Laurent Belsie

5 days ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie |Ann Scott Tyson

When representatives from the United States and China meet for talks in Geneva on Saturday, they will take the first step toward normalizing a key economic partnership that has spun out of control since the first Trump administration’s trade war measures in 2018. Now, in a series of tit-for-tat escalations initiated by President Donald Trump, the world’s two biggest economies have imposed tariffs so high that trade between the two is dwindling.

1 week ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie

The stock market is up. Employment is down. Investments in artificial intelligence (AI) are booming. The economy is contracting. Where exactly is the United States economy amid these contradictory signals? And, more importantly for workers and consumers, where is it headed? The bottom line: The clouds hanging over the economy are darkening and gathering, economists say. But the size of the storm and its impact are not yet known.

1 week ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie

More than just clouds hang over Jeff Fisher’s farm here in central Illinois. High costs, low crop prices, and a stack of bills worry him. Tariffs and other possible retaliation from China, the key export market for Mr. Fisher’s soybeans, have boosted the usual uncertainty. Spring planting is supposed to reinforce farmers’ innate optimism. This year, the mood is subdued. “I’m getting squeezed from in front; I’m getting squeezed from behind.

3 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie

How independent should a central bank be? That question is at the heart of an intensifying showdown between President Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates. President Trump wants to lower those rates to keep the economy humming despite the slowdown his far-reaching tariffs threaten to trigger. But Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve’s chair, isn’t ready to move. He wants to wait until the impact of those tariffs becomes clear.

4 weeks ago | csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie

It’s hard to keep up with President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Every few days a new threat of tariffs or retreat from them emerges. The chaos has Americans and the world wondering whether there’s a method behind the apparent madness. There is, negotiation experts say. Mr. Trump is employing a specific strategy to wring trade concessions from other nations. But 85 days into his administration, market jitters and commercial realities have begun to set in, limiting his options.