Category Archives: Business

White House to end US tariff exemption for all low-value overseas packages

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Under Trump order, parcels valued at or under $800 outside of international postal network to face ‘all applicable duties’

The United States is suspending a “de minimis” exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped to the United States without facing tariffs, the White House said on Wednesday.

Under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Wednesday, packages valued at or under $800 sent to the US outside of the international postal network will now face “all applicable duties” starting on 29 August, the White House said.

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Bank of England governor blocks Rachel Reeves’s Revolut meeting

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Concerns about chancellor’s involvement in independent process over fintech’s banking licence

The governor of the Bank of England blocked a meeting that Rachel Reeves tried to secure with watchdogs and Revolut, amid concerns the chancellor was meddling in an independent process over the fintech’s UK banking licence.

Andrew Bailey intervened after learning of the plan to bring together representatives from Revolut, the Treasury and the Bank’s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, to discuss the fintech’s ambitions to become a fully authorised UK bank.

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HSBC boss says Rachel Reeves putting up bank taxes would harm UK growth

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Georges Elhedery’s comments come amid speculation the chancellor could make such a move in autumn budget

The boss of HSBC has joined a growing chorus of bankers cautioning Rachel Reeves against increasing taxes on banks in her autumn budget, warning it risked “eroding” investment and ultimately harming UK growth.

Georges Elhedery, its chief executive, said banks in the UK were already subject to the highest level of taxes on profits compared with other sectors, and paid more than in most other countries. He said placing further financial pressures on lenders could spell trouble for the UK economy.

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US and China poised to extend tariff truce after failing to find resolution at talks

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Trump will need to approve pause, say US representatives after negotiations end with sides failing to break deadlock on trade terms

US and Chinese negotiators have agreed in principle to push back the deadline for escalating tariffs, although America’s representatives said any extension would need Donald Trump’s approval.

Officials from both sides said after two days of talks in Stockholm that while had failed to find a resolution across the many areas of dispute they had agreed to extend a pause due to run out on 12 August.

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Rising UK food prices turn cash-strapped shoppers away from high street

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BRC says food prices rose by 4% in July from 2024, while CBI blames economic uncertainty for people not spending

Britain’s largest retailers struggled to entice shoppers back to the high street in July as the rising cost of meat and butter drove up food prices, adding to the pressure on household finances.

According to the latest snapshot from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) food prices rose by 4% in July from a year earlier, up from 3.7% in June and above the three-month average of 3.5%.

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New mortgage affordability rules help UK housing market avoid summer lull

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Record number of homes for sale has created ‘buyer’s market’ and kept price rises in check, Zoopla report says

The typical summer lull in Britain’s housing market has been avoided amid the availability of bigger home loans fuelling a “buyer’s market”, according to a property website.

Despite the signs of a bustling market, Zoopla said it had halved its house price forecast for 2025 as buyers were taking into account increased stamp duty costs in their offers in England and Northern Ireland.

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Von der Leyen ducks Trump’s trade blitz – but deal exposes EU’s faultlines

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Europe may have staved off an economic clash, but the compromise leaves the bloc facing higher tariffs and internal discord

There is no doubt that Ursula von der Leyen was under intense pressure on Sunday when she sat next to Donald Trump in the ballroom at his Turnberry golf course before what EU officials knew would be a gruelling round of trade talks.

As the European Commission president emerged less than an hour later to announce that the worst of Trump’s tariff threats had been avoided, the recriminations from inside the EU began almost immediately.

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Boeing fighter jet workers poised to strike after rejecting contract offer

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Plane maker expects over 3,200 union workers at three St Louis-area plants to strike after overwhelming no vote

Boeing Co expects more than 3,200 union workers at three St Louis-area plants that produce US fighter jets to strike after they rejected a proposed contract on Sunday that included a 20% wage increase over four years.

The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers union said the vote by District 837 members was overwhelmingly against the proposed contract. The existing contract was to expire at 11.59pm central time on Sunday, but the union said a “cooling off” period would keep a strike from beginning for another week, until 4 August.

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Private equity fund offers car tycoon €1.1m to settle claim over investment cash

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Big Motoring World founder Peter Waddell says Freshstream made him forfeit sum as it saw him as a nuisance

A private equity company accused of ousting a multimillionaire used car salesman from his own business has offered to pay €1.1m (£950,000) to settle a separate case with him.

Peter Waddell filed his first high court claim against Freshstream last year, alleging that the investment firm used an independent investigation into contested sexist, racist and abusive comments “as a means of securing [his] exclusion” from his used car empire, Big Motoring World. Freshstream had acquired a one-third share in Big during 2022.

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Women’s Euro 2025 final to cap £800m boost for UK supermarkets, pubs and retailers

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Sunday’s England v Spain match set to be most-watched women’s football match in UK history, benefiting food, drink and hospitality industries

The climax of the exhilarating women’s Euros, as the Lionesses attempt to atone for their loss to Spain at the World Cup, is poised to be the most-watched women’s football match in UK history with the tournament providing a more than £800m boost to supermarkets, pubs and retailers.

With Sunday’s showdown aired on both ITV and the BBC, and their respective streaming services, TV industry executives expect that, with the help of a family-friendly 5pm kick-off time, viewing will eclipse the 14.8 million peak audience when England lost 1-0 to Spain in Sydney two years ago, if the match is close.

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Water chiefs’ pay rises to average of £1.1m despite ban on bonuses and outrage over pollution

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Total remuneration at companies in England and Wales – many of them under scrutiny for sewage discharge – was £15m in 2024-25

The pay of water company chief executives in England and Wales rose by 5% in the last financial year to an average of £1.1m, despite a ban on bonuses for several companies and widespread outrage over the sector’s poor performance.

Total pay reported by water companies reached £15m in 2024-25, up 5% on £13.8m the previous year, according to Guardian analysis of 14 companies’ annual reports.

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‘Come with me, Chuck E’: Florida police arrest mascot for credit card fraud as children look on

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Police arrested employee of the chain after credit card stolen from customer was allegedly found in his possession

Florida police have arrested a Chuck E Cheese mascot for credit card fraud, telling him “Chuck E, come with me” and leading him away in handcuffs while still in his gigantic mouse head costume as horrified children looked on.

Police confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper that they had arrested Jermell Jones, an employee of the chain of family entertainment centers, on three felonies.

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Albanese government to lift ban on working with PwC Australia as police investigation continues

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Exclusive: Finance minister to consider feedback from senators before making decision final

The finance department has found consultancy firm PwC Australia is an ethically sound company and recommended the end of a long-term ban on it working with the government, despite an ongoing police investigation into the company.

But the firm, which sold its entire government consulting business for just $1 at the height of a scandal over the misuse of confidential Treasury information, will not be able to tender for government work until at least 2028 due to a non-compete clause with its spin-off, Scyne Advisory.

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NatWest investors given £1.5bn weeks after full privatisation

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Profits rise 4.4% at lender, which plans to distribute interim dividend of 9.5p a share on top of fresh £750m buyback

NatWest will give a further £1.5bn to shareholders only weeks after the UK government sold the final part of its stake in the once bailed-out bank.

The high street lender on Friday announced plans to distribute an interim dividend of 9.5p a share, worth a collective £768m, on top of a fresh £750m share buyback in the second half of the year.

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Warm weather and live events give lift to retail sales in Great Britain

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Shoppers flock to stores in June for food, drink and merchandise, and also go on short breaks

Sunny summer weather and a packed schedule of events including Wimbledon, concerts by Oasis and Beyoncé, and international cricket and football sent shoppers flocking to retailers and supermarkets last month.

Retail sales volumes in Great Britain rose by 0.9% in June, bouncing back from a sharp fall in May, although slightly below analyst consensus forecasts of a 1.2% month-on-month increase.

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European Central Bank keeps interest rates on hold despite sluggish growth

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Central bank shuns calls to reduce borrowing costs as higher US tariffs loom

The European Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold as figures showed the eurozone economy maintaining a slow pace of economic growth.

In what was widely expected to be a pause before further cuts later in the year, the Frankfurt-based central bank shunned calls to reduce the cost of borrowing and held its main interest rate at 2% and the deposit rate at 2.15%.

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Canterbury student jailed for selling phishing kits to fraudsters

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Ollie Holman created kits that mimicked charity and bank webpages so criminals could harvest victims’ personal details

A 21-year-old student who designed and distributed online kits linked to £100m worth of fraud has been jailed for seven years.

Ollie Holman created phishing kits that mimicked government, bank and charity websites so that criminals could harvest victims’ personal information to defraud them.

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Newsman or businessman? Murdoch walks tightrope in battle with Trump

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Longstanding relationship between media mogul and US president is being tested amid Trump’s lawsuit over a WSJ story about his ties to Epstein

Rupert Murdoch had made up his mind. “We want to make Trump a nonperson,” he assured one of his former executives in a 2021 email, two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Over seven decades, Murdoch has sought to charm, challenge and change prime ministers and presidents as he built one of the world’s most powerful media empires. In this particular endeavor, however, he failed.

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Tesla’s European sales slump as Musk warns of ‘rough quarters’ ahead

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Electric carmaker struggles to emerge from sales rut on continent despite updating its bestselling Model Y

Tesla sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this year, data shows, after Elon Musk warned the electric carmaker faced “a few rough quarters” ahead.

According to the figures published on Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), sales of Tesla vehicles in Europe slumped by 33% to 110,000 in the first half of 2025, compared with 165,000 in the first half of 2024.

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M&S advert banned for featuring model who looked ‘unhealthily thin’

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ASA ruling comes amid fears fashion industry reversing progress in body positivity movement

An advert by high street retailer Marks & Spencer has been banned for featuring an “irresponsible” image of a model who appeared “unhealthily thin”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the model’s pose, choice of clothing and the camera angle which seemed to tilt downwards all contributed to the impression she was too thin.

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