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July 04, 2026
 

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TRADE

Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2026
Trump says U.S. will escort and insure oil tankers amid the Iran war
U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran have effectively brought oil flows through the critical Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s energy supplies transit, to a halt.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attends a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 3, 2026
U.S. and China trade chiefs to meet mid-March before Trump-Xi summit
U.S. strikes on Iran and the killing of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stoked tensions with Beijing in recent days, complicating summit preparations.
An aerial view of the Iranian shores and the island of Qeshm in the strait of Hormuz on Dec. 10, 2023
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2026
Strait of Hormuz impasse squeezes world shipping
With few willing to brave the strait as war rages, companies will have to do business without one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes, especially for oil and gas.
Oil tanker Ethera, part of the "shadow fleet" Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, is docked at the naval base in Zeebrugge, Belgium, after it was boarded and seized by Belgium's special forces on Sunday.
WORLD
Mar 1, 2026
Belgium seizes Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker
Russia has used a flotilla of ageing tankers of opaque ownership to get around restrictions on its lucrative crude exports imposed over its 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Europe is a superpower and it is increasingly pursuing investments and reforms that will make it not only unassailable but also widely attractive in a dangerous world.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2026
Europe is stronger than the world thinks
Europe may be a different kind of superpower, given the extent to which it prioritizes values, rules and multilateralism over sheer might.
A family sits against the backdrop of a dockyard off United Arab Emirates' coastal city of Fujairah, in the Strait of Hormuz, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 1, 2026
Ships avoid Strait of Hormuz as Iranian media essentially shuts it down
There’s been no formal announcement from Tehran about the status of the strait, which is crucial for the flow of oil and gas, but some tankers are turning around.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2026
Trump administration seeks delay in tariff refund fight
The government wants to wait as long as four months before reviving litigation before the U.S. Court of International Trade on the refund question.
Japan's drilling-equipped research vessel, Chikyu, departs from Shimizu port, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Jan. 12 to conduct a test recovery of rare earth-rich mud near Minamitori Island.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Feb 27, 2026
What is Japan’s potential for domestic rare earth mining?
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government aims to eventually mine and industrialize rare earths at home, but the timing, investment costs and viability of the project are unknown.
Nobumitsu Hayashi, head of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, says how the U.S. responds to Japan's approach to projects tied to both country's $550 billion investment deal remains a variable.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 27, 2026
U.S.-Japan investment funding still needs work, JBIC chief says
How the U.S. responds to Japan’s approach to projects tied to both country’s $550 billion investment deal remains a variable.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2026
Modi and Netanyahu deepen Indian-Israeli bond with defense and trade pledge
Both countries are strengthening ties at a time when their rivals in the region are forging closer alliances.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 26, 2026
Trump to hike tariff to 15% ‘where appropriate,’ U.S. trade chief says
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the president will sign a directive soon and is seeking “continuity” with nations that struck trade deals.
U.S. President Donald Trump exits the House Chamber after delivering the first State of the Union address of his second term to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 25, 2026
Trump hails ‘golden age’ in State of the Union as voters sour on economy
U.S. President Donald Trump declared that “this is the Golden Age of America” at the start of his address Tuesday, seeking to project an aura of success.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi talks with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi during in the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Feb. 18.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2026
Japan takes step closer to easing rules on export of lethal weapons
A panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday approved a proposal calling on the government to ease rules limiting defense equipment transfers.
President of the American Lawn Mower Company Mike Kersey. Even if Kersey manages to claw back the duties he paid after the Supreme Court ruling, tariff fraud is likely to keep him at a competitive disadvantage.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2026
China’s $112 billion cargo gap shows record U.S. tariff evasion
Trade data released Thursday showed a record $112 billion gap between what China reported exporting to the U.S. and what U.S. Customs said actually arrived last year.
IHI's headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday. Several affiliated companies of the Japanese conglomerate are among firms put on a Chinese blacklist the same day.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2026
China issues dual-use blacklist of 20 Japanese entities
Special permission will be needed to export dual-use items to these companies, institutions and agencies.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the press before departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2026
Trump’s 10% levy takes effect as U.S. rebuilds tariff wall
The White House is working on a formal order that will increase the global tariff rate to 15%, according to an administration official.
U.S. President Donald Trump, along with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden on April 2. The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest tariff decision challenges Trump’s executive authority.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2026
U.S. top justices’ ruling on tariffs marks a turning point
The tariffs case presented an especially good opportunity for the court to take on Trump because it could be confident that its decision would actually be implemented.
An employee moves a wooden cask of whisky at a distillery in Keith, U.K. British businesses exporting products from scotch whisky to toys to the U.S. will “now face a higher tariff, equivalent to what the European Union was facing before,” said Crawford Falconer, Britain’s former top trade negotiator.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2026
The biggest loser from Trump’s new tariffs could be Britain
The U.K. had enjoyed a relatively lower reciprocal tariff rate compared with other countries but stands to see the largest increase.
Container ships at the Port of Arica in Arica, Chile. China buys most of the region’s commodities and has made substantial investments in infrastructure, especially ports.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 24, 2026
Trump takes anti-China crusade to Chile ahead of Latin America summit in Miami
Imposing visa restrictions on Chilean officials sent a warning to the region that it must choose sides as U.S. President Donald Trump works to reassert dominion over the Americas.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 24, 2026
Trump warns countries that ‘play games’ with U.S. trade deals will face higher tariffs
Trump said he also may impose license fees on ‌trading partners ‌as uncertainty over his next tariff moves gripped the global economy and sent stocks lower.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Thailand gets serious about chasing high-spending tourists
Chinese tourists at Wat Arun Ratchawararam Rathawaramahawihan in Bangkok
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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