Business

Germany's inflation rate increased to 2.1% in January, confirming preliminary data and showing price pressures have strengthened at the start of the year, particularly with food and services. Consumer prices were up only 0.1% from December, as cheaper energy partly offset higher costs elsewhere, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Energy prices fell 1.7% year over year, with household electricity down 3.2% and natural gas down 2.5%, helped by lower grid fees and the removal of the gas storage levy. Food inflation, however, accelerated to 2.1% compared to 2024 and was up from 0.8% from December. Sweets and chocolate saw especially steep increases, while prices also climbed for fruit and meat. Butter, oils, and potatoes became noticeably cheaper compared with a year ...

Iran last week partially closed the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a critical waterway for the world's oil trade. On Tuesday, Iranian state television announced the closure, which was due to last several hours. Tehran framed it as a "security" measure due to military drills by the country's Revolutionary Guards, which began a day earlier. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, signalling that it can disrupt the key maritime artery that carries a fifth of the world’s oil. The restriction was announced as Iranian and US negotiators met for a second round of talks in Geneva about Iran’s nuclear program. The US has ramped up its military presence in the Middle East in recent weeks to pressure the Islamic Republic over its nuclear ambitions and the bloody cr...

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) said it was investigating Chinese-owned e-commerce giant Temu amid concerns over its data protection practices.  "The investigation into Temu was triggered by concerns around online surveillance through personal data processing, accountability, data minimization requirements, transparency, duty of care, and cross-border data transfer," the NDPC said in a statement published online late on Monday. How large has Temu grown in Nigeria? The move in Africa's most populous country and one of its biggest markets comes amid rising global scrutiny of Temu's rapid international expansion.  NDPC chief Vincent Olatunji ordered ‌the ​probe and warned that processors could be held liable for any non-compliance under the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2...

The European Commission said on Tuesday that it had opened formal proceedings against Shein under its Digital Services Act (DSA).  It said that regulators would investigate the Chinese-founded discount fashion retailer that does most of its business online for "its addictive design, the lack of transparency of recommender systems, as well as the sale of illegal products, including child sexual abuse material."  Shein may be required to either alter its actions, or face potentially hefty fines if a so-called non-compliance decision is reached following the investigation. The 27-member EU's executive branch said it was not yet possible to say how long the investigations would take and stressed it was only announcing an in-depth investigation, not findings of wrongdoing.  What will the in...

The US Supreme Court's dramatic decision on Friday to rule most of US President Donald Trump's tariffs illegal has left the country's trade partners trying to figure out what the verdict means for them. Although Trump says he will press on with tariffs using other statutes, the ruling could halt his flagship trade policy and give countries and sectors affected by the tariffs an unexpected but welcome reprieve. European leaders have cautiously welcomed the decision. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the decision when speaking at an agricultural fair in Paris, saying, "It is good to have power and counterweights to power in democracies." He said France would consider the consequences of the new global tariff announced by Trump. The US president had first announced a global 10% lev...

Even by Donald Trump's standards, 2026 has been unusually frenetic. From the ousting of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, to his threats to annex Greenland, to his repeated vows to use military action against Iran, a lot has been happening. Amid all these geopolitical upheavals, there is one key tool that has pretty much defined both of Trump's presidencies: tariffs. Trump's obsession with tariffs goes back a long way. Those who have observed the US president over the decades say it is tied to his view of the booming Japanese economy of the 1980s. Trump formed the view that Japan's economic success was based on what he felt were the unfair terms of its economic relationship with the US. He came to see tariffs as a magic bullet for balancing the terms of trade with countries — a view he has fi...

Is Christine Lagarde leaving the ECB early? Officially, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is not quitting her job early as head of the 21-member eurozone's central bank. However, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Lagarde has told people close to her that she is considering stepping down before her eight-year term ends in 2027. According to the FT, Lagarde has been weighing the move for several months and has discussed it with senior European officials. The 70-year-old's thinking, the report said, is to leave before France's presidential election in April 2027. That timing would let French President Emmanuel Macron, who can't seek a third term, help choose her successor, along with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The goal appears to be to ensure a mai...

In a political setback for President Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court has struck down most of his tariffs put in place over the last 13 months, ruling that they are unconstitutional. Specifically, the court decided in a 6-3 vote that the president exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to implement many of his tariffs on US trading partners. What is the Trump administration likely to do next? In anticipation of the ruling, the US administration had made it clear it had been doing its homework for months and that it was prepared to quickly implement new tariffs under other laws that allow the president to impose them. In response to the court ruling on Friday, Trump said he would impose a 10% global tariff for 150 days to replac...

China's rise from poverty to the world's second‑largest economy rewrote the rules of globalization. Now Beijing's push into high-end technology is unfolding at an even faster pace. While the United States and United Kingdom had decades to absorb the first China shock at the turn of the century, those confronting the second — above all Germany — have had far less notice. An obvious sign that Beijing's huge investments in high-tech were paying off emerged shortly after the first Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) rolled off transporters across Europe in 2023. While few believed they would make serious inroads against Germany's legacy carmakers, just over two years later, China's rivals have become a disruptive force in the European market.China's BYD increased electric vehicle sales in Germa...

What do we know about the deal? Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container shipping line, has signed a deal to acquire its Israeli rival Zim Integrated Shipping Services for $4.2 billion (€3.5 billion). The merger agreement was signed on Monday, following advanced talks. It was unanimously approved by Zim's Board of Directors but needs the formal sign-off from Israel's government, which holds special rights embedded in Zim's founding charter. The combined entity would operate a fleet of over 400 vessels with a capacity exceeding 3 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) and an annual transport volume of more than 18 million TEU. Zim is headquartered in Haifa, home to Israel's main port, and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2021. As the world's 10t...