International Trade

The Trump administration banned cotton imports from a military-linked Chinese firm it accuses of relying on “slave labor,” as the U.S. seeks to ramp up economic pressure on Beijing over its treatment of Muslim ethnic minority groups.

Luxury-car maker Bentley Motors Ltd. has put cargo planes on standby and the French owner of Vauxhall is resigned to unavoidable disruptions as automakers brace for time to run out for a Brexit deal.

The Covid-19 pandemic was supposed to put the final nail in the coffin of globalization and prompt a retreat into a new era of protectionism. Instead, some are now calling the crisis the Great Accelerator.