Category: FT

Japan mines for deep sea rare earths to counter China’s chokehold

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Japan is embarking on an ambitious effort to retrieve rare earth elements from the ocean floor as it seeks to loosen China’s grip over the metals vital to missiles, radar systems and drones. A Japanese state-backed expedition announced this month that it had successfully retrieved rare-earth rich mud from a remote Pacific seabed 6,000m deep — deeper than Mount Fuji is tall. Japan in 2011 discovered resources near Minamitorishima, an…

Japan mines Pacific Ocean mud to counter China’s rare earths chokehold

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Japan is embarking on an ambitious effort to retrieve rare earth elements from the ocean floor as it seeks to loosen China’s grip over the metals vital to missiles, radar systems and drones. A Japanese state-backed expedition announced this month that it had successfully retrieved rare-earth rich mud from a remote Pacific seabed 6,000m deep — deeper than Mount Fuji is tall. Japan in 2011 discovered resources near Minamitorishima, an…

Europe needs to learn the art of the trade deal

Media Library

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world The writer is the former deputy prime minister of Canada The Supreme Court’s tariffs decision on Friday gives the US and its allies the chance for a reset. “Liberation day” tariffs imposed in April, and the ineffective international reaction to them, hurt regular Americans and strained the country’s relationship with its closest friends. The Supreme Court’s ruling offers a rare opportunity to fix that historic error. If they…

World’s biggest PE houses struggle to exit China deals

Media Library

Top private equity buyout groups have been unable to sell Chinese portfolio companies for the second year in a row, as they struggle to cash out of their earlier investments in the world’s second-largest economy. Ten of the biggest buyout firms with investments in China including KKR, Blackstone and CVC had zero publicly disclosed complete divestments from mainland Chinese portfolio companies in 2025, according to data from providers PitchBook and Dealogic. Private equity globally has struggled to sell its investments and reap the blockbuster gains of the past as higher…

India’s AI ambitions hit limits at global summit

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Indian business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. India’s ambition to widen access to AI and play a crucial role in the fast-developing technology fell short this week, as the country continues to struggle to find its place in an industry dominated by the US and China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government used the country’s hosting of this year’s Global AI Summit to push top AI groups, including OpenAI and Google, to open source models for…

What Friedrich Merz is going to tell Xi Jinping

Media Library

This article is an onsite version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday and fortnightly on Saturday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here Hallo from Berlin and welcome back to Europe Express. All (European) eyes will be on German chancellor Friedrich Merz next week when he heads to Beijing for his inaugural state visit to China. While a string of security and trade crises emanating from Donald Trump’s US administration has preoccupied the conservative leader for most…

Now 150 years old, can Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental still compete?

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Every urban hotel aspires to being a cynosure of the city it’s in. Those that have succeeded can probably be counted on two hands. Having at least a century of operational history helps, as does an unassailable location. Above all such a hotel needs to be a repository of stories, both its own and the ones people create for themselves in it. Which brings us to the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok,…

China suffers gold drought at Winter Olympics

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Snowboarder Su Yiming pumped his fists in celebration as he claimed a gold medal this week at the Winter Olympics in Italy, a personal triumph that also ended a 12-day wait for a Chinese athlete to top the podium. China has become a formidable Olympic force over the past two decades, vying with the US and the leading European nations at the top of Summer Games medal tables as part…

Golds in short supply for China at Winter Olympics

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Snowboarder Su Yiming pumped his fists in celebration as he claimed a gold medal this week at the Winter Olympics in Italy, a personal triumph that also ended a 12-day wait for a Chinese athlete to top the podium. China has become a formidable Olympic force over the past two decades, vying with the US and the leading European nations at the top of Summer Games medal tables as part…

The problems piling up at fast-fashion giant Shein

Media Library

In November, several French ministers, a bevy of TV cameras and an army of customs officers set up camp at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris to conduct a very public inspection of the contents of thousands of packages sent to France by fast-fashion giant Shein. “In order to put a stop to a system that is clearly non-compliant with our standards and our tax laws, we need to have proof,” budget minister Amélie de Montchalin said at the time. Some 300,000 packages containing half a million items were eventually…