President ‘hereby orders’ US firms to seek alternative locations and suggests Fed Chair is an ‘enemy’
Donald Trump escalated his attacks on China on Friday, bumping up tariffs on Chinese imports and ordering US companies to leave China.
Trump’s announcements on Friday – all on Twitter – came after the president launched another blistering criticism of the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, asking: “Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or [China’s] Chairman Xi?”
Continue reading...Internal correspondence provides new insight into how Facebook staff reacted to concerns about use of user data by political campaign consultants
Internal Facebook correspondence from September 2015, released as part of a US government lawsuit on Friday, reveals new details about Facebook’s early knowledge of potentially improper data collection by Cambridge Analytica.
The existence of the internal discussion was first reported by the Guardian in March 2019. That report marked Facebook’s first acknowledgement that some of its employees were aware of concerns about improper data practices by Cambridge Analytica four months before the Guardian’s 11 December 2015 article exposed them.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson also expected to discuss Iran with Donald Trump at summit in Biarritz
Britain will continue to be an “energetic partner” to its international allies after Brexit, Boris Johnson has said, as he prepared to fly to Biarritz for the G7 summit – his first major appearance on the world stage as prime minister.
Fresh from Brexit discussions in Berlin and Paris this week, Johnson will use a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders in the French resort to underline Britain’s determination to remain internationalist.
Continue reading...On Friday the US president ‘hereby ordered’ companies to halt business with China, among other attacks – how did we get here?
Even by Donald Trump’s standards his Twitter rant attacking China on Friday was extraordinary. In a series of outbursts Trump “hereby ordered” US companies to stop doing business with China, accused the country of killing 100,000 Americans a year with imported fentanyl and stealing hundred of billions in intellectual property.
The attack marked a new low in Sino-US relations and looks certain to escalate a trade war already worrying investors, manufacturers and economists who are concerned that the dispute between the two economic superpowers could trigger a recession.
Continue reading...Charles and David Koch spent millions to promote conservative candidates and causes, provoking anger – and devotion
Charles and David Koch long claimed to belong to a system of belief based in the freedom of the individual, unimpeded trade and lives lived free from the intrusion of tax, drafts, business regulations, welfare support and laws designed to curb free expression.
To that end, and in particular with the financing of the Tea Party revolution, the Kochs spent in excess of $100m to promote conservative candidates and causes. Their actions provoked dismay and anger among liberals and devotion among the conservatives and libertarians whom they funded.
Continue reading...The president is travelling to France for the G7 summit, claiming the economy is ‘phenomenal’ despite some worrying signs
A city council candidate in Michigan said she wants to keep her community white “as much as possible” at a public forum on Thursday.
The candidate, Jean Cramer, made the comment in response to a question about diversity in Marysville, which is 55 miles (88 kilometers) northeast of Detroit and more than 90% of its 9,700-person population is white.
Donald Trump, who tapped into the angst and anger in the rust belt in 2016, has failed to return jobs to Lordstown, Ohio, where a GM plant closed down last year.
The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt visited the town where, he writes, the presence of the factory and its well-paid manufacturing jobs was particularly important:
Related: 'It's devastating'. End of GM in Ohio town as Trump fails to bring back midwest jobs
Continue reading...Investigation to focus on potential crimes against citizens in France and abroad
The chief Paris prosecutor has announced that he is opening an investigation into the rape of minors and a series of other charges linked to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
A statement issued on Friday by the office of Rémy Heitz said the decision to open a preliminary investigation was based on “elements transmitted” to his office and “exchanges with American authorities”.
Continue reading...Duke denies any wrongdoing but revelations continue to make uncomfortable reading
Randy Andy, Air Miles Andy, and now the Duke of Hazard: headline writers have always found evocative ways to shorthand the Queen’s second son at different stages in his royal career.
As the Duke of York, 59, is spotted teeing off at the Real Club Valderrama, the exclusive golf club in Sotogrande, southern Spain, coverage of his controversial former friendship with the disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein continues to make uncomfortable reading for Buckingham Palace.
Continue reading...David Koch, one half of the double act of the billionaire Koch brothers who used their vast wealth as energy tycoons to transform rightwing politics in America with a relentless drive towards free market and libertarian ideals, has died aged 79.
News of his death was first announced by Jane Mayer, the New Yorker writer whose 2016 book Dark Money delved into the shadowy dealings of the brothers, who have become liberal bete noires.
Continue reading...Move puts additional 5% and 10% on imports in latest tit-for-tat between top two economies
China has unveiled retaliatory tariffs against about $75bn (£60bn) worth of US goods, putting up to 10% on top of existing rates in the latest tit-for-tat in the dispute between the world’s top two economies.
The salvo from China on Friday comes after the US unveiled tariffs on an additional $300bn of Chinese goods, including consumer electronics, scheduled to go into effect in two stages on 1 September and 15 December.
Continue reading...Regulator had said it corruptly hired unqualified relatives of foreign officials to win business
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay a $16m (£13m) fine to US authorities overallegations that it hired unqualified relatives of powerful Russian and Chinese government officials to win business.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Germany’s largest lender had used false books to record the hirings, which meant the relatives – known in China as “princelings” – did not have to go through rigorous interview processes.
Continue reading...Exclusive: songwriter discusses her political awakening in a Guardian interview
Taylor Swift has spoken of her disillusionment with American values in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
The 29-year-old songwriter said she began feeling conflicted about what the US stood for when “all the dirtiest tricks in the book were used and it worked”. The Pennsylvania-born musician described the atmosphere in her home country as “gaslighting the American public into being like, ‘If you hate the president, you hate America.’”
Continue reading...Trump has threatened high tariffs on French wine in response to Macron’s tech tax
French wine-makers are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s threats to introduce high tariffs on French wine in retaliation for Emmanuel Macron’s tax on global technology companies, as world leaders gather for the Biarritz G7 summit this weekend.
A new front in Trump’s international trade wars could open up across France’s vineyards, damaging the livelihoods and jobs of small producers, if the US president decides to substantially increase tariffs on French wine as punishment for what he has called the “foolishness” of the new levy on the annual revenues of technology companies.
Continue reading...Trump’s mood is volatile, and the French leader’s approach has had only limited success
Emmanuel Macron reckons he has found the best way of dealing with Donald Trump. It involves acceptance that the US president’s mind will not be changed where a campaign promise is involved. But on everything else – keep talking.
Macron’s method is about to be put to the test once more as Trump arrives on Saturday to join the G7 summit of the world’s major industrialised democracies in Biarritz. So far, the results have been thin at best.
Continue reading...
I’m signing off for the day and handing over the reigns to my talented colleague, Julia Wong. Thanks for sticking with us through what has proved to be a slow but steady news days. Here’s a roundup of the biggest news of the day.
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who became a leading champion of gun control in the wake of the Newtown shooting, has revived hope of action on background checks after Trump appeared to walk back his support.
I spoke with the White House today. They have not walked away from improving background checks. I am skeptical we can reach consensus but I’m willing to stay at the table over next few weeks. Maybe I’m a fool for trying but stakes are too high.
Continue reading...Incident was recounted in an email exchange between a prominent US literary agent and author Evgeny Morozov
Prince Andrew was seen inside the New York apartment of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein getting a foot massage from a young woman, according to an email exchange between a prominent US literary agent and author and writer Evgeny Morozov.
In the exchange, published in the New Republic magazine, agent John Brockman recommends to writer Morozov (who he represents as literary agent) that he meet with Epstein, calling him a “billionaire science philanthropist” who has “been extremely generous in funding projects of many of our friends and clients”.
Continue reading...The will that disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein signed just two days before his jailhouse suicide puts more than $577m in assets into a trust fund that could make it more difficult for his dozens of accusers to collect damages.
Estate lawyers and other experts say prying open the trust and dividing up the financier’s riches is not going to be easy and could take years.
Continue reading...‘It would not have happened to a white kid,’ Angela Washington said after staff used a marker pen on Juelz Trice’s banned haircut
Juelz Trice came home from school earlier this year with permanent marker ink scribbled on his scalp, but it was not a prank played by one of his fellow seventh-graders. It was a punishment enacted by some of the staff.
The boy’s parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit this week and have told the Guardian they believe the act, a hapless attempt to hide a “fade” haircut with a design that violated the school district’s dress code, was rooted in racism and left him humiliated.
Continue reading...Democratic presidential hopeful’s 10-year plan warns of devastating economic consequences if crisis is not addressed
Bernie Sanders has laid out an ambitious 10-year, $16.3tn national mobilization to avert climate catastrophe, warning that the US risks losing $34.5tn in economic productivity by the end of the century if it does not respond with the urgency the threat demands.
The Vermont senator has long spoken of the climate crisis as a existential danger to the US and the world, and he has previously endorsed a Green New Deal, which he put forward with the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Continue reading...The US president said his life would be easier if he had not mounted a trade war with China but went on to say ‘I am the chosen one’ to take on Beijing. Donald Trump said the US would probably make a deal with China