The European Union is debating whether to drop a sensitive trade investigation against China over alleged coercive activity targeting Lithuania, a prospect that’s frustrated officials in Washington, where the incoming Trump team sees it as capitulation to Beijing.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok, trade and Taiwan in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump takes office again promising tariffs that could ratchet up tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

Trump, who will be inaugurated next week, has threatened the EU with tariffs and his team has criticized the bloc for being weak on China. The manner in which the EU handles the dispute will present an early test of how the world approaches trade under the new administration in Washington and the resilience of the transatlantic relationship.

Correcting the major imbalances in the global economy will require collaborative international action. If he wants results, Trump will need to rein in his penchant to go it alone.

On the eve of Donald Trump’s White House return, the Chinese government announced that last year it recorded a trade surplus of almost $1 trillion, a third of which was with the US.

Bloomberg reporters answer questions about how Trump’s promises to raise tariffs on China could lead to a trade war with global consequences.

Donald Trump's Treasury secretary pick, Scott Bessent, told lawmakers at his Senate hearing he backs using tariffs against what he called 'unfair trade practices.' During Trump's first term, the EU and China ducked some duties by buying U.