Economy

The Tariff Crisis The Future of Free Trade
Macron warns China – threatens EU tariffs

French President Emmanuel Macron warns that the EU could impose “strong measures”, including tariffs, if Beijing does not address its growing trade surplus. Bloomberg reports.

He states in an interview with Les Echos that China is “suffocating its own customers”, as it hardly imports anything from Europe anymore.

– If they do not act, we Europeans will be forced to take strong measures like the US in the coming months, for example with tariffs on Chinese products, he says and urges Chinese companies to invest on European soil.

New Space Race
Musk dismisses SpaceX valuation report: Incorrect

Elon Musk dismisses media reports that SpaceX is raising capital at a valuation of $800 billion. In a post on X, he writes that the data “is incorrect”.

“SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and regularly makes share buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity to employees and investors,” Musk writes in a post on X.

At the end of the week, international media reported that SpaceX is preparing for an IPO in the second half of 2026 at a valuation of $800 billion. If the IPO plans come to fruition, it would be the largest IPO to date. 

The streaming war
The Hollywood deal raises new concerns: “Revenue pressure”

New cuts await in Hollywood if Netflix’s giant bid for Warner Bros goes through. Actors, screenwriters and cinema owners are warning about this, reports the FT.

Stephen Galloway is head of the top-ranked film school Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Layoffs and the future of cinema premieres are the two things the industry is most worried about, he says.

– It is bad for any industry when everything boils down to fewer than a handful of large buyers, he says and predicts that the merger will lead to lower revenues.

Netflix CEO Greg Peters addressed the issue on Friday and believes that the deal will lead to more jobs. Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav was also on a similar track and stated that the intention is that “Netflix wants to keep most of them”.

Swedish interest rates
Thedéen on his own interest rate: Must not be “too good”

The goal is a reasonable mortgage rate, not the lowest possible. This is what Riksbank Governor Erik Thedéen says in SVT's Ekonomibyrån.

Thedéen states that he is afraid of getting “too good an interest rate” when he negotiates his private mortgages.

– It should not be the case that I get an extra good interest rate because I have a certain title […] They know that I am the Riksbank Governor when I call, he says.

Thedéen has chosen a variable interest rate and will continue to do so as long as he leads the Riksbank, he says. According to the comparison site Zmarta, Thedéen's average interest rate is 2.26 percent. He himself believes that the average is higher, without giving an exact figure.