Gillian Tett

Since China now dominates green energy production, Trump is perhaps hitting back by trying to crush that boom and force regions such as Europe to buy US fossil fuels instead.
PERSPECTIVE

Trump’s climate tirade will not stop the new ESG

The US president’s assault on the green energy ‘scam’ is part of the struggle with China for global economic hegemony

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
THE BROAD VIEW

Interest rates are a sideshow in the battle over the Fed’s future

Trump and his economic advisers want to narrow the central bank’s mission dramatically

US President Donald Trump speaks alongside Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (L) as he hosts tech leaders for a dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 4, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
THE BROAD VIEW

The psychology of CEO loyalty to Trump

C-suites are conspicuously silent in the face of the president’s policy surprises

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell takes his seat to testify before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress," on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 24, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
PERSPECTIVE

Threats to the Fed go beyond firing Powell

‘Populist authoritarian’ blogger Curtis Yarvin’s ideas are going ever more mainstream in Trump’s Washington – and investors should be worried

Equity prices might be pricing an assumption that tariff threats will be watered down, and bond markets pricing a belief Trump will not actually execute debt-expanding measures and cause investors to spurn Treasuries.
PERSPECTIVE

Trump is sowing confusion in the markets

While the behaviour of bonds suggests a downturn, American stocks are at record highs

The New York Federal Reserve houses the largest known monetary-gold reserve in the world. The gold vault sits 80 feet below street level.
PERSPECTIVE

Gold glitters as mistrust spreads

Calls for European governments to repatriate the bullion they store in the US are a sign of something bigger

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 22: U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump's agenda at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025 in Washington, DC. The tax and spending legislation, in what has been called the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" Act, redirects money to the military and border security and includes cuts to Medicaid, education and other domestic programs. Johnson was flanked by House Committee Chairmen who helped craft the legislation.   Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
PERSPECTIVE

There’s a ticking time bomb in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful Bill’

Investors are fretting about a clause that would penalise foreign holders of US assets

A former US Treasury official has urged companies to create a new role of “CGO” – or chief geopolitics officer – “to navigate the increasingly blurred lines between commerce and statecraft” where “referees (meaning governments) have changed the rules”.
PERSPECTIVE

Welcome to the new age of geoeconomics

Tech, trade, finance and military policies are mingling in a manner not seen during the neoliberal era

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Stephen Miran's vision of a Mar-a-Lago accord includes a possible US debt restructuring, which would force some holders of Treasuries to swap them for perpetual bonds.
PERSPECTIVE

Tariffs on goods may be a prelude to tariffs on money

Capital inflows could be the Trump administration’s next target

With private equity groups moving into the insurance sector, there are worries that when interest rates rise in the future, or a slowdown occurs in the private capital world, unexpected losses could emerge that would create a domino effect.
PERSPECTIVE

Cheap money’s distortions remain, not least in life insurance

As the US Federal Reserve cuts rates, markets are rallying – but there are long-term risks from experiments