JPMorgan Chase notched higher-than-expected earnings in the second quarter but braced for losses from borrowers defaulting on their loans, as the bank's outlook for the U.S. economy becomes more pessimistic.
JPMorgan, the biggest bank in the country, set aside $10.5 billion to cover potential losses on its loan books, cutting aggressively into its profits, which came in at $4.7 billion. Its dec...

Is Europe about to set off an international crisis over privacy — again?
In a ruling this week, the bloc's top court is set to decide on the legality of instruments used to ferry data from the EU around the world — and possibly a data protection deal with Washington known as Privacy Shield too.
If the Luxembourg-based court rules that the instruments, known as Standard Contractual Clauses, a...

Sustainability is a tantalizing idea and a trendy buzzword. Who wouldn’t want to find a way to build, produce and consume more without causing damage to our land and its inhabitants?
But in practice, new ideas require so many trade-offs—and so much cooperation among public, private and nongovernmental players—that they often get stuck, especially at the federal level. Across a country with vari...

Britain’s Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove on Sunday announced a £705 million funding package meant to beef up the U.K.'s border controls ahead of the country's exit from the EU customs union at year's end.
The package, which relates only to the external borders of England, Scotland and Wales, includes funding for new control posts meant to reinforce existing checkpoints, data infrastructur...

President Donald Trump on Friday accused former Vice President Joe Biden of plagiarizing his economic policies, a day after the presumptive Democratic nominee unveiled a plan to promote American manufacturing and goods.
But despite some similarities in messaging between Biden’s “Buy American” and Trump’s “America First” rhetoric, the two candidates’ policy plans significantly diverge.
“He pl...

The Trump administration announced Friday a 25 percent tariff on $1.3 billion worth of French handbags, cosmetics and soaps in retaliation for a digital services tax on U.S. internet giants, but said it would suspend imposing them for up to six months.
The United States believes the way the French tax is structured unfairly targets large U.S. internet companies like Facebook, Google and ...

Africa is well-positioned to land the world's leading trade job — but only if its politicians can rally behind a unifying candidate.
At the close of nominations at 6 p.m. in Geneva on Wednesday, three out of the eight candidates to head the World Trade Organization are African, but this three-way split poses immediate hurdles for Africa's prospects.
The African candidates are boosted by a gr...

Former Vice President Joe Biden is laying out a plan to rebuild the U.S. economy that includes cracking down on outsourcing, investing billions in research and development and creating at least 5 million jobs in manufacturing and innovation.
The plan places a major emphasis on “Buy American” provisions that would tighten restrictions on what qualifies as a U.S.-made good and invest $400 billion...