Friday 6 July 2018

US tariffs on $34bn (£25.7bn) of Chinese goods came into effect at midnight Washington time, marking the start of an all-out trade war between the world's two largest economies. Beijing said the US had started the "largest trade war in economic history" and threatened "necessary counterattacks". China has released a list of goods it might potentially target including soybeans, light aircraft, orange juice and whiskey.

The high street’s year-on-year sales fell by 1.7% last month, the fifth successive month of in-store declines. This puts the high street on course for "its annus horribilis", says The Times - its worst year for at least a decade. The results for June mark the end of a tough six months in which negative like-for-like growth was recorded in lifestyle goods (-0.3%), fashion (-2.3%) and homewares (-2.4%).

Google, YouTube and Facebook could escape having to make billions in copyright payouts, notes The Guardian. European Union lawmakers have voted to reject planned changes to copyright rules that aimed to make the tech companies share more of their revenues. Press publishers, record labels and artists, including Paul McCartney, had argued that the new rules would "right a wrong".