Donald Trump loves big oil. Does big oil love him back?

DONALD TRUMP likes oil—and oilmen. He gushes about “liquid gold” with as much ferocity as Spindletop, an oil well that spat out perhaps 1m barrels over nine days in 1901 and turned nearby Houston into a boomtown. In his first administration he named Rex Tillerson, former chief executive of ExxonMobil, America’s mightiest hydrocarbon firm, as…

Read More

Barnfield Customs: slowing down menswear in a fast fashion world

There’s fast fashion and slow fashion. And then there’s really slow fashion, which is where Barnfield Customs comes in. The British menswear brand makes high-end outerwear and knitwear “for those who value patience, provenance and purpose”. Barnfield Customs Each year, the Nottingham-based firm launches a selection of “unique and limited edition” jackets. And with a…

Read More

Shein and Temu are in Donald Trump’s cross-hairs

For American consumers, online shopping has just got dearer. On February 1st Donald Trump did away with a decades-old provision, known as the de minimis waiver, that exempted goods under a certain value (lately $800) from customs duties. With the same stroke he raised tariffs on Chinese goods by 10%. Then on February 5th the…

Read More