Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Middle East war
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
    Most Read
    • The UK should press ahead with the inevitable on tax
    • Linda Yaccarino steps down as chief executive of X
    • Britain, France and the necessary relationship
    • Dutch pension funds set to sell €125bn of government bonds
    • Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
    Most Read
    • The UK should press ahead with the inevitable on tax
    • Linda Yaccarino steps down as chief executive of X
    • Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value
    • Trump threatens to impose 50% tariff on Brazil
    • Musk’s Grok AI chatbot praises Hitler on X
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • Linda Yaccarino steps down as chief executive of X
    • Moët Hennessy sexual harassment case shines light on company’s culture
    • F1 boss Christian Horner sacked from Red Bull Racing
    • Dutch pension funds set to sell €125bn of government bonds
    • Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value
  • Tech
    Sections
    • Tech Home
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Semiconductors
    • Cyber Security
    • Social Media
    Most Read
    • Linda Yaccarino steps down as chief executive of X
    • Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value
    • Musk’s Grok AI chatbot praises Hitler on X
    • Revolut in talks to raise new funding at $65bn valuation
    • Europe just years away from uncrewed fighter jets, says defence start-up Helsing
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Crypto
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Monetary Policy Radar
    • Wealth Management
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    Most Read
    • The UK should press ahead with the inevitable on tax
    • Dutch pension funds set to sell €125bn of government bonds
    • Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value
    • Revolut in talks to raise new funding at $65bn valuation
    • A new twist on an old bet with Buffett
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • The UK should press ahead with the inevitable on tax
    • Britain, France and the necessary relationship
    • Don’t believe the myth: Britain’s services have been hit hard by Brexit
    • Why carmakers need to bring back buttons
    • Manchester prepares to welcome home Oasis
  • Lex
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Europe's Start-Up Hubs
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    • Working It
    Most Read
    • Memo from Paris: Simon Kuper takes a dip in the Seine
    • TALA founder: ‘We weren’t going to make payroll — so I sold my car’
    • Networking hots up in the yoga studio
    • Hot tickets: the rise of London’s day-festival scene   
    • How to make work more fun
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Puzzles
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
    Most Read
    • Why carmakers need to bring back buttons
    • Manchester prepares to welcome home Oasis
    • Lululemon vs Costco: the fashion copycat fight
    • The return of the superstar pianist
    • Salade Niçoise, but make it spicy
  • HTSI
MenuSearch
  • Home
  • World
  • US
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
  • Lex
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • HTSI
Financial Times
SubscribeSign In

Alan Beattie

Senior Trade Writer

Alan Beattie writes the Trade Secrets newsletter every Monday and an opinion column each Thursday, covering international trade, globalisation, the intersection of geopolitics and economics and the world financial system. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Based in London, he was previously the FT's international economy editor and world trade editor and has been also been based in Washington and Brussels for the FT. He is the author of False Economy (Penguin, 2009), a popular economic history of the world, and Who's In Charge Here? (Penguin, 2012), an account of governments' mishandling of the global financial crisis. Before joining the FT, Alan was an economist at the Bank of England.

Follow Alan on Bluesky​

Email Alan Beattie
  • Thursday, 10 July, 2025
    Trade SecretsTrump tariffs
    Trump’s tariff shambles is a helpful warning to the world

    No sensible government would think of emulating his trade policies as they have his other plans

    Donald Trump
  • Monday, 7 July, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Holding your nerve in Trump’s tariff maelstrom Premium content

    The EU in particular has failed to stick to a strategy

    Shipping containers on a quayside at a container dock in Frankfurt. The skyline is visible in the background
  • Monday, 30 June, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    The EU’s plans to change the world will fall short Premium content

    Political will cannot be magicked into existence by replacing the WTO

    Ursula von der Leyen speaks at a lectern with an EU flag behind her
  • Thursday, 26 June, 2025
    Trade SecretsUS economy
    The US is failing its green tech ‘Sputnik moment’

    Prejudice and protectionism are dismantling Joe Biden’s environmental legacy

    Electric cars at a charging station in Corte Madera, California
  • Monday, 23 June, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Governments aren’t hearing the calls for aid Premium content

    Next week’s development finance conference in Seville is unlikely to deliver much

    People hold Jubilee 2000 placards that read: “Stop taking the money”
  • Monday, 16 June, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Easing off the green squeeze doesn’t make the EU a development hero Premium content

    Delaying and simplifying regulations on deforestation is a limited help for emerging market exporters

    Two men harvest palm oil fruits on a plantation with thick green foliage
  • Wednesday, 11 June, 2025
    US-China trade dispute
    How China beat Trump before the trade battle even started

    Beijing has used rare earth controls to win the first skirmishes in the war over commerce

    The Game of Wits scene in the film ‘Princess Bride’
  • Monday, 9 June, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Trump’s tariff calamities are the least of it Premium content

    The US president is destroying far more than rational trade policy

    Donald Trump gestures on a podium. Steelworkers in orange jackets and hard hats stand behind him
  • Saturday, 7 June, 2025
    Swamp Notes podcast18 min listen
    Trump’s big play to save steel production

    The US president’s recent steel tariffs appeal to voters. But do they create jobs?

  • Wednesday, 4 June, 2025
    Trump tariffs
    It’s always steel — tariffs provide Trump with a familiar trade weapon

    The industry has suffered from overproduction and protectionism for decades

    An employee prepares to take a sample from the electric arc furnace at Liberty Steel’s Aldwarke mill in Rotherham
  • Monday, 2 June, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    We should fear a Trump whose tariffs are taken away Premium content

    The US president’s arsenal of coercive economic weapons has a lot of lethal ordnance left

    A close-up of Donald Trump speaking into a microphone in the Oval Office
  • Friday, 30 May, 2025
    FT News Briefing podcast11 min listen
    Trump’s tariffs in legal limbo

    The White House is fighting court rulings halting Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs

  • Thursday, 29 May, 2025
    Trade SecretsTrump tariffs
    Court tariffs bombshell should inspire trading partners to defy Trump

    The EU must stand up to the US president’s bullying for the sake of the world trading system

  • Thursday, 22 May, 2025
    Trade SecretsSupply chains
    A geopolitical conflict over minerals may finally be a real threat

    The latest set of Chinese restrictions on rare earths exports are the most worrying to date

    Rare-earth mine in Bayan Obo a mining town in Inner Mongolia in China.
  • Monday, 19 May, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Countries ponder signing non-binding deals with a trustless US president Premium content

    America’s trading partners are examining precedents set by the UK and China

    Donald Trump waves from the steps of an aircraft
  • Thursday, 15 May, 2025
    Unhedged Podcast22 min listen
    The UK’s trade deal

    What exactly did Donald Trump and Keir Starmer agree?

  • Thursday, 15 May, 2025
    Trade SecretsEmerging market investing
    The papal call for debt relief that might not be needed

    Low- and middle-income countries are performing surprisingly well despite Trump’s tariff wars

    Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II
  • Monday, 12 May, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Trump’s China deal leaves world exposed to trade policy lottery Premium content

    Beijing and London’s pacts with US create exceedingly uncertain future

    Scott Bessent speaks at a desk with US flags in the background
  • Thursday, 8 May, 2025
    Instant InsightUK trade
    Britain’s trade deal with Trump may not be good news for the world

    Starmer’s choice undermines multilateralism and poses risks to the UK

    Donald Trump announces the trade pact in the Oval Office with, from left, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, vice-president JD Vance and Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador to the US
  • Thursday, 8 May, 2025
    Trade SecretsTrump tariffs
    A resilient US economy can withstand the Trump tariff shock

    International trade and American growth have bounced back from big setbacks before

    A container ship at the Port of Los Angeles
  • Tuesday, 29 April, 2025
    Special ReportThe Future of Global Trade
    Vision of a Trump master plan is fading in a storm of incoherence

    There are relatively orthodox figures in his administration, but they lack consensus and the inclination to stand up to him

  • Tuesday, 29 April, 2025
    Special ReportThe Future of Global Trade
    Trump’s tariff thunderbolt strikes a world with proven resilience

    The WTO may be weakened, but a pragmatic resistance to protectionism among other nations could save world trade

    Red WTO OMC tape is in focus with a blurred figure holding a blue umbrella in the background
  • Monday, 28 April, 2025
    Trade Secrets
    Canadian and Australian voters are rewarding defiance of Trump’s tariffs Premium content

    Incumbent leaders are benefiting from standing up to US bullying rather than currying favour

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a lectern with a Canadian flag waving in the background
  • Saturday, 26 April, 2025
    FirstFT
    Q&A: Donald Trump’s first 100 days

    Our experts answer readers’ questions

    Donld Trump holding a board displaying tariff rates on different countries
  • Thursday, 24 April, 2025
    Trade SecretsUS trade
    Trump discovers the US is no longer indispensable

    America cannot offer enough aid, green technology or new market access to mould the world trading system

    US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Previous page1Next page

Useful links

Support

View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareersSuppliers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyManage CookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

Services

Share News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsProfessional SubscriptionsRepublishingExecutive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on XFT ChannelsFT Schools

Tools

PortfolioFT AppFT Digital EditionFT EditAlerts HubBusiness School RankingsSubscription ManagerNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter

Community & Events

FT Live EventsFT ForumsFT Leaders Academy

More from the FT Group

Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2025. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Edition:International
UK
Subscribe for full access

Top sections

  • Home
  • World
    • Middle East war
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • War in Ukraine
    • Americas
    • Middle East & North Africa
  • US
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Semiconductors
    • Cyber Security
    • Social Media
  • Markets
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Crypto
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Monetary Policy Radar
    • Wealth Management
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Lex
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Europe's Start-Up Hubs
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    • Working It
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Puzzles
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
  • HTSI
  • Special Reports

FT recommends

  • Alphaville
  • FT Edit
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Globetrotter
  • #techAsia
  • Moral Money
  • Visual and data journalism
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • FT Schools
  • FT Live Events
  • FT Forums
  • FT Leaders Academy
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • FT Digital Edition
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In