Business

Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg took the stand on Monday as a historic antitrust trial against the social media giant began in Washington. Over the next few weeks, the District Court will hear arguments over whether Meta broke the law in its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. Plus, amid an escalating tariff war with the US, China has been curbing its export of rare earth minerals, which are critical for the US defence and tech industries. 

China has restricted the export of rare earth minerals critical to the production of electric motors and high-tech components, a response to US President Donald Trump's 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. Meanwhile, an exemption for consumer electronics from those tariffs appears short-lived. Also on the show: Meta faces a US antitrust lawsuit over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

US stocks fell on Thursday after a historic rally on Wednesday following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day pause on most tariffs. Bonds yields, meanwhile, cooled after the announcement. Wednesday's boost has left some Democrats asking who benefited from the market jump. They are calling for a probe into possible insider trading.

Stocks in Asia and Europe rebounded on Thursday, following in Wall Street's footsteps, after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs he'd slapped on countries around the world. China, however, is the one country that isn't getting a reprieve from Trump's protectionism. In this edition, FRANCE 24 correspondent Yena Lee looks at Beijing's response and business editor Charles Pellegrin explains how the country has sought to stimulate domestic consumption.

Less than 24 hours after his new, high tariffs on dozens of US trading partners took effect, Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause for all of them except for China. After Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs of 84% on US goods, Washington has hiked its levy to 125%. Meanwhile, the 10% baseline global tariff that went into effect on Saturday will remain in place. Wall Street stocks skyrocketed on the announcement, with the Nasdaq posting its best day since 2001, up 12%. 

Donald Trump's new tariffs on almost all US trading partners have taken effect, hitting China particularly hard with a 104% levy on all goods. [Editor's note: the US president later announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs, but raised them to 125% on China]. China's premier says Beijing has enough policy tools to offset any impact. FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Xiaolin Chen, head of international at KraneShares, about how prepared Beijing actually is. 

Tariffs that will effectively double the price of everything that comes from China to the United States are set to take effect at midnight on Wednesday, as Beijing stands firm on its plan to slap retaliatory duties on US imports in response to Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. Meanwhile, the White House says nearly 70 countries have come forward in a bid to negotiate a deal out of the punitive tariffs. US stocks tumbled again this Tuesday after a brief rally. 

In a statement, China's commerce ministry has responded to Donald Trump's threats to impose an additional 50 percent tariff on Chinese goods by saying Beijing will "fight to the end". With the latest US threat, import duties on China could total as much 104 percent, further ramping up the trade war between the world's two biggest economies. In this edition, we look at what Beijing is doing to support its domestic market, for instance by loosening its grip on its currency.

Global stocks continued to tumble for a third straight session on Monday, with Europe's main market indexes losing more than 4 percent for the day. Taking to social media, Donald Trump called for patience, saying "don't be stupid". In a separate post, the US president threatened to impose additional 50 percent tariffs on Chinese imports if Beijing didn't withdraw its retaliatory measures. We take a closer look.

Asian indexes fell sharply on Monday in the wake of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index marking its worst day since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Meanwhile, European trade ministers meet in Luxembourg to formulate a response – hoping for a negotiated solution but preparing to retaliate.