President Donald Trump‘s return to the White House in 2025 kicked off a frenetic year for global trade, with waves of tariffs on U.S. trading partners that lifted import taxes to their highest since the Great Depression, roiled financial markets and sparked rounds of negotiations over trade and investment deals.
Reuters
His trade policies – and the global reaction to them – will remain front and center in 2026, but face some hefty challenges.
Trump’s moves, aimed broadly at reviving a declining manufacturing base, lifted the average tariff rate to nearly 17% from less than 3% at the end of 2024, according to Yale Budget Lab, and the levies are now generating roughly $30 billion a month of revenue for the U.S. Treasury.
They brought world leaders scrambling to Washington seeking deals for lower rates, often in return for pledges of billions of dollars in U.S. investments. Framework deals were struck with a host of major trading partners, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and others, but notably a final agreement with China remains on the undone list despite multiple rounds of talks and a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The EU was criticized by many for its deal for a 15% tariff on its exports and a vague commitment to big U.S. investments. France’s prime minister at the time, Francois Bayrou, called it an act of submission and a “sombre day” for the bloc. Others shrugged that it was the “least bad” deal on offer.
Since then, European exporters and economies have broadly coped with the new tariff rate, thanks to various exemptions and their ability to find markets elsewhere. French bank Societe Generale estimated the total direct impact of the tariffs was equivalent to just 0.37% of the region’s GDP.
Meanwhile, China’s trade surplus defied Trump’s tariffs to surpass $1 trillion as it succeeded in diversifying away from the U.S., moved its manufacturing sector up the value chain, and used the leverage it has gained in rare earth minerals – crucial inputs into the West’s security scaffolding – to push back against pressure from the U.S. or Europe to curb its surplus.
What notably did not happen was the economic calamity and high inflation that legions of economists predicted would unfold from Trump’s tariffs.
The U.S. economy suffered a modest contraction in the first quarter amid a scramble to import goods before tariffs took effect, but quickly rebounded and continues to grow at an above-trend pace thanks to a massive artificial intelligence investment boom and resilient consumer spending.
The International Monetary Fund, in fact, twice lifted its global growth outlook in the months following Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement in April as uncertainty ebbed and deals were struck to reduce the originally announced rates.
And while U.S. inflation remains somewhat elevated in part because of tariffs, economists and policymakers now expect the effects to be more mild and short-lived than feared, with cost sharing of the import taxes occurring across the supply chain among producers, importers, retailers and consumers.
A big unknown for 2026 is whether many of Trump’s tariffs are allowed to stand. A challenge to the novel legal premise for what he branded as “reciprocal” tariffs on goods from individual countries and for levies imposed on China, Canada and Mexico tied to the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in late 2025, and a decision is expected in early 2026.
The Trump administration insists it can shift to other, more-established legal authorities to keep tariffs in place should it lose. But those are more cumbersome and often limited in scope, so a loss at the high court for the administration might prompt renegotiations of the deals struck so far or usher in a new era of uncertainty about where the tariffs will end up.
Arguably just as important for Europe is what is happening with its trading relationship with China, for years a reliable destination for its exporters. The depreciation of the yuan and the gradual move up the value chain for Chinese companies have helped China’s exporters.
Europe’s companies meanwhile have struggled to make further inroads into the slowing domestic Chinese market. One of the key questions for 2026 is whether Europe finally uses tariffs or other measures to address what some of its officials are starting to call the “imbalances” in the China-EU trading ties.
Efforts to finally cement a U.S.-China deal loom large as well. A shaky detente reached in this year’s talks will expire in the second half of 2026, and Trump and Xi are tentatively set to meet twice over the course of the year.
And lastly, the free trade deal with the two largest U.S. trading partners – Canada and Mexico – is up for review in 2026 amid uncertainty over whether Trump will let the pact expire or try to retool it more to his liking.
“It seems like the administration is rowing back on its harshest stance on tariffs in order to mitigate some of the inflation/pricing issues,” Chris Iggo, chief investment officer for Core Investments and chair of the Investment Institute at AXA Investment Managers, said on a 2026 outlook call.
“So less of a concern to markets. Could be marginally helpful to the inflation outlook if tariffs are reduced or at least not further increased.” Ahead of midterm elections later in the year, “a confrontational trade war with China would not be great – a deal would be politically and economically better for the U.S. outlook,” he said.
KME Group has announced it will sell its stake in fragrance specialist Culti Milano, representing 77.17% of the share capital, to Berger International, the holding company of Emosia Group, one of France’s leading players in the home-fragrance sector (whose brands include Maison Berger Paris, My Jolie Candle, and Ambiances Devineau, among others). The transaction is valued at €45.8 million.
Culti Milano: Kme sells its stake to Emosia Group
“The sale completes the execution of KME’s strategy to concentrate its industrial holding activities on the management of KME SE, which is focused on the laminates sector, and makes a significant contribution to available financial resources,” the press release states.
With a workforce of 61, the Culti Group, which holds 11.94% of the share capital, recorded revenues of €20.8 million and EBITDA of €4.7 million in the 2024 financial year.
Active in nearly 70 countries, Emosia operates through a network of around 9,000 points of sale, runs five industrial sites, and generates turnover of over €110 million, about half of which is earned abroad.
“Emosia Group is pursuing a growth strategy centred on developing high value-added brands, and the acquisition of Culti enables it to integrate a premium brand that combines olfactory excellence, high-quality raw materials, distinctive design and brand experience,” the press release concludes. “As part of the transaction, Culti’s current management will remain in post, ensuring continuity of operations and supporting the continued development of the business.”
The closing of the transaction, subject to the fulfilment of customary conditions precedent, is scheduled for February 2026.
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Taiwan’s HTC is betting its open platform strategy will allow it to build market share in the fast-growing smartglasses industry, as its newly launched AI-powered eyewear lets wearers choose which AI model they want to use, its executive said.
HTC’s VIVE Eagle AI smart glasses, launched in August, are displayed at the company’s headquarters, in Xindian, New Taipei City, Taiwan December 17, 2025 – Reuters/Wen-Yee Lee
“AI is advancing very fast, and large language model developers are engaged in an arms race that requires massive resources,” Charles Huang, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at HTC, told Reuters in an interview. “We want to leverage the strengths of different platforms instead of building a closed ecosystem.”
Its VIVE Eagle smartglasses support multiple AI platforms including Google’s Gemini and OpenAI, allowing users to benefit from improvements across various models, Huang said. By contrast, Meta’s smartglasses are supported by Meta AI, while Chinese smartglasses from brands such as Xiaomi and Alibaba are built around domestically developed AI models.
HTC launched the VIVE model, priced at HK$3,988 ($512), earlier this month in Hong Kong. It plans to expand sales to Japan and Southeast Asia in the first quarter of next year and to Europe and the US later in 2026.
Huang said the Asia-first strategy reflects regional design considerations, noting that many smartglasses on the market were built around a “Western fit” that might not suit Asian wearers. Asked whether the Hong Kong launch was a step towards entering China, Huang said China’s market was more complex, as foreign AI services were restricted and local data regulations required standalone servers within the country. “With all these requirements in place, we need to be cautious and it will take some time to prepare,” he said.
Global shipments of smartglasses soared 110% in the first half of this year, with Meta taking 73% of the market, according to research firm Counterpoint. Meta and partner EssilorLuxottica‘s “smart” Ray-Bans and Oakleys, which first launched in 2023, have captured the tech world’s attention by answering calls, taking pictures and playing music.
Analysts, however, have warned that privacy could become a growing concern. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is leveraging user data to power AI tools, a move that has drawn scrutiny over data practices. Huang added that user data was not used to train HTC’s AI models, and that it considered privacy and data security key differentiators from its rivals.
The launch of the VIVE AI smartglasses marks a renewed push by HTC into consumer-facing hardware, after it sold part of its extended reality headset and glasses unit to Google for $250 million earlier this year.
On Running UK’s results for 2024 have been filed and they show the Swiss brand performing strongly both in terms of sales and profits.
On
Revenue increased to £134.6 million from £94.6 million the year before. And it said net sales of the shoes for which it’s best known increased 43.3% to £121.4 million, apparel rose 32.7% to £11.7 million, and accessories jumped 77% to £1.47 million.
The company said that gross profit was £48.5 million, up from £37.1 million, although operating profit for the year fell to £125 million from £2.79 million. But net profit increased to £3.2 million from just under £1.3 million in the previous year.
2023 had seen it opening its first British flagship store with a Regent Street debut in London and that clearly had an impact in 2024, as did its second store that opened in Spitalfields and its outlet location in Bicester Village.
The 15-year-old business won’t be filing its UK accounts for 2025 until this time next year but we already know that in the first nine months of 2025, globally, its net sales increased to 32.6% to £2.1 billion with gross profit up 37.8% at £1.3 billion.
It also said that the third quarter of this year was a record one for the business.
This year it has received a big boost from viral social media posts and in the past couple of months alone it has unveiled new initiatives that should boost sales further with a debut in South Korea via two stores and a winter capsule collaboration with Loewe.
Politics8 years ago