts some Chinese goods such as smartphones from levies but says it is temporary.

US stock markets rise on Trump tariff rollback

Landmark antitrust trial could force Zuckerberg to sell Instagram

13 hours ago Share Save Lily Jamali • @lilyjamali North America technology correspondent Reporting from San Francisco Share Save

Reuters

A trial in the landmark antitrust case against social media giant Meta kicks off in Washington on Monday. The US competition and consumer watchdog alleges that Meta, which already owned Facebook, bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 to eliminate competition, effectively giving itself a monopoly. The FTC reviewed and approved those acquisitions but committed to monitor the outcomes. If the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wins the case it could force Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to sell off both Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta previously said it was sure it would win and experts have told the BBC it is likely to argue that Instagram users have had a better experience since it was taken over.

"The [FTC's] argument is the acquisition of Instagram was a way of neutralizing this rising competitive threat to Facebook," says Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a professor of antitrust at Vanderbilt Law School. Ms Allensworth says Mr Zuckerberg's own words, including those from his emails, may offer the most convincing evidence at trial. "He said it's better to buy than to compete. It's hard to get more literal than that," Ms Allensworth says. Meta, on the other hand, is likely to argue that intent is not particularly relevant in an antitrust case. "They're going to say the real question is: are consumers better off as a result of this merger?," she said. "They'll put on a lot of evidence that Instagram became what it is today because it benefited from being owned by Facebook." Mr Zuckerberg and the company's former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg are both expected to testify at the trial, which could run for several weeks.

Shifting politics

The case, FTC v Meta, was filed during US President Donald Trump's first administration but risks becoming politicized during his second term. Mr Zuckerberg has lobbied Trump in person to have the FTC drop the case, according to the Wall Street Journal. When asked by the BBC to confirm that report, Meta sidestepped the question but said in a statement: "The FTC's lawsuits against Meta defies reality." "More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the commission's action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final," a Meta spokesperson told the BBC. Relations between Mr Zuckerberg and Trump had been frosty partly because Trump was barred from Meta's social media platforms after the US Capitol riot in January 2021. Since then, the relationship has thawed somewhat. Meta contributed $1m (£764,400) to Trump's inaugural fund, and in January announced Ultimate Fighting Championship Fighter (UFC) boss Dana White, a close Trump ally, would join its board of directors. The company also announced in January that it was doing away with independent fact-checkers.

'A very clear message'

President Trump's move to fire two FTC commissioners in March also hangs over the case. As Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya were in the minority on the five-seat commission. Until Wednesday, just two seats of those seats were filled, both by Republicans. Another Republican was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday. Slaughter and Bedoya - who are suing the Trump administration to be reinstated - say the move to push them out was meant to intimidate. "The president sent a very clear signal not only to us but to Chairman Ferguson and Commissioner [Melissa] Holyoak that if they do something he doesn't like, he could fire them too," Slaughter told the BBC in a recent interview. "So if they don't want to do a favor for his political allies, they're on the chopping block as well," Slaughter said. Slaughter and Bedoya both expressed alarm at recent reports about Zuckerberg's lobbying efforts. "My hope is that there is no political interference," Mr Bedoya told the BBC.

Reuters

The FTC did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC. Ferguson, who was appointed as FTC chair by Trump, recently told The Verge he would "obey lawful orders" when asked what he would do if the president directed him to drop a lawsuit like the one against Meta. Ferguson added that he would be very surprised if anything like that ever happened. The FTC is considered a key antitrust watchdog. In recent years, it has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to victims of fraud, in addition to passing laws that ban junk fees and subscription traps. But as the Meta trial begins, it's among the many independent regulatory agencies that the administration seems keen to rein in. Chair Ferguson is also recently quoted reaffirming his belief that independent regulatory bodies are "not good for democracy."

The FTC's 'uphill battle'

The case against Facebook owner Meta alleges the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to wipe out competition.

Meta's antitrust trial could force Zuckerberg to sell Instagram

We're treated like peasants, say tenants in fight over mouldy homes

8 hours ago Share Save Meghan Owen Work and Money Correspondent, BBC London Share Save

BBC Lorraine Branch is one of the tenants battling the Peabody housing association

"We're treated like peasants. Like we're not good enough to live in decent homes," says Lorraine Branch, a tenant on the Nags Head Estate in east London. She is part of a group of tenants who have resorted to enlisting lawyers and health workers from the charity Medact, to fight against Peabody after complaining for years of damp and mould in their homes. The tenants said the Bethnal Green estate has had long-standing problems which they blame for health issues including respiratory illnesses, and claim previous repairs have only been a "quick fix" which have not resolved them. Peabody, one of England's largest housing associations, said it had "invested over £1m on improvements" in 2024 but "unfortunately, it will take time to resolve all the issues".

Lorraine has been living on the Nags Head Estate for 14 years with her four children. She said: "We've tried to gather all the tenants, door knocking, handing out leaflets, gatherings just to get people involved. "We've hired lawyers, we've had medical professionals run by a charity to help us."

'They're quick fixes'

Lorraine showed me a wall of one of the flats which was painted last summer. The wall was clearly still damp and the paint came off on her hand when she touched it. "They're quick fixes," she said. "They're not properly insulating the walls. Nothing is getting resolved," she said. "In the long term you'd think they'd put in the money to fix the problems rather than keep coming back, keep coming back. It's costing more money."

One wall in a flat, painted last summer, is so damp the paint comes off when touched

The BBC filmed in another flat with black mould in the hallway, kitchen and on the shower curtains. The carpet was wet and the flat smelt damp. The tenant, who did not want to be named, said they had reported the problems to Peabody but claimed it did not act for eight weeks. After the housing association organised washing the mould off, the problems "quickly returned", they added.

The BBC filmed at one flat on the estate which had black mould

Fatima Tejani has lived on the estate for 16 years with her family and said her respiratory problems started after she moved in. "I started to have COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], lung problems," she said. "I blame the house. "When you have health problems, you have mental health problems. Peabody has made us sick." 'When I'm out I'm fine, but when I'm inside [the flat] I start to cough. It's not normal for me."

'If we go to sleep, are we going to wake up?'

In 2024 her family was moved to temporary housing for three months whilst Peabody conducted repair work. But when the family returned they found "more difficulties than before", including condensation on the windows and damp carpets.

Fatima Tejani blames her respiratory problems on long-standing issues of mould and damp

Fatima believes the repairs were cosmetic and said they did not address the root causes of the mould and damp. "I'm really worried about the combination of water and electricity," she added. "What's going to happen? If we go to sleep, are we going to wake up?" The housing association provided them with dehumidifiers but her three children, who share a room, said it makes it difficult to sleep. Her 10-year-old son said: "I would wake up and my face - it wasn't sweating - but there was water all over my face."

'High rates of health problems'

The tenants eventually decided they would begin working with professionals at the health justice campaign charity Medact, to push for a solution. In a survey it carried out in 2024 of 37 households - about a quarter of the social tenants on the estate - 35 said they had visible mould, and 30 households said they had damp in their properties. The charity said 31 households reported new symptoms or injuries since moving into their properties, and 19 said at least one member had developed a respiratory condition.

Dr Isobel Braithwaite from Medact says the charity believes high rates of health problems on the estate are linked to mould and damp

Medact said in its opinion, these were "likely related to the widespread mould and damp on the estate". Medact's Dr Isobel Braithwaite explained: "We've seen really extensive issues with damp, mould, leaks and disrepair and we've also seen that people are reporting really high rates of health problems, particularly respiratory but also affecting mental health. "We think those things are linked."

The Peabody housing association said it has invested over £1m on improvements last year

Tracy Packer, Peabody's managing director for north-east London, said it was "an important report" which "reflects survey responses from around a quarter of homes on the estate." She said Peabody wanted to hear from all Nags Head residents to "help us shape this investment and agree where the improvements will be made". "Last year we invested over £1m on improvements here and I'm committed to designing a £3m plan with residents which I hope will make a positive difference. "Unfortunately, it will take time to resolve all the issues." She added wider issues, such as overcrowding, "continue to be a huge problem and is a major part of London's housing emergency", along with "rapidly rising costs" which means its social rented homes "cost far more to run, than the rent can cover". "This makes it an exceptionally challenging situation," she said. "But we are doing our best and are determined to improve." It comes as landlords for social housing in England will have to fix damp and mouldy properties more quickly from October, the government has announced. The rules will eventually cover private landlords as well. Campaigners called for stricter rules after two-year-old Awaab Ishak died because of mould at his Rochdale home in 2020.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk

Residents enlist health professionals and lawyers after suffering from mouldy and damp homes for years.

Tenants enlist health professionals in Peabody mouldy homes fight

Engineering giant Wood receives £242m takeover bid

1 hour ago Share Save Ken Banks BBC Scotland, Aberdeen Share Save

Wood The Wood Group board said it was minded to recommend the offer

One of Scotland's largest companies - engineering giant Wood Group - has received a £242m takeover approach. Aberdeen-headquartered Wood said Sidara, an engineering and consultancy based in Dubai, had made the offer. Wood's board of directors said they would be "minded to recommend" the deal. The company grew from the North Sea oil boom to become a global engineering contractor, operating in dozens of countries, with tens of thousands of workers.

Wood Wood is headquartered in Aberdeen

The new proposed deal comes almost a year after talks around a previous takeover approach from Sidara collapsed. Wood's share value has since fallen. However, it was up about 10% after the announcement of the latest takeover bid.

In February, Wood confirmed it had restarted takeover talks with the UAE-based organisation, before extending discussions last month. On Monday, the company said: "The board of Wood currently believes that the possible offer represents the better option for Wood's shareholders, creditors and other stakeholders. "The board of Wood has indicated to Sidara that, should an offer be made on the terms set out, it would be minded to recommend the offer to Wood's shareholders, subject to agreement of the full terms and conditions."

Getty Images Sir Ian Wood announced he was retiring as chairman in 2012

The board of the Aberdeen-based firm says it would be "minded to recommend" the latest takeover deal.

Engineering giant Wood receives £242m takeover bid

Trump threatens new tariffs on smartphones days after exempting them

2 hours ago Share Save Madeline Halpert BBC News Share Save

Watch: Is the US heading into a recession? Three warning signs to watch

Donald Trump says Chinese-made smartphones and other electronics will not be exempt from tariffs - adding they are simply moving into a different levy "bucket". European stock markets bounced up on Monday morning after Friday's official announcement that some of these products would escape levies of up to 145%. China has called on Donald Trump to "completely cancel" his tariffs regime, and "return to the right path of mutual respect". However US officials said on Sunday that products would be subject to a "semiconductor tariff" instead, with Trump expected to reveal more details later.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the new levy would be in addition to a host of global tariffs the US imposed earlier this month, then paused for 90 days. "We need our medicines and we need semiconductors and our electronics to be built in America," he added. On Saturday, a US customs notice revealed smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices would be excluded from the 125% tariff on goods entering the country from China. But Trump chimed in on social media, saying there was no exemption for these products and called such reports about this notice false. Instead, he said that "they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket'". Trump added: "We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations." He said he would provide an update on Monday about semiconductor duties. Everyday devices such as smartphones and laptops rely on semiconductors, which are small and powerful pieces of tech that form the basic building blocks of modern computation. Trump's iPhone olive branch is a significant trade war retreat

Trump's changing tariffs leave shoppers feeling paralysed On Monday, Sony announced that it was increasing the price of its flagship games console, the PlayStation 5, by about 10% in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, citing a "challenging economic environment", inflation and fluctuating exchange rates. It did not announce price rises in the United States. The Chinese commerce ministry had called Trump's exemptions a "small step" by the US, and said that Beijing was "evaluating the impact" of the move. But the suggestion by Trump administration officials of plans for future levies may dampen hopes of a thaw in the two rivals' protectionist posture. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was asked on Sunday whether there were any plans for Trump to speak with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. "Right now we don't have any plans on that," he said during an appearance on CBS's Face the Nation. Trump imposed a tariff amounting to 54% on imports of products from China at the beginning of April, before escalating to the current 145% rate.

President Trump says Chinese-made electronics are simply moving to a different levy "bucket".

Trump threatens new tariffs on smartphones days after exempting them

Those struggling in Medway can claim share of £4m

Medway Council has nearly £4m to allocate as its share of the Household Support Fund

Households in Medway struggling to meet the cost of living can claim a share of £4m.

The cash is from the Household Support Fund, introduced in October 2021, which the government has decided to extend for another year.

The money is shared out to local authorities to allocate, with Medway having £3,987,524 for the coming financial year.

Medway Council also said it would be giving free school meal vouchers to eligible families throughout the summer holidays.

The money will come from the Household Support Fund which has been extended for another year.

Households struggling in Medway can claim share of £4m fund

Pram appeal as charity sees rising demand

1 hour ago Share Save Josh Sandiford BBC News, West Midlands Share Save

Getty Images The charity Baby Godiva helps people in need across Coventry and Warwickshire

A city baby bank has issued an urgent appeal for prams and baby travel systems after seeing increasing demand from people in need. Baby Godiva was set up to support families with young children struggling to afford essentials. The organisation collects and sorts items donated by the community before distributing them. But chief executive Kate Wilson said it was down to its last handful of pushchairs and bosses needed more support.

"We've given away 32 [pushchairs] this year already so we're averaging about ten a month to families in need," she told BBC CWR. "We're working with a lot of teenage pregnancies, care leavers and people fleeing domestic abuse who just have nothing and need a lot of help when they're pregnant."

The charity, which has been recognised by the BBC Make a Difference Awards, was launched in 2019. Its founder Belle Edgar-McCabe had been at a family hub when she heard about a young mother who could not afford nappies. Since then, workers and volunteers have helped hundreds of families and linked up with midwives, health visitors and social workers to support even more. Ms Wilson said there were a number of different reasons why demand had risen. "I think some of it is the cost of living crisis," she explained. "We're all in the pinch right now and babies are very expensive. "Some of it is [because] we are trying to really promote the charity at the moment and tell people we are out there and can help. "It does lead to a need of more items."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

The charity, which has given 32 pushchairs to families in need this year, appeals for more donations.

Pram appeal as Coventry baby bank sees rising demand

Royal Mail: The curious case of why a billionaire wants to buy what looks like a fading relic

3 hours ago Share Save Simon Jack • bbcsimonjack Business editor Share Save

BBC

Listen to the audio version of this on BBC Sounds "A pair of scissors, one empty teapot and some hot water, please." The slightly baffled staff at Claridge's scrambled to comply with Daniel Kretinsky's breakfast order as he sanitised and moisturised his hands. The upscale hotel has been serving tea to the global elite for decades but Mr Kretinsky brought along his own packet of Chinese green tea, which he snipped open (hence the scissors) and poured into the empty pot. He was tall, perfectly groomed, steely-eyed but unfaultingly polite and thoughtful. If you told anyone in the dining room he was a billionaire, they would have no problem believing it. Known as the Czech Sphinx for his enigmatic style, Mr Kretinsky, who is 49, is worth £6bn according to the Sunday Times Rich List. He lives in plush mansions in Paris and London, was originally a lawyer and made his fortune in European energy markets.

Reuters Billionaire investor Daniel Kretinsky has major investments in Sainsbury's and West Ham United football club

Our meeting was at Claridge's in June 2024 - I was trying to convince him to give me an interview about his audacious attempt to buy a British institution that was once seen as a national treasure: Royal Mail. His profile as a buyer was one that that unions and ministers typically would be wary of because of his historic connections with Russia - his companies own a gas pipeline that has transported Russian gas to Europe. But six months on, his bid to buy Royal Mail's parent company was cleared by the UK government after he agreed "legally binding" undertakings. It was agreed that the government would retain a so-called "golden share", requiring it to approve any major changes to Royal Mail's ownership, headquarters location and tax residency. The deal was also blessed by unions. Earlier this month, the owner of Royal Mail said that the takeover could be completed by the end of April as the deal cleared the final regulatory hurdles standing in the way. But step back and Royal Mail seems a strange target for a globally mobile oil and gas billionaire investor to set his sights on. It begs the question why would anyone, let alone a successful international entrepreneur, want to buy this faded relic?

How Royal Mail's crown slipped

Royal Mail was founded by Henry VIII more than 500 years ago and still carries the royal cipher on its vans. It is part of the fabric of British life and many people still have a fond relationship with their 'postie', who walks down their path bringing their letters and parcels to their door. But in recent years Royal Mail's crown has slipped. It is losing money and market share, has been fined for missing delivery targets and has made an enemy of its own workforce through a series of bitter strikes. Royal Mail's letter business is in steep decline too. It has gone from a peak of 20 billion letters sent in 2004 to under seven billion sent last year.

In December 2024, it was fined £10.5m by the regulator Ofcom for failing to meet delivery targets for first and second class mail. While the boom in e-commerce has seen the volume of parcels rise, Royal Mail's share of that more profitable business has been falling as new competitors like DPD, DHL, Amazon and Evri have eaten into its market share. Royal Mail was split off from the Post Office in 2012 and privatised in 2013 at a value of £3.3bn. Its shares immediately rocketed by 38% on the first day of trading, leading to criticism - from the National Audit Office, among others - that it had been sold on the cheap. At its peak in Covid-era May 2021, the company was worth more than £6bn but had slumped to just over £2bn when Mr Kretinsky launched his takeover bid last April. He sealed the deal at £3.6bn - 63% higher than before he signalled his intent, but barely more than it was worth at privatisation over a decade ago.

"Royal Mail is a business that has historically found it difficult to grow revenues by more than costs," says Alex Paterson, an analyst at Peel Hunt stockbrokers. "It has seen its parcels market share eroded by more dynamic competition that has been able to invest more in technology, and it has struggled with industrial relations to keep staff working towards a common goal. "This is not a challenge to underestimate nor one that can be overcome quickly, but that requires considerable long-term investment in infrastructure, technology and staff." Part of the challenge, and one that puts Royal Mail at a disadvantage compared with its rivals, is that unlike them, Royal Mail has to meet a string of legal and regulatory obligations, says Hazel King, the editor of Parcel and Post Technology International. Under what is called the universal service obligation (USO), Royal Mail is required by law to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week to every address in the UK. So it cannot pick and choose which business it wants to do. "Royal Mail must meet their universal service obligation while trying to compete with private firms who often cherry-pick the most profitable business," says Ms King.

The 'Czech Sphinx's' plan

Mr Kretinsky says he has a plan. His success in the energy sector allowed him to buy a 27.5% stake in Royal Mail's parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS). And his company – EP Group – intends to build a pan-European conglomerate built on three pillars: energy, retail and logistics. He sees IDS as the cornerstone of the logistics pillar, with a plan to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Deutsche Post DHL, DPD and Amazon. The USO has been under review by Ofcom, with Royal Mail hoping that the regulator will reduce the requirement to deliver second-class letters from six days a week to every other weekday. That single move could save Royal Mail £300m a year – putting it back on a break-even footing.

PA Media Mr Kretinsky aims to create a pan-European logistics giant, potentially rivalling Evri

Mr Kretinsky told me during our interview that he would honour the USO "as long as I am alive", but he is unsurprisingly very much in favour of changing its terms. He said he hopes that "rational minds prevail" when reforming a service that is unsustainable in its current form. So far, the noises from Ofcom seem to be supportive. The regulator's chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told the BBC there were "real questions about what the service needs to be going into the future". Given letter numbers are falling, "we have to think about what is economical", she said, adding Ofcom would be publishing plans for the regulation of Royal Mail "to make sure it is sustainable". While Royal Mail generally welcomed the proposed changes to the Universal Service Obligation, Royal Mail pushed back against proposed new delivery time and business customer requirements. Royal Mail said last week that the level at which Ofcom is proposing to set the new delivery targets – 99.5% of First Class letters delivered within three days, and the same percentage of Second Class letters within five – is "over specified and will add significant cost to the delivery of the Universal Service". It also expressed concerns that proposals to add a new category of regulation to ensure timely delivery for business users like direct mail companies "goes against the wider government drive to reduce unnecessary regulation".

European parcel know-how

But there are other factors that may have driven the sale. Some analysts have speculated that there is another jewel in the crown of IDS - and that Mr Kretinsky may really be after a different part of the business. Along with Royal Mail, IDS also owns a European parcels business called GLS which it acquired in 1999 – long before Royal Mail was split off from the Post Office and privatised. Last year GLS made a profit of £320m, compared to Royal Mail, which lost £348m as letter volumes continued to plunge and new competitors ate into its market share of the more profitable parcels business.

"GLS has been a profitable growth business, which has seen investment whereas Royal Mail has been a perpetual underperformer, as the board of parent company IDS has invested where it thinks it will see the best returns," says Mr Paterson. Mr Kretinsky rejects suggestions from some quarters that he wants to break up the group and has committed to keeping it together for at least five years. Even beyond that, he says the plan is to grow the company rather than shrink it, so a disposal of GLS would be "nonsensical". In fact, Mr Kretinsky says he hopes to bring the European parcel know-how at GLS to bear on Royal Mail's operations. What the unions are hoping, and Kretinsky is promising, is that Royal Mail will see greater investment and over time begin to look a bit more like GLS and its European counterparts such as Deutche Post DHL.

Catching up with competitors

Given all the challenges Royal Mail faces, there's an obvious question - why would a billionaire want to chance his arm on turning round something that others couldn't, while up against powerful competitors? Well, if you believe as Kretinsky does - and he is surely right - that getting parcels to people is a profitable and growing industry, then buying Royal Mail and GLS gives you a way to become a big European player in logistics quickly. Add to that a powerful and historic brand, a database with every single UK address and a frontline workforce that most of its customers are fond of and pleased to see when they walk down the path - then, despite the challenges, it begins to make sense.

Reuters The Czech entrepreneur has been described as a "quiet sphinx" for his inscrutable style

Mr Kretinsky is convinced future growth lies in out-of-home (OOH) delivery. The parcel lockers found in supermarket car parks and elsewhere, operated by the likes of Amazon, Evri and UPS, have grown quickly across Europe. Earlier this month it was reported that Sainsbury's would be the first supermarket to partner with Royal Mail and install parcel lockers at supermarkets. Some are already operating at several stores including ones in Clapham, Kidderminster and Chislehurst. Royal Mail has also trialled a new postbox that can take small parcels. Customers procure a barcode from an app, then at the postbox they scan the barcode and drop the parcel into a drawer - this is all powered by solar panels on the box. Emma Gilthorpe, Royal Mail chief executive, called it an "historic change" to give postboxes "a new lease of life". All of this boils down to the same thing: convenience. It means customers don't have to wait at home for a delivery - the sender or parcel business emails or texts a code to unlock the locker. For the business it's more efficient, allowing couriers to deliver lots of parcels to one place - meaning fewer miles on the road and less time.

Getty Images Royal Mail has long been part of the fabric of British life

"If they can grow the parcels business and claw back market share, there is every chance that they can add new jobs that could offset the reduction in jobs in the declining letters business," says Mr Paterson. "There is a significant long-term opportunity to run Royal Mail more successfully with regulatory changes to the USO and greater investment in technology and out-of-home deliveries." But Royal Mail still has a lot of catching up to do with its competitors. It currently has 1,500 lockers in the UK and aims to grow this figure to at least 20,000 over time. By contrast, Amazon already has 5,000 lockers across the UK and InPost has 7,500 across the UK.

Winning over doubters

That Mr Kretinsky has pulled off the takeover is no easy feat. Royal Mail is, after all, considered vital national infrastructure and as such the deal required review under national security laws. Then there is the fact that his companies own a gas pipeline that has transported Russian gas to Europe – paid for and approved by EU member states. The small amount that was transported was reduced to zero at the end of 2024 when Ukraine refused to renew permission for any gas to flow across its borders. Speaking in front of MPs in November, UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds referred to Mr Kretinsky as a "legitimate business figure" whose alleged links to Russia had already been reviewed and dismissed when he became the biggest shareholder in the company two years ago. Getting the unions on board seemed even more of a challenge and the Communication Workers Union was wary of Mr Kretinsky. "The CWU believes Royal Mail should be in public hands," Dave Ward, the CWU's general secretary, told the BBC in June. "We know there are legitimate concerns about Royal Mail Group being owned by a foreign private equity investor." But during negotiations, union representatives secured a series of time-limited commitments from him, including guarantees that he will protect Royal Mail's pension surplus, that there will be no compulsory redundancies for two years, no sell-off or break-up of any operational part of the existing company and no outsourcing of grades represented by the CWU.

Getty Images Royal Mail, a key part of British infrastructure, is set for a new chapter

Mr Kretinsky also agreed to restrictions on moving dividends out of Royal Mail Group and to respect agreements with and recognition of the CWU. He said he would keep the brand name and Royal Mail's headquarters and tax residency in the UK for the next five years. Union bosses told me that a life under Mr Kretinsky "couldn't be any worse than what we have had for the last 10 years". So, as Mr Kretinsky looks certain to pull off the sale, what will customers notice? The frequency of second-class deliveries may be reduced after the Ofcom review. We will see new Royal Mail lockers appearing in our neighbourhoods. And the price of first-class mail may go up: second-class stamps are regulated by Ofcom, while first-class ones are not. The monarch's head will still be on those stamps, but there is a new king of our mail system. And his name is Daniel Kretinsky. Top image credit: Getty

From the end of April, the 500-year-old Royal Mail will be controlled by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky who co-owns a football club - but why does he want it?

Royal Mail: What made a billionaire want to buy this fading relic

In Canada's car capital, auto workers brace for the worst

2 hours ago Share Save Ali Abbas Ahmadi BBC News Reporting from Windsor, Ontario Share Save

Ali Abbas Ahmadi/BBC Ford workers Kathryn Lawton (L) and Christina Grossi are afraid the tariffs could upend their lives

A Lawton has worked in Canada's auto sector for more than a century. Their children are "fifth generation Ford workers", Kathryn Lawton said, and she and her husband both work for the carmaker in Windsor, the heart of Canada's automobile sector, just a bridge away from the US state of Michigan. So when US President Donald Trump suggested that Canada stole the American auto industry, Chad Lawton calls it "ludicrous". "These were never American jobs. These were Canadian jobs," he told the BBC, on the day that Trump's auto tariffs came into force. "They've always been Canadian jobs, and they're going to stay Canadian jobs because we didn't take them from them. We created them, we sustained them." Kathryn agreed: "This is Ford City right here." Tucked away in southwestern Ontario, Windsor and the surrounding Essex county now finds itself on one of the front lines of Trump's trade war as it faces a 25% tariff on foreign-made vehicles (though for Canada, that will be reduced by half for cars made with 50% US-made components or more) as well as blanket 25% US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. US tariffs on auto parts are expected next month.

Ali Abbas Ahmadi/BBC A mural harking back to the history of the Windsor neighbourhood around the Ford plant, when it was known simply as 'Ford City'

The region of just over 422,000 grew alongside Detroit - nicknamed Motor City for its role as an auto manufacturing hub - turning the region into an important centre for North American automobile production. Ford first established its presence in Windsor in 1896, while the first Stellantis (then Chrysler) factory arrived in 1928, with dozens of factories and suppliers springing up around the city and surrounding region in the ensuing decades. Much of the manufacturing has since left the city, though it still boasts two Ford engine factories and a Stellantis assembly plant, which employ thousands. WATCH: Is the US heading for a recession?

EXPLAINER: What are tariffs, and why is Trump using them? Workers on both sides of the border have built iconic vehicles over the decades, most recently models like the Dodge Charger and the Ford F-150. Some 24,000 people work directly in the automotive industry in Windsor-Essex, while an estimated 120,000 other jobs depend on the sector. A drive through the neighbourhood around the Ford factory feels like a trip back in time, showcasing classic bungalows from the last century. Many have seen better days, though each boasts a verandah and small front yard. Large murals celebrating the city's automotive history punctuate the scenery.

Ali Abbas Ahmadi/BBC Chad Lawton has been at Ford for 31 years, and says he has never seen a crisis like this

Windsor has weathered the challenges of the North American auto sector alongside Michigan, as the industry shares a deeply integrated supply chain. Chad Lawton points to the 2008 financial crisis, when the Big Three American automakers - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler - faced staggering losses, and GM and Chrysler received billions in US bailouts to avoid bankruptcy. That period was "bad, not just for next door, but also we went through a very, very rough time", he said. "This feels the same. The level of anxiety with the workers, the level of fear, the idea and the belief that this is just something that is so completely out of your control that you can't wrap your head around what to do." John D'Agnolo, president of Unifor Local 200, which represents Ford workers in Windsor, said the situation "has created havoc". "I think we're going to see a recession," he said. He continued: "People aren't going to buy anything. I gotta tell my members not to buy anything. They gotta pay rent and food for their kids."

Ali Abbas Ahmadi/BBC Windsor residents have a front-row seat to Detroit and the struggles of its auto sector

What makes the tariffs such a hard pill to swallow for auto workers the BBC spoke to is that this situation has been brought about by the US, Canada's closest economic and security ally. "It seems like a stab in the back," said Austin Welzel, 27, an assembly line worker at Stellantis. "It's almost like our neighbors, our friends - they don't want to work with us." Christina Grossi, who has worked at Ford for 25 years, said the prospect of losing her job, and what it will mean to her family, is "terrifying". But Ms Grossi also fears losing the meaning she gets from her work. "You've been doing this job for so long and you really take pride in it, you're proud of what you're putting out to the public," she said. "And now someone's taking away the opportunity to do that."

Laura Dawson, the executive director of Future Borders Coalition, said the tariffs could cause major upheavals throughout the sector due to its deep integration, with ripple effects felt across the continent if exports from Canada stop for more than a week. She said the US tariffs structure is extremely complicated. Cars crossing the border will need every component to be assessed for "qualifying content" - where it originates, the cost of labour to produce it, and - if it contains steel or aluminium - where that metal came from. "Every part of an automobile is literally under a microscope for where it was produced and how," she said. The US tariffs have been a major factor in Canada's general election, which is on 28 April, with Canada's political parties rolling out suites of plans on the campaign trail to help the auto sector. A simple guide to Canada's federal election

Who's who in Canada's federal election

LISTEN: World Questions programme - Canada Liberal leader Mark Carney, the current prime minister, has pledged to create a C$2bn ($1.4bn; £1.1bn) fund to boost competitiveness and protect manufacturing jobs, alongside plans to build an "all-in-Canada" auto component parts network. In his role as prime minister, he imposed last week a reported C$35bn in counter auto tariffs, in addition to previously announced reciprocal measures on the US. Carney's main rival, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, has vowed to remove sales tax on Canadian vehicles, and to create a fund for companies affected by the tariffs to help keep their employees. Jagmeet Singh, whose left-wing New Democratic Party is fighting for a competitive seat in Windsor, has pledged to use every dollar from counter tariffs to help workers, and to stop manufacturers from moving equipment to the US.

Ali Abbas Ahmadi/BBC Many patrons at Van Niforos's restaurant work for Stellantis

The auto sector in Windsor, Ontario, has employed generations of Canadians. Now the future is uncertain and US tariffs are "like a stab in the back".

In Canada's car capital of Windsor, auto workers brace for the worst

Was China the reason Guyana faced higher Trump tariff?

2 hours ago Share Save Gemma Handy Business reporter Reporting from St John’s, Antigua Share Save

Getty Images Guyana, and the wider Caribbean region, are concerned Trump's price hikes will increase the cost of their imports

The Caribbean nation of Guyana is breathing a sigh of relief after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on the introduction of higher tariffs on a number of countries. Guyana, which is nestled between Venezuela and Suriname on the South American mainland, had been singled out for rates of 38% on many of its exports. Following Trump's change in policy, it now faces tariffs of only 10% - the same as all countries apart from Canada, China and Mexico. But why had Guyana been facing a higher levy in the first place?

Guyanese political commentator Francis Bailey says the country is caught in a geopolitical battle between the US and China. Or more specifically - Washington objects to Beijing's "very strong foothold" in Guyana. Recent years have seen billions of dollars of investment in Guyana by Chinese entities, in everything from roads and hospitals, to hotels and shopping centres. And a crucial new bridge linking the capital Georgetown to the western region of Demerara-Mahaica is currently under construction by a Beijing-based company. For its part, the US continues to be happy to buy Guyana's key exports of crude oil, gold and bauxite, which is the ore from which aluminium is extracted. These were all to be exempt from the planned 38% tariff, which instead would have hit Guyana's fishing and sugar industries. The US also backs Guyana in its territorial dispute with Venezuela over the vast Essequibo region that forms the western two thirds of Guyana. During a visit to Georgetown in March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuela of "consequences" if it were to use force against Guyana. But the planned high tariff showed Washington's ire, says Mr Bailey. "I think the reason we had been given such high tariffs is to apply pressure on Guyana. "The US is saying, 'if you want our protection you need to chase the Chinese out of your country'. Trump is a very transactional president – and Guyana is in a very precarious position against its sabre-rattling adversary Venezuela which has been ramping up acts of aggression."

Francis Bailey Guyanese political commentator Francis Bailey says the US is pressurising Guyana to reduce its ties with China

The Guyanese government did not respond to requests for comments. The country, once one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere, and a former British colony, has been enjoying a surge in wealth since it first discovered oil in its territorial waters in 2015. Last year it exported $3.13bn (£2.4bn) of crude oil to the US, according to United Nations figures. Across the Caribbean all countries now face a 10% tariff on their exports to the US. However, it is the price impact of Trump's global tariffs on what they import from the US that is of most concern. This is because the Caribbean's love for, and reliance on, US products is immediately apparent when you glance at a High Street or supermarket shelf across the region. In fact, some islands are said to import as much as 70% of their consumer goods from their North American neighbour. And with American goods that rely on overseas raw materials or components set to go up in price, this will inevitably be passed on to consumers in the Caribbean. Also, much of what Caribbean nations buy from other countries around the world comes to them via the US. So with the White House now hitting Chinese goods coming into the US with tariffs of 125%, Chinese items that are then reexported to the Caribbean should see price hikes of a similar amount. And by around 10% for goods from other countries that arrive via the US. With already ever-increasing shipping costs in the Caribbean, and high local import duties causing exorbitant prices in a region beset by low wages, the impact of Trump's tariffs could be profound and keenly felt.

Getty Images US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was recently in Guyana and the US backs the country in its border dispute with neighbouring Venezuela

In Antigua and Barbuda, interior designer Carissa Warner tells the BBC that 70% of her materials are imported from the US, and 20% from China. "Some of my projects are on hold while we wait to see what happens," she explains. "I am extremely worried from a business aspect but also just as a local consumer. "I'm so worried about the cost of food I have been looking online for pots to start growing fresh produce. I don't think people realise the impact it will have on us." Ms Warner believes one way Caribbean governments could ease the squeeze on their people is by lowering their own import duties, which are partially calculated using a percentage of an item's cost. Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne has dubbed global tariffs "extremely worrisome" and is urging citizens to "buy smarter and buy local".

Supermarkets across the Caribbean are full of products imported from the US

Trump's tariffs come as the Caribbean is already grappling with a confluence of harsh economic conditions from the cost of cleaning up after frequent natural disasters like hurricanes, to the aftereffects of the Covid pandemic. Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald Sanders, says that the US has long enjoyed a trade surplus with most Caribbean countries. "For decades, we have helped sustain American prosperity by collectively importing far more from the United States than we export," he says. "The problem we have created for ourselves is that we have been dependent on the US market for such a long time and have not sought to diversify into other markets." As for the 10% tariff on Caribbean exports to the US, Sir Ronald says: "Any loss is not a good thing for our small economies, but the 10% that we face is not going to disrupt our goods from going to the US market." The Caribbean islands' small market sizes, high labour costs and remoteness from principle markets has kept their manufacturing sectors relatively modest. Their exports include many niche products like specialist rums and indigenous foods such as ackee, a fruit from Jamaica. "These kinds of products are all orientated to a certain kind of market and will not face any competition because the US does not produce them, and the countries that do face their own tariffs," Sir Ronald continues.

Exacerbating worries in the Caribbean are potential additional taxes on Chinese-built ships entering US ports of up to $1.5m per docking. This idea was mooted by the White House in February. Many fear that will aggravate freight costs in the Caribbean, and lead to further hikes in the price of everyday goods, given the large volume of items sold in the region that are manufactured in China. Sir Ronald adds that tacking the problem of an overreliance on the US "can only come from diversifying the market, but that's not an overnight achievement". He adds: "It's not as easy to set up new markets as people think. It's not governments who control trade; it's the private sector. And much of what we buy will still come via the US." Many Caribbean leaders feel the best strategy to thwart the fallout from tariffs is to negotiate as a bloc.

A Guyanese political commentator says Washington objects to Beijing's "very strong foothold" in the country.

Was China the reason this Caribbean nation faced higher Trump tariff?

Race to keep furnaces burning at British Steel plant

"My team are already hard at work on the ground to keep jobs going and furnaces burning," the business secretary said in a statement.

The government said work was under way on Monday to obtain the coking coal and iron ore that power the plant's two furnaces - materials it previously said owners Jingye had been selling off.

An emergency law rushed through Parliament on Saturday gave the government control of the Lincolnshire site to prevent its Chinese owner shutting it down.

Officials are working to deliver essential raw materials to British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, the government has said, as it races to keep its blast furnaces burning.

Restarting a furnace that has shut down is also a costly and complex process.

How quickly materials get to the site is important because blast furnaces can sustain permanent damage if their temperature drops too low.

Dozens of businesses including steel producers Tata and Rainham Steel have offered help and to supply their raw materials, the government added.

Reynolds refuses to say if steel furnaces can keep running

Chris Mason: British Steel law rushed through Parliament but it is just a stop gap

Why did the government take control of British Steel?

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "When I said steelmaking has a future in the UK, I meant it.

"That's why we've passed these new powers to save British Steel at Scunthorpe and that's why my team are already hard at work on the ground to keep jobs going and furnaces burning."

Civil servants and British Steel officials are trying to secure one such shipment of materials which is sat 30 miles east of Scunthorpe at Immingham Docks.

It comes after Reynolds refused to confirm on Sunday whether the government could obtain the materials in time.

"I'm not going to get into that," he told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, but said the takeover gave the "opportunity" to obtain the materials needed.

The Scunthorpe plant employs 2,700 people and is the last site in the UK that can produce virgin steel.

Without the plant, the UK would be the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make virgin steel - which the government believes is a risk to the country's economic security.

The government fast-tracked legislation which gave it control of the plant after talks with Jingye to save it appeared to break down.

The company said in March it was losing £700,000 a day at the site, which it called "no longer financially sustainable," and began a consultation on its closure.

Reynolds told the BBC it "became clear" during negotiations that Jingye was intent on closing down the blast furnaces no matter the financial support offered.

The government said Jingye refused an offer of some £500m and demanded more than twice as much money, with few guarantees it would keep the plant open.

"It might not be sabotage, it might be neglect," Reynolds said of the company's actions.

The Conservatives have criticised the government for not stepping in sooner to save the plant.

Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the party had supported the emergency law because "it's the least worst option on the table".

The government is working to obtain coal to power the company's furnaces after passing an emergency law to take control of its site.

British Steel: Government races to keep Scunthorpe furnaces burning

'I can't keep up': Trump's changing tariffs leave shoppers feeling paralysed

5 hours ago Share Save Natalie Sherman BBC News Reporting from New York, New York Share Save

BBC Days after Richard Medina went looking for a smartphone to beat new tariffs, the US announced the devices would be exempt from the duties

When his camera stopped working on his iPhone recently, New Yorker Richard Medina didn't waste any time. With the threat of tariff-fuelled price hikes on smartphones bearing down, he quickly called his phone company for a new one. "I said, 'We've got to switch this out now,'" the 43-year-old recalled. "Let's take care of it." The move was a sign of the pressure rising across the US, where households are being buffeted by what could be staggering price rises, and even possible shortages triggered by the sweeping tariffs that US President Donald Trump announced this month. Some are trying to stock up. Others say they feel paralysed by the changes, which have come quickly, or hope Trump will change his mind and reverse course - not an entirely unreasonable hope given the rapid changes in policy. Trump, facing financial market revolt over his latest tariffs, has already altered his plans repeatedly. First, he scaled back duties that had been planned on some countries, such as the European Union, in what was described as a 90-day pause. Then, as market turmoil continued, he exempted smartphones and other electronics from the duties, announcing the carve-out just a few days after Mr Medina felt pressure to make a purchase. "I can't keep up with the president. Every day is something new," said Anna Woods, 42, who recently received a message from her son's summer camp warning that the tariffs might affect pricing of standard gear such as T-shirts. The 42-year-old, who works in legal operations, says she is nervous but unclear how to proceed. "I just feel like we're living in uncertain times," she said, adding: "I do need to make some purchases .... Everything is going up."

Anna Woods is worried about summer camp costs for her son

The latest tariffs include a 10% tax on the vast majority of imports - and an eye-popping 145% duty on goods from China, which is the third biggest supplier of imports to the US after the European Union and Mexico and a key source of essentials such as smartphones, shoes and umbrellas. The measures followed previous orders that added 25% levies on cars, steel, aluminium and some goods from Canada and Mexico. In all, Trump's orders have pushed the average effective tariff rate on imports in the US to the highest level in more than a century.

In stores, the immediate impact has been limited, since many firms stockpiled some products in anticipation of some tariffs. But the tariffs are widely expected to lead to higher prices in the months ahead, especially for items such as clothing, leather goods, electronics and toys, many of which are made in China. The Budget Lab at Yale forecasts that prices for clothing could soar by more than 60% in the short run; basic pharmaceutical products could jump by 12%, and food prices rise by 2.6%. All told, the typical US family is facing a roughly $4,700 jump in costs due to the new taxes, if purchase patterns remain the same, it estimates.

Jamie Casey is monitoring prices and worried about the future

"I'm extremely worried about it," said 38-year-old mother Jamie Casey, one of more than a dozen people shopping at a Target in Brooklyn on a recent afternoon who shared their thoughts with the BBC about the tariffs. She was in the store picking up formula - and some onesies and outfits for her daughter, who has yet to turn one. "I wouldn't say I'm panic-buying yet, but I am interested in how it plays out."

Major retailers experienced a jump in visits in the weeks leading up to Trump's tariff announcement, according to research firm Placer.ai, while purchases at the likes of Walmart and Target increased markedly in the immediate aftermath, according to data tracked by ConsumerEdge. There has also been an uptick in US purchases on Amazon's e-commerce platform, where Chinese sellers dominate, CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC recently. "I don't know if we can necessarily conclude it's panic-buying but there seems to be broad stock-up behaviour," said Michael Gunther, head of insights at ConsumerEdge, noting that two separate data sets used by the firm showed a pick-up.

Cristina Montoya said she had been buying extra canned food and frozen fruit, a little at a time for a few months, anxious about possible price increases, especially as a pensioner reliant on a fixed income. "You never used to do your shopping nervous," the 74-year-old said. "I feel like you have to buy a lot of things because you don't know what's going to happen."

Cristina Montoya is on a fixed income and worried over the uncertainty

The dynamic has added to the tariff turmoil. Last week, as the measures came into effect, some businesses started introducing tariff surcharges, while others abruptly cancelled shipments from China, unwilling to risk being unable to recoup the cost of the duties. The disruption has the potential to cause near-term shortages in the US of items where China dominates the supply, such as baby carriages, colouring books and umbrellas, analysts at Macquarie noted this week.

Analysts say the pickup in consumer purchases is likely to prove temporary, or an acceleration of transactions that would have happened anyway. If price rises start to hit, many economists expect Americans to opt for cheaper substitutes, delay purchases, or simply do without - a pullback with major consequences for an economy driven by consumer spending. Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, is predicting the US economy will grow just 0.5% this year, and the unemployment rate will rise to 5% - the highest level since 2021 amid Covid. Other firms, such as JP Morgan, are forecasting an outright recession. "In terms of the consumer, it does get a little tricky," Ms Bostjancic said. "We could see consumer spending actually be strong in March and April but it's just because of this surge ahead of the tariff increases," she added. "Going forward, consumer spending is going to be weaker."

The rapid change of Trump's tariff policy has shoppers wondering if they should stock up or just wait this out.

Trump's changing tariffs causes panic buying and paralysis

Reynolds refuses to say if steel furnaces can keep running

2 hours ago Share Save Sam Francis Political reporter Share Save

Business secretary refuses to answer if steel plant can keep running

The business secretary has refused to confirm if the government can get the sufficient raw material supplies in time to keep the blast furnaces at British Steel running, after it took control of the Chinese-owned plant. Emergency legislation was rushed through Parliament on Saturday to prevent owners Jingye shutting down its two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. Asked if he could guarantee the furnaces would remain open, Jonathan Reynolds said he would not comment "on the commercial aspect of supply" but the takeover gave the "opportunity" to obtain the coal needed. The government said Jingye had been selling off raw materials, as well as not ordering more, before officials took control.

Asked several times by Laura Kuenssberg on whether he was sure he would be able to get the supply of coal before current stocks run out, Reynolds insisted "I'm not going to get into that" but the takeover "was essential to maintaining steel production in the UK". Speaking on the programme, Reynolds said the situation remains "difficult and challenging". But Saturday's emergency legislation "enables" the government to keep the blast furnaces working, he said. Once a blast furnace is switched off it becomes incredibly difficult to restart production. "If we hadn't acted the blast furnaces were gone and in the UK primary steel production would have gone," he said. "If we hadn't acted, you'd be asking how we support the thousands who've lost their jobs." The Conservatives have criticised the government for not stepping in sooner to save the plant and protect jobs. Speaking to the BBC, Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said "the government could have seen this coming earlier". He called the deal a "botched nationalisation" but argued the Conservatives supported the deal because "this because it's the least worst option on the table".

Reynolds said the government intervened after "it became clear" that Jingye was intent on closing down the blast furnaces, no matter what financial support it received from the government. The company rejected an offer of support in the region of £500 million, the government said, instead demanding more than twice that figure with few guarantees the blast furnaces would stay open. In the Commons on Saturday, Reynolds said Jingye had not been negotiating "in good faith", while on Sunday he suggested it had not been acting "rationally". Jingye had put the UK's ability to produced virgin steel at risk, Reynolds told the programme - adding "it might not be sabotage, it might be neglect". British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe is the last plant in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, which has fewer imperfections and is used in major construction projects like new buildings and railways. Were the plant to cease production, the UK would become the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it - a prospect the government views as a risk to the country's long-term economic security.

The government is looking for a buyer to take over British Steel. Earlier on Sunday, Reynolds told Sky News he would not sell it to another Chinese company. He said: "I think we have got to be clear about what is the sort of sector where, actually, we can promote and co-operate, and ones frankly where we can't. I wouldn't personally bring a Chinese company into our steel sector." Reynolds told the BBC he could not say what the British Steel takeover will cost taxpayers while a buyer is found. He argued the market value of the company is "effectively zero" and the taxpayer will have to "stand behind" the company's losses of around £700,000 a day.

Asked about whether the 2019 sale to Jingye was a mistake by the Boris Johnson government, Griffith said the Conservatives had approved "the only deal on the table" - and with support from unions and local MPs. Since then the "world has changed" and China has become a less reliable partner, he argued.

The government took control of the steelworks to prevent Chinese owners Jingye shutting down production.

Reynolds refuses to say if British Steel furnaces in Scunthorpe can keep running

Trump's iPhone olive branch is a significant trade war retreat

3 hours ago Share Save Faisal Islam • @faisalislam Economics editor Share Save

Getty Images

Well, well, well. In a US customs messaging note quietly slipped out in the early hours of Saturday, a series of numbers were listed as exempt from the 125% tariff on goods entering the country from China. The code "8517.13.00.00" means very little to most of the world, but in the US customs list it represents smartphones. The inclusion meant the number one Chinese export to America by value last year was exempted from the import taxes, alongside other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards. In the context of the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just days ago announcing that part of the point of escalating tariffs on China was to bring back iPhone production to the US, this was a stunning about-turn. The US has now excluded the single biggest Chinese export, and certainly the most high-profile finished good from tariffs, without publicly announcing it at first.

It is worth considering what would have happened in the absence of this exemption. The effect of 125% tariffs on Apple's Zhengzou manufacturing facility in eastern China would have started to show in weeks at most American Apple stores. It would have been a totemic "sticker shock" for the White House's tumultuous tariff push. According to Counterpoint, a global technology market research firm, as much as 80% of Apple's iPhones intended for US sale are made in China. The tech giant's manufacturing profit margins are estimated to be between 40-60%. Typical iPhone prices might have moved closer to $2,000 (£1,528) than $1,000. The other option for Apple could have been to spread the cost across all of its global prices, but would the rest of the world accept paying a Trump tariff tax? A very public repricing of iPhones has been avoided, but still may occur if, as the White House has said, the previously imposed 20% tariffs on China related to the powerful opioid fentanyl, remain in place. Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, is a key player here. He can walk into a meeting with both US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is not an outlandish prediction to suggest that, if it comes, any peace in the US-China trade war could be brokered by Mr Cook. That's based on his deep fundamental role in connecting the two economies. He was hand-selected by Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs for his unrivalled expertise in just-in-time supply logistics.

'Art of the Repeal'

Exempting electronics from US tariffs is a stunning about-turn by the Trump administration after 10 days of chaos.

Trump's iPhone olive branch is a significant trade war retreat

UK takes control of British Steel under emergency powers

8 hours ago Share Save Brian Wheeler Political reporter Share Save

House of Commons

The UK government is taking control of Chinese-owned British Steel after emergency legislation was rushed through Parliament in a single day. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told MPs the government's likely next step would be to nationalise the Scunthorpe plant, which employs 2,700 people. But he said he was forced to seek emergency powers to prevent owners Jingye shutting down its two blast furnaces, which would have ended primary steel production in the UK. MPs and peers were called back from their Easter holidays to debate the legislation in an extremely rare Saturday sitting of both houses of Parliament. It has now received Royal Assent after being passed by the Commons and Lords.

PA Media Sir Keir Starmer met steelworkers at a village hall near the Scunthorpe plant

The BBC understands UK government officials are at the Scunthorpe site ready to take control of operations. After the legislation was given royal assent, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: "Today, my government has stepped in to save British steel. "We are acting to protect the jobs of thousands of workers, and all options are on the table to secure the future of the industry." He said steel made in Britain "will be the backbone as we get Britain building once more," adding: "Our industry is the pride of our history – and I want it to be our future, too." Speaking to steelworkers earlier on Saturday at a village hall near Scunthorpe, Sir Keir said: "You are the people who have kept this going." It came as several hundred people, including steelworkers and their families, took part in a march and a rally at Scunthorpe United's Glanford Park stadium, chanting "we want our steel back". British Steel worker Rob Barroclough told the BBC: "Our family, like many others, is built around the steelworks. Who knows... my boys might end up working there one day, if it can be saved." He added: "We're hoping for the best but planning for the worst." Meanwhile, it has emerged that police were called to the steel works this morning after a suspected breach of the peace. Jingye officials have been on-site regularly in recent days, and it's thought that relations between them and the workers have become increasingly tense. Sources told BBC News that when Jingye executives arrived at the plant this morning, the automatic number plate recognition scanners didn't allow them through the site barriers. Humberside Police said officers conducted checks and spoke to individuals but that there were no concerns raised and no arrests were made.

The legislation going through Parliament was not resisted by opposition parties – but the Conservatives said the government should have acted sooner and made "a total pig's breakfast of this whole arrangement". The new law hands Reynolds sweeping powers to control management and workers at the plant to ensure production continues, including entering it by force, if necessary, to secure assets. But Jingye will retain ownership of it for now. The government remains hopeful it can secure private investment to save the loss-making plant, but ministers concede there are currently no companies willing to make an offer. In the Commons, Reynolds acknowledged that public ownership was "the likely option". He said the government would "pay the fair market rate" to shareholders in the event of nationalisation but added: "In this case the market value is effectively zero." Keeping a loss-making plant open could come at a high cost to taxpayers. But Reynolds insisted it was in the "national interest" to retain the ability to make steel from scratch and he believed the company had a future, particularly as the government was boosting infrastructure spending. "Steel is fundamental to Britain's industrial strength, to our security, and to our identity as a primary global power", he told MPs. He said he had been forced to take over the running of the plant because Jingye, which bought British Steel in 2020, had rejected the government's offers to buy raw materials to keep the blast furnaces running. "Despite our offer to Jingye being substantial, they wanted much more. Frankly, an excessive amount. We did however remain committed to negotiation. "But over the last few days, it became clear that the intention of Jingye was to refuse to purchase sufficient raw material to keep the blast furnaces running, in fact, their intention was to cancel and refuse to pay for existing orders. "The company would therefore have irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steel making at British Steel."

'Transformation'

Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice urged the government to "show your cojones" and go further by fully nationalising British Steel "this weekend". Several Conservative MPs also spoke in favour of nationalisation. Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said recalling Parliament had been "absolutely the right thing to do" but urged ministers to use the "unprecedented legislation judiciously". Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, now an independent MP, urged the government to nationalise all steelmaking in the UK. Green MP Ellie Chowns said steel is integral to the "green industrial transformation" - including making wind turbines, trains and tracks - and nationalisation would give the UK the control it needs to renew the industry. The government came under fire for acting to save the Scunthorpe plant but not taking the same action when the Tata Steel works in Port Talbot was threatened with closure. Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Robert said it was a "bitter day for the people of Port Talbot", as she urged the government to change the legislation to take control of what is left of the steelworks there. The SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn asked why the legislation only applies to England, when a Scottish oil refinery is facing closure. "Why is this not being extended to Scotland? Why is Grangemouth not being included?" he asked Reynolds, adding the UK government was "not interested in Scotland". Reynolds said Grangemouth was "not comparable" with the situation at Scunthorpe, which he said was "unique". "The question for all members is whether we as a country want to continue to possess a steel industry, do we want to make the construction steel and rail we need here in the UK, or do we want to be dependent on overseas imports?" he told MPs.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says nationalisation is "likely" next step as Parliament rushes law through.

UK takes control of British Steel under emergency powers

Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs

Late on Saturday, while travelling to Miami, Trump said he would give more details of the exemptions at the start of next week.

It marks the first significant reprieve of any kind in Trump's tariffs on China, with one trade analyst describing it as a "game-changer scenario".

In a notice, US Customs and Border Patrol said that the goods would be excluded from Trump's 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.

US President Donald Trump's administration has exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from "reciprocal" tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports.

"We'll be very specific," he told reporters on Air Force One. "But we're taking in a lot of money. As a country we're taking in a lot of money."

The move came after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.

Exemptions - backdated to 5 April - also include other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells and memory cards.

"This is the dream scenario for tech investors," Dan Ives, who is the global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, posted on X. "Smartphones, chips being excluded is a game-changer scenario when it comes to China tariffs."

Big tech firms such as Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and the broader tech industry can breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend, he added.

The White House indicated the exemptions were made to ensure companies had more time to move production to the US.

"President Trump has made it clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

"At the direction of the president, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible."

Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Florida home, told reporters on Friday he was comfortable with the high tariffs on China.

"And I think something positive is going to come out of that," he said, touting his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

These electronic goods are still subject to the 20% tariff on China related to fentanyl, White House Deputy Chief of Staff on Policy Stephen Miller posted on X.

Some estimates suggested iPhone prices in the US could have as much as tripled if costs were passed on to consumers.

The US is a major market for iPhones, while Apple accounted for more than half of its smartphones sales last year, according to Counterpoint Research.

It says as much as 80% of Apple's iPhones intended for US sale are made in China, with the remaining 20% made in India.

Like its fellow smartphone giant Samsung, Apple has been trying to diversify its supply chains to avoid an over-reliance on China in recent years.

India and Vietnam emerged as frontrunners for additional manufacturing hubs.

As the tariffs took effect, Apple reportedly looked to speed up and increase its production of India-produced devices in recent days.

Trump had planned for a host of steep tariffs on countries around the world to take effect this week.

But on Wednesday he announced he would implement a 90-day pause for countries hit by higher US tariffs - except China, whose tariffs he raised to 145%.

Trump said the tariff increase for China was because of the country's readiness to retaliate with its own 84% levy on US goods.

In a dramatic change of policy, Trump said all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive the reprieve – and only face a blanket tariff of 10% – until July.

The White House then said the move was a negotiating tactic to extract more favourable trade terms from other countries.

Trump has said his import taxes will address unfairness in the global trading system, as well as bring jobs and factories back to the US.

It follows concerns that tech prices could skyrocket, as many gadgets are made in China, with the US president saying he will give more detail on Monday.

Trump exempts smartphones and computers from new tariffs

Chris Mason: British Steel law rushed through Parliament but it is just a stop gap

4 hours ago Share Save Chris Mason • @ChrisMasonBBC Political editor Share Save

PA Media The prime minister met steelworkers in Lincolnshire shortly after the House of Commons sitting

There was a moment where all they could do was wait. Government officials were holed up in a Premier Inn down the road from British Steel's steelworks in Scunthorpe and parliament's work to change the law to allow them to take control of the Chinese-owned company was complete. But they couldn't move yet. All they could do – along with all the politicians 200 miles south in Westminster - was wait. They were waiting for Royal Assent, the formality in the legislative process when the King formally agrees to make a bill an act of parliament, and so the law. Not that this was snail's pace law-making, far from it. This was a legislative sprint, the timeline from First Reading to Royal Assent measured in hours, not the months it would normally take. That moment of Royal Assent happened at around 18:00 on Saturday night and with that those officials could head into the plant. The after emergency legislation was rushed through Parliament in a single day.

There were concerns in government about the prospect of unrest. Around 40% of the workforce there are Chinese, 60% are British. Many of the Chinese staff have worked for British Steel's parent company, Jingye, all of their working lives. Some have parents or grandparents who worked for the firm too. Most are now leaving. A new management structure has been put in place, with the professional services firm EY having been hired by the government to assist with this. There is an optimism among ministers that with the law changed they can secure the necessary raw materials to keep the two working blast furnaces in Scunthorpe doing just that - working.

Reuters The British Steel plant in Scunthorpe employs 2,700 people

Jingye had been seeking to sell off to other buyers raw materials already en route to Lincolnshire, which is what convinced the government it had to act and act quickly. Others, not least the Conservatives, wonder if it really did need to be so last minute and whether some of these problems could have been anticipated much sooner. And some within the industry say the moment of jeopardy has not yet passed. Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns it? Securing the necessary materials to keep blast furnaces up and running isn't like ordering something online via click and collect - these are highly complex international supply chains with long time lags and at a time of trading turmoil with President Trump's tariffs. And remember all of this, for all of the Westminster drama of a weekend sitting, is just a stop gap. Nationalisation, the government taking on full ownership of British Steel, looks increasingly likely.

PA Media Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged in the Commons that public ownership was "the likely option"

For all of Saturday's drama, the government's intervention so far is just a stop gap, writes our political editor.

Chris Mason: British Steel law rushed through Parliament but it is just a stop gap

What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about? What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about?

Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

The Briefing Room - What's Trump's tariff hokey cokey all about? - BBC Sounds

Can UK afford to save British Steel – and can it afford not to?

2 hours ago Share Save Laura Kuenssberg • @bbclaurak Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg Share Save

BBC

"Who was going to blink first?" A source involved in the fraught negotiations since the election over the future of British Steel told me that as time passed, and literally, coal to keep the furnaces burning started to run out, that was the question - was the government going to offer even more to the Chinese owners of British Steel, Jingye, or act itself? On Saturday, the government is changing the law to answer that question. Unless something truly weird happens, Parliament will vote to give Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, the power to tell British Steel what to do – in practice, buying coal to keep the fires burning, to keep the once mighty steel industry alive. Even on Thursday he was offering taxpayers' cash to buy the raw materials to keep the furnaces alive as a sweetener for Jingye. At one point in the talks, sources suggest they were asking for a billion-pound taxpayer bailout to keep the plant alive. But I'm told that price wouldn't have been accompanied by any guarantee that jobs would be saved, or the plant protected for good. Taking control on Saturday does not do that. The Chinese owners will remain the shareholders, for now. But Labour's decision literally and metaphorically keeps the flames alive – the government hopes. And it commits taxpayers to start coughing up to save the steel industry – for how long, is a more complicated question.

PA Media The government says it has not ruled out nationalising British Steel, which employs 2,700 people

So what then? Theoretically, Jingye could "get their act together and take the company back", one insider suggests. Talking to interested parties on Friday night, that seemed vanishingly unlikely. The UK government has spent the last couple of weeks trying to tempt them to stay on board with huge inducements. That failed, so the chances of getting back involved seem pretty slim. Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns it? There is the possibility that another company wants to swoop in and rescue the business. Again, don't hold your breath – the company has been losing money hand over fist, the blast furnaces are nearing the end of their useful life, and the cost of energy it gulps is enormous. So in the current state, taking on the business as an offer? It's not that pretty. Remember Jingye were the only bidder last time round – when a Conservative source says, "there were no other bidders – the alternative was closure or nationalisation, and the Conservatives were never going to nationalise". So will Labour?

Reuters British Steel says it may soon run out of raw materials needed to keep its two blast furnaces running

As of this weekend, that seems pretty likely. Remember the action in Parliament later does not mean nationalisation. But it's a necessary first step if that is what's going to happen. You've probably heard ministers again and again say "all options are on the table" - that's their get out of jail card where they don't commit to anything in case their preferred option suddenly disappears. But as MPs gather to vote on the next steps, a journey towards nationalisation certainly feels like the direction. Two different sources who have been part of the wider discussions tell me the prime minister has come to believe that taking British Steel back into public hands is what the government will have to do. There are practical and political reasons for why that might come to pass. First, for the government to have a hope of achieving its aims - building infrastructure, spending more on defence at home, growing the economy and protecting jobs - it is logical to preserve a steel industry in this country. That's not just because ministers are loathe to see good jobs disappear. But because in government, the capacity to make steel is an important part of what the UK needs to be able to do. If the plant closes, the UK would become the only G7 country without primary steel making capability. That wasn't something the government was willing to tolerate. So if the private sector won't do it – enter the state. Although, it wouldn't be unfair to wonder why they have ended up making this decision at the last minute when the fuel for the furnaces is about to run out, given it was three weeks ago that the company sounded the alarm about possible closures.

Reuters Rachel Reeves has told workers the government will consider nationalisation if needed to protect jobs

Second, that requirement to act has become politically attractive because it fits into Sir Keir Starmer's more and more familiar script, that the new world order has changed – governments need to be more active and agile in protecting their own interests. It follows, if, as Treasury Minister Darren Jones, told us last week, globalisation is over, then the UK has to be able to make the materials and products like steel that it really needs itself. One source remarks: "Dragging the Tories to Parliament over the weekend to back the Labour government's plans to save British steel: I can finally see why people said government was worth it". It is politics after all. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has blamed the government's "incompetence" for the last-minute recall, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said it was an opportunity to come up with "a serious plan" for domestic steel production. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the government's plan was just a "short-term sticking plaster" and both he and the Green Party have called for public ownership as the only option. It is worth remembering the problems in the steel industry didn't start with Donald Trump, or this government, or even Jingye. Steel was nationalised in 1967, then sold back into the private sector in 1988. Frantic negotiations with government about jobs, bailouts, survival are familiar. But there is gathering momentum around nationalisation as the solution, in a way unthinkable not so long ago. Hypothetical conversations started at the top of government a couple of months ago about the possibility, detailed work only in the last week or so. But there is a growing consensus - one source familiar with the situation even says, "nationalisation is inevitable and has been for some time".

Getty Images Talks have been held this week to try to keep the company running, after its Chinese owner said the blast furnaces are no longer financially viable

But – "the hurdles are huge" – a source tells me. The most obvious obstacle? Cold hard cash, way beyond the initial price tag for raw materials to keep Scunthorpe going for a few more weeks. In the long term, the blast furnaces are near the end of their life, the plant needs investment, massive investment, to make it safe and to have a proper future. One industry source told me modern electric furnaces could have a price tag as as much as £3bn each, and Scunthorpe might need two. Energy costs for new or existing furnaces are enormous. In Number 10 and Number 11 there is an acknowledgement that the costs of energy for industry can be crippling. That could be another area where government is keen to act. The government hasn't yet shared, or hasn't yet worked out, what the potential cost of taking on the plant in the long term might be. A Treasury source says it will have to be within the current plans for spending. And you don't need me to remind you again how tight Number 11 says money is, how tightly Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to stick to her spending rules. And yet – if a big ticket effective nationalisation is the political choice, and it runs to many billions? Let's see. MPs voting later won't determine the entire future for British Steel. But it puts the government on a path to make real some of its rhetoric in recent weeks, as one figure put it – "neoliberalism is over. Ownership matters again - Labour needs to define Britain's place in this new, new world order". But passing a law in a rush is one thing. Political excitement another. Sir Keir used to attract ire from the left of his own party for walking away from some of his previous beliefs in common ownership, nationalising vital industries. Embarking on an expensive and complicated adventure to preserve a struggling multi-billion pound industry was not meant to be part of the plan.

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The vote later won't determine British Steel's future, but is a first step towards a possible nationalisation.

Laura Kuenssberg: Can UK afford to save British Steel – and can it afford not to?

Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns it?

1 hour ago Share Save Jennifer Meierhans Business reporter Sean Seddon BBC News Share Save

Getty Images

The UK government is poised to take control of a major British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, which is at risk of imminent closure. MPs have been called back from their Easter break to pass an emergency law which would keep the Chinese-owned site operating.

What is British Steel and how many people work there?

British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, employs 2,700 people, about three-quarters of the company's entire workforce. It is the last plant in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, which is used in major construction projects like new buildings and railways. Two huge blast furnaces are used to produce the steel, which has fewer imperfections than the recycled steel made elsewhere in the country. Were the plant to cease producing virgin steel, then the UK would become the only member of the G7 group of leading economies without the ability to make it - a prospect the government views as a risk to the country's long-term economic security.

Who owns British Steel and why is it losing money?

The company was founded in 2016 when Tata Steel sold its loss-making long products division in Scunthorpe to private investment firm Greybull Capital for a token £1. The new owners renamed the business British Steel. Following a period of financial instability, British Steel was taken over by the government's insolvency service in 2019 and then acquired by Chinese steel-making firm Jingye the following year. The company says the plant continues to lose £700,000 a day despite £1.2bn of investment. It has begun a 45-day consultation on job cuts. Jingye says the blast furnaces are no longer sustainable, blaming "highly challenging" market conditions, tariffs and costs associated with transitioning to lower-carbon production techniques.

Reuters

The blast furnaces generate the extreme heat needed to produce virgin steel and are fuelled by coking coal and iron pellets - but supplies of those raw materials at the Scunthorpe plant are running low. That adds a time pressure to the British Steel talks because once a blast furnace shuts down, it is a costly and complex process to restart it again. Last month, the company was accused by one of its customers of failing to order the raw materials needed to keep the site going, a claim which Jingye rejected. UK steel production has been falling for several decades and the financial pressures facing the industry were heightened in March when the US imposed a 25% tariff on any steel it imports. Global over-production of steel has created "a glut of steel on the international market", according to a UK government briefing on the industry, which has pushed prices down. British manufacturers also face higher costs, particularly on electricity, than elsewhere.

Could the UK government take control?

The government has ordered MPs to return from their Easter breaks for an unusual weekend sitting in the Commons, as it weighs up options to protect the site. On Friday, Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to fast-track a law through Parliament which would give the government the power to assume control of some of the site's operations. That would include the ability to order raw materials to keep the furnaces running and to direct the company's workforce and board. The government has told the company's UK management to keep the site operational, and the emergency law will ensure that any employees who are sacked by the Chinese owners can be reinstated. This intervention stops short of nationalisation - when a government takes ownership and control of a company - but Sir Keir said the government would do "everything possible" to "protect" the UK's steel industry.

Getty Images Sir Keir Starmer has said he is committed to keeping UK steel operations going

The prime minister's decision to announce emergency legislation follows tense talks between the government and Jingye earlier this week, which appear to have largely broken down. The government offered to buy the raw materials needed to keep the furnaces going but Jingye did not agree to that proposal. Unions have said the situation is on a "cliff-edge", while the Community Union described the lack of supplies needed to keep the furnaces operational as an "extreme emergency". Linda McCulloch from the Unite union said they would like the government to nationalise the site "to keep steelmaking alive in the UK". The GMB trade union has raised concerns to the BBC about the way Jingye is operating the plant.

Who else produces steel in the UK?

MPs are having an emergency debate on the future of the UK's only remaining plant making virgin steel.

Why is British Steel in trouble, who owns it and what will the government do?

A bitter price hike in US coffee shops after tariffs

7 hours ago Share Save Sakshi Venkatraman and Imogen James BBC News, Washington DC Share Save

BBC Jorge Prudencio says the price of his Colombian-imported coffee is rising

The price for a cup of coffee in the US is going up as tariffs put the squeeze on local café and bakery owners. Some US businesses say the queues for a morning latte are already getting shorter as customers tighten their belts and imported beans become more expensive. Americans spend $100bn (£76bn) a year on coffee, though that might be about to change. Jorge Prudencio, who runs Bread Bite Bakery in Washington DC, says his Colombia-based coffee distributer just increased prices after the sweeping tariffs went into effect last week.

The vast majority of coffee in the US is imported. In fact, the US is the world's second-leading importer of coffee, with the majority coming from Brazil and Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Since 5 April, coffee imports have been affected by the 10% US tariffs against most countries. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Prudencio said his coffee suppliers have told him his next order will carry yet another price hike. He added that his bakery will "definitely" be increasing prices for customers just to break even. Asked if he is worried, Mr Prudencio said: "Of course."

Kamal Mortada says: "We have less customers for coffee"

The manager of Au Lait café just down the street, Kamal Mortada, said he's been seeing the effect of steadily increasing prices for a while now. Inflation spiked to a 40-year high under former US President Joe Biden. Before the tariffs kicked in, ground coffee reached the highest ever recorded price in March 2025, and was over a dollar more expensive than the previous year, and $3 above March 2020 prices. "We have less customers for coffee," Mr Mortada said.

"Most customers just get plain coffee," instead of adding syrups and milks, he said. The prices on the menu have gone up by 25% and people are now buying smaller coffees. Mr Mortada has also changed his own habits as a consumer. Instead of his regular trip to Starbucks, he brews coffee at home. He said he has seen the price of a cup of coffee go up by at least half a dollar, and is worried prices will rise again.

Jenny Ngo Jenny Ngo says: "We unfortunately project to raise prices again"

On the opposite coast in San Francisco, another local coffee shop owner is grappling with what the tariffs will mean for her business. Jenny Ngo, who runs Telescope Coffee, said she was waiting to hear how much her roaster will hike prices. The coffee she sells is sourced from Ethiopia and Guatemala, both facing the standard 10% tariff. She also imports her iced coffee cups from China - and said she noticed the prices on those jumped overnight. "We unfortunately project to raise prices again in order to sustain our business," she said.

Mr Prudencio remains confident that people will still come to his shop and buy coffee. He said it is something people need. But recent inflation has also affected the price of eggs, crucial to his bakery side of the business. He said they paid $42 per case when the bakery opened five months ago, but two weeks later it was more than $100 per case.

"Everybody is going through the same thing. We all pay the price." The price of eggs is a key symbol of the health of the US economy, often an arguing point for politicians. President Donald Trump has argued he will get the cost of eggs down, blaming rising prices on the Biden administration, which culled millions of egg-laying chickens amid a bird flu outbreak. But in March, egg prices reached a record high at $6.22 per dozen, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Higher prices are worrying independent US coffee shops, which import almost all their beans.

Trump tariffs: A bitter price hike in US coffee shops

Investors facing tariff turmoil: 'It's fastest finger first'

24 hours ago Share Save Mitch Labiak & Natalie Sherman BBC News Share Save

Getty Images

As a former champion runner, Richard McDonald can move quickly. But the speed of the market falls, triggered by the sweeping global tariffs Donald Trump announced last week, still kept him on his toes. Previously a trader for Credit Suisse, he now buys and sells stocks privately. At his laptop in London last week, he watched as the president unveiled a poster board outlining tariff rates, some as high as 50%, for imports from countries around the world. He raced to understand which companies might be worst hit. Then he sold.

"There are billions being wiped off share prices every second, so it's really 'fastest finger first'," he said. "My mind was sprinting." In 25 years of trading, he said he had rarely experienced anything like it.

Richard McDonald

Trillions were wiped off the value of financial markets around the world in the aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement. Leading share indexes in the US and UK saw some of the steepest declines since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, dropping more than 10% over three days. Oil prices sank and so did the dollar. By Wednesday, the worries had spread to the bond market, as investors started dumping US government debt, usually a safe haven for investors in times of uncertainty. When Trump announced he was putting some of the most eye-watering tariffs on pause, shares stopped sliding and rallied. But the market turmoil was far from over. Trump left in place a tariff of 10% on imports from most countries and a tariff of 145% on goods from China, America's third largest source of imports after the European Union and Mexico. A day after the announcement, the S&P 500 dropped another 3.5%, the Dow slid 2.5% and the Nasdaq fell 4.3%.

At St Louis-based Argent Capital Management, the mood, said portfolio manager Jed Ellerbroek, was "still miserable". Some of his firm's holdings, like health insurance giant United Healthcare, have done well over the last week, as investors look for companies likely to be able to weather the tariff storm. But his third largest investment is Apple, which makes the majority of its iPhones and other products in China. "Trump has induced a gigantic amount of uncertainty into the global economy and consumers and investors and business managers are reeling and unable to make long-term decisions," Mr Ellerboek said. "We are really on hold, because we only trade when we have high conviction levels," he said. "What do we do with Apple? I don't know. I'm not going to change when I have no clue what the tariff rate is going to be next week," he said.

Traders are trying to reckon with impact of Trump's shifting tariff policy.

Investors facing tariff turmoil: 'It's fastest finger first'

Why Beijing is not backing down on tariffs

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn't have to.

China's leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.

Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a massive volume of sales to the US but, to put it into context, this only amounted to 2% of its GDP.

That said, the Communist Party would clearly prefer not to be locked in a trade war with the US at a time when it has been struggling to fix its own considerable economic headaches, after years of a real estate crisis, overblown regional debt and persistent youth unemployment.

However, despite this, the government has told its people that it is in a strong position to resist the attacks from the US.

It also knows its own tariffs are clearly going to hurt US exporters as well.

Trump has been bragging to his supporters that it would be easy to force China into submission by simply hitting the country with tariffs, but this has proven to be misleading in the extreme.

Beijing is not going to surrender.

Amid a trade war with the US, our China correspondent explains why Beijing doesn't need to change tactics.

Analysis: Why Beijing is not backing down to Trump on Tariffs

Jobs fears as disability scheme owes businesses thousands

6 hours ago Share Save Michael Buchanan Senior Social Affairs Correspondent Share Save

Contributor handout It took six months for Lucy Earle to be assigned an Access to Work caseworker

Businesses employing disabled people say they are owed hundreds of thousands of pounds by the government, and fear they may have to let staff go. Under the Access to Work scheme, companies and employees can apply for grants to help support disabled people in the workplace. But businesses have told the BBC there are backlogs and huge payment delays leaving them out of pocket. One company told the BBC it is owed nearly £200,000 by the Access to Work scheme and is worried it may have to close. Another said it had already been forced to shut down in part due to problems with the programme. Access to Work was highlighted by ministers as a way of boosting the job prospects of disabled people when the government announced multi-billion pound welfare cuts last month. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said they had recently introduced a "streamlined claims process" to make swifter payments to businesses. The programme can pay individuals with disabilities and the businesses that employ them for the extra costs associated with being in work. It covers a broad range of support, from paying for taxis to powered wheelchairs.

Chief Executive Sheldon McMullan says problems with the scheme present "an existential threat"

Yateley Industries is a near 90-year-old charity in Hampshire that employs almost 60 people, most of whom have disabilities, in a range of packaging jobs. It says it is owed £186,000 by the Access to Work scheme. "It's an existential threat to us," says chief executive, Sheldon McMullan. "If we don't get it, we could potentially close this magical place forever, and that would be a tragedy for the local community and for the government's agenda more broadly." Yateley Industries is part of a nationwide forum of dozens of supported businesses - companies specialising in employing disabled people. Mr McMullan says many others are affected by the backlog. "The annoying thing is that it's money that's been granted to us," he adds. "We have the paperwork saying this is what each person's been awarded, but the claim system is not set up for us to draw down the money effectively." Businesses say that as well as poor internal processes at the Department for Work and Pensions, there has also been a large increase in the bureaucracy associated with Access to Work in recent months, with many more forms having to be filled in and then posted – not uploaded or emailed – to the DWP. "Until ministers realise that they've got this wrong, they're in danger of pushing so many disabled people out of the workplace," says Steven McGurk, president of the trade union, Community Union. "Its very bureaucratic, very difficult to claim - it's the biggest threat to disabled people's employment."

Sarah Thorp's No Limits cafe employed people with learning disabilities

In Newton Abbott in Devon, a cafe that employed people with learning disabilities shut last month. Its founders say new restrictions and problems with Access to Work contributed to the closure. Sarah Thorp, who set up the No Limits cafe, said the scheme had in recent months started to refuse funding for people who wanted to get some work experience. The decision came despite the local Job Centre recommending the individuals to the cafe. The change left the business with a shortfall of £800 a week. "In the last 18 months, we've got 20 people into paid employment, all with disabilities," she says. "When the issues around work experience changed in the last few months, we had to turn people down because we could not fund the support. It just seems really counter-intuitive when all the rhetoric is around getting disabled adults into work." When the government unveiled cuts and restrictions to disability benefits last month, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, name-checked the Access to Work scheme as a programme that could help those who will lose out to get a job. As well as businesses being able to claim, disabled people themselves can apply for help under the scheme. They are also suffering delays and backlogs; in October, there were 55,000 outstanding applications, according to the DWP. Some claimants are waiting more than six months to be assessed, with people writing on social media that the delays have resulted in them losing job offers. The Department for Work and Pensions says it prioritises those who are newly offered a job.

Contributor handout Lucy has struggled going into work because she does not have a suitable wheelchair

One firm says it is owed £186,000 by the Access to Work scheme and is worried it may have to close.

Jobs fears as Access to Work disability scheme owes businesses thousands

Parliament to debate emergency law to save British Steel

13 minutes ago Share Save Paul Seddon Political reporter Zoe Conway Employment correspondent Share Save

Reuters

Parliament will be recalled on Saturday to pass an emergency law to save British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe from imminent closure. At a press conference, Sir Keir Starmer said the legislation would allow ministers to "take control" of the Lincolnshire plant, which employs 2,700 people. The move opens the door to a full nationalisation of the company at a later stage, with the prime minister saying "all options" remained on the table. Talks have been taking place this week to keep production going at the firm, after its Chinese owner said its blast furnaces are "no longer financially sustainable". MPs left Westminster for their Easter break on Tuesday, and were not due to return until 22 April.

Both Houses of Parliament are being recalled, with Sir Keir confirming the government wants to pass the legislation in a single day. The prime minister added that the future of the company "hangs in the balance". Adding that steelmaking was "essential for our future", he added: "our economic and national security are all on the line". Chinese company Jingye, which bought British Steel in 2020, says it has invested more than £1.2bn into the company to maintain operations, but has been suffering financial losses of around £700,000 a day. The business department said the new law would give the government powers to order raw materials to keep the site's two running blast furnaces going, with supplies otherwise due to run out in the coming weeks. It added it would also allow ministers to direct the company's board and workforce, and ensure anyone at the plant "who takes steps to keep it running, against the orders of the Chinese ownership" can be reinstated if they are sacked.

'Foundation industry'

The company announced plans last month to shed jobs at the Scunthorpe site, blaming "highly challenging" market conditions, tariffs and costs associated with lower-carbon production techniques. The government has offered £500m of support to partly fund a switch from blast furnaces to more energy efficient electric arc furnaces. But the offer has been rejected by the company. Earlier this week, the government offered to buy the coking coal to keep the blast furnaces running until a longer-term solution to saving the plant could be found, but was unable to get the company to agree to this in tense negotiations this week. The business secretary is thought to have lost confidence in the company's Chinese owners, with a government source saying they are "no longer trustworthy partners". The move to take control of the company has been welcomed by unions representing employees at the site, with Unite saying it would grant workers a "reprieve" whilst a longer-term solution is worked out. "Ministers could not have allowed a foundation industry to go under," added general secretary Sharon Graham. The GMB union said the government's move looked like the "first step" towards nationalisation, which it supported as the "only way to save the UK steel industry". Steelworkers' union Community said the government could not allow the UK to become the only country in the G7 group of advanced economies "without primary steelmaking capacity".

'Sticking plaster'

The PM says legislation will allow the government to "take control"' of the firm's Scunthorpe plant.

Parliament recalled to debate emergency law to save British Steel

Global breakthrough to tackle shipping emissions

5 hours ago Share Save Esme Stallard Climate and science reporter Share Save

Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Countries have agreed a global deal to tackle shipping emissions, after nearly ten years of negotiations. The agreement covers the vast majority of the world's commercial shipping and means that starting in 2028, ship owners will have to use increasingly cleaner fuels or face fines. The deal was nearly derailed after Saudi Arabia forced a last minute vote and the US pulled out of talks in London – but it eventually passed on Friday. Small island states and environmental groups were angry that a blanket tax was not agreed to and called the deal "unfit for purpose".

Shipping accounts for around 3% of global emissions. But unlike many other sectors it has struggled to reduce its carbon footprint over the last decade and is reliant on fossil fuels like diesel. But the agreement means it is now the first industry in the world with internationally mandated targets to reduce emissions. The agreement was passed at the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting. It will require owners of large international vessels to increase their use of less carbon intensive fuels or face a penalty of up to $380 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions they emit from burning fuel. Although the final agreement was passed, it had to be put to a vote - an unusual move for UN bodies that usually agree measures by consensus. The vote was requested by Saudi Arabia, who did not support the agreement, and this position was shared by a dozen other oil-producing nations, including Russia. Although they opposed the proposal, they will be bound to implement it because they are members of the IMO. There have been moves to improve the efficiency of ships, but emissions have continued to increase in line with global trade - 90% of which is carried by ships. The most effective measure would be to switch ships away from fossil fuels to green fuels, but that would be very expensive. "There is no fuel as cheap as diesel that ships use today because when we take crude oil out of the ground, we take out all the nice bits, that's the kerosene for aviation, diesel and petrol for cars," said Faig Abbasov, programme director for maritime transport at think tank Transport and Environment. "Whatever is left at the bottom, that's what ships burn. So no fuel will be as cheap as this because not much energy goes into its production," he said. In comparison, the most environmentally friendly fuels like e-kerosene and ammonia are created from initially splitting water atoms to obtain hydrogen, which is a very energy-intensive and costly process. Figures vary depending on the fuel type but the World Economic Forum estimates that these green fuels are 3-4 times more expensive to produce. "There's still a huge cost gap between the fossil fuels and the zero emission fuels and we need to close this gap. So you need carrots and sticks and in shipping the stick is not that big yet to use sustainable fuels," said Refke Gunnewijk, program manager for sustainable transport at the Port of Rotterdam.

Reuters Nearly 90% of the world's goods are moved via ship and the industry continues to grow in line with trade volumes

Some island states also abstained and said the deal was a watered down version of what they hoped for. An earlier proposal to apply a blanket carbon tax or levy - which would have been a world first - was dropped. "Let us be clear about who has abandoned 1.5°C. Saudi Arabia, the US and fossil fuel allies pushed down the numbers to an untenable level and blocked progress at every turn," said Ralph Regenvanu, minister of energy and climate change for Vanuatu. Their disappointment was shared by environmental groups. "This week, IMO member states squandered a golden opportunity for the global shipping sector to show the world how it can turn the tide on catastrophic climate heating, putting their own goals out of reach", said Delaine McCullough, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition. It is estimated that the agreement could achieve an 8% reduction in emissions for the sector by 2030, according to the maritime consultancy UMAS. This would be short of the IMO's target agreed two years ago to cut emissions by 20% by the end of the decade. But China and Brazil had previously raised concerns that a levy could result in a significant price increase for basic goods like food. Both countries backed the final deal. Jesse Fahnestock, director of decarbonisation at the Global Maritime Forum, said that the deal was a compromise. "It is a difficult set of decisions, but it is the first regulation of its kind and that is to be celebrated," he said. Listen: How to clean up the shipping industry Fahnestock added it was unclear if the penalties were enough to close the cost gap between the fuel types. "You may have incentivised shipowners to prepare a bit for the future fuels but whether the signal is strong enough to get the billions of dollars of investment into the production facilities for these fuels - I don't think these regulations will overcome that. I think more will need to be done," he said. Any money raised from the penalties will be put into a "Net Zero" fund, with money spent on scaling up greener fuels and supporting developing countries. It is this "redistribution" that prompted the US delegation to pull out of the talks on Tuesday night. A letter was sent by the US to all countries at the IMO negotiations saying any levy would cause inflation and if it was passed then "reciprocal measures" would be taken. Although the US move was at odds with its long-held position at the IMO, it was in keeping with President Trump's push back on climate action seen over the last few months - such as withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. But industry and country delegates appeared unperturbed when speaking to the BBC on Wednesday and continued with negotiations. The US only flags 178 cargo ships that represent 0.57% of worldwide commercial shipping tonnage. So if it took the decision not to implement the new proposals it is unlikely to make a significant difference to the funds raised. Now the committee have agreed the measure, it is expected to be formally adopted in October.

Countries break ten-year deadlock to agree measures to reduce commercial shipping emissions.

Global breakthrough agreement to tackle shipping emissions

Trump recognises tariff 'transition problems' as US markets fall again

Watch: Trump cites 'transition costs' and 'problems' in wake of tariff fallout

Meanwhile, markets continued to face a turbulent time on Thursday, following Trump's 10% tariff announcement for all countries except China.

Despite this, Trump said he was still hoping to secure a deal with China. "I think we'll end up working something out that's very good for both countries. I look forward to it," he said.

His statement on Thursday comes hours after the White House said that tariffs on China would reach 145% for some products due to a pre-existing 20% levy imposed on those producing the drug fentanyl.

Donald Trump has said there will "always be transition problems" and "difficulty" as markets fell again amid continued uncertainty over the US president's global tariff war.

Trump on Wednesday paused his threat to impose tariffs as high as 50% on "worst offender" countries, but pressed on with his trade war with China.

Beijing has shown no sign of backing down, this week increasing its retaliatory tariffs to 84% on American products.

The three major US stock markets managed to regain some initial ground early on Thursday. However by closing, the S&P 500 lost 3.6%, the Dow Jones 2.5% and the Nasdaq 4.31%. Warner Bros Discovery shares fell 14% on Thursday, while Amazon and Apple who were both down 7%.

In a televised cabinet meeting, Trump said there would "always be transition difficulty" but added that "it was the biggest day in history in markets".

He said that investors were happy with how the US was running and that they were "trying to get the world to treat us fairly".

He claimed that "everybody wants to come and make a deal" to reduce tariffs.

Echoing Trump's statements in the meeting, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that many countries were coming to talk and that they'd come with "offers they never would have" if it was not for the president's policies.

"We're getting the respect we deserve now," he added. "I think you're going to see historic deals one after the other."

Trump said the US would "love to be able to work a deal (with China)", adding that he had "great respect for President Xi" and thought that they would "end up working something out that's very good for both countries".

However, he repeated his claims that China had "taken advantage" and "ripped off" the US "more than anybody" for a long time.

China announced that it would cut the number of American-made films shown in its cinemas, and claimed the tariff dispute has dampened audience appetite for Hollywood.

Beijing already restricts US releases to 34 a year, and Hollywood has become less important in China as homegrown films increase in popularity.

The European Union meanwhile said it would be pausing the countermeasures it had planned to impose on the US from 15 April also for 90 days.

Twenty-six EU member states – all bar Hungary – had voted to impose retaliatory tariffs on Wednesday if the US imposed its levy of 20%.

In a statement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU wanted "to give negotiations a chance".

The White House also confirmed that the tariffs on China would reach 145% due to a pre-existing 20% levy on fentanyl

Trump recognises tariff 'transition difficulty' as US markets fall again

Police raid hundreds of barber shops, vape stores and mini-marts suspected of being fronts for crime gangs - the BBC follows the operation

Police Raid Shops Suspected Of Money Laundering

Luxury watch firm to close showrooms and cut jobs

4 hours ago Share Save Tom Oakley BBC News, East Midlands Share Save

Getty Images The watch retailer opened 22 showrooms, refurbished 15 and acquired 15 through Ernest Jones last year

A luxury watch retailer has confirmed it will close 16 showrooms across the country and has put dozens of roles at risk. The Watches of Switzerland Group - based at Carlton Park in King Edward Avenue, Leicestershire - said 40 people were expected to leave the business. Where possible, affected staff at the company - which has 709 support service staff members - will be redeployed. The company said its "priority [was] to support all affected colleagues".

It comes after the business, which has 155 showrooms across the UK, opened "one of the largest" Rolex boutiques in Europe in London earlier this month, a spokesperson said. In the last reported financial year, the group opened 22 showrooms, refurbished 15 and acquired 15 through jewellers Ernest Jones. A statement from the Watches of Switzerland Group said: "We continually assess our operations to remain as efficient and productive as possible. "Whilst we intend to continue growing our showroom estate organically and by acquisition, following a recent review, we have regrettably made the difficult decision to close 16 showrooms in the UK. "We have also reviewed our support services to ensure we are operating in the most efficient and productive way to power our retail growth and are regrettably proposing that circa 40 roles will be at risk of redundancy." The firm has not yet said which showrooms will close.

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The firm, based in Leicestershire, expects 40 roles to go as part of the changes.