Tuesday 19 June 2018

Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on an additional $200bn (£151bn) of Chinese goods. As trade tensions between the two nations continue to escalate, the US President said the 10% tariffs would be imposed if Beijing "refuses to change its practices". In response, China accused the US of "blackmail" and vowed to match any further tariffs.

Supermarkets and suppliers have teamed up to warn the Competition and Markets Authority that Sainsbury’s £15bn deal with Asda could reduce choice and raise prices for consumers. The two chains have promised to slash prices by 10% by creating a supermarket giant with a bigger market share than current market leaders Tesco, but the watchdog was told this could cause suppliers to be squeezed or "exit the market completely".

The accountancy watchdog has attacked the "unacceptable deterioration" in the quality of KPMG audits. In a brutal report into Britain's big four accountancy firms, the Financial Reporting Council said 50% of KPMG's audits of FTSE 350-listed companies required significant improvements, up from 35% a year earlier. The FRC said KPMG and the other accountancy companies "must act swiftly" to address the problems.