The escalating U.S.-China trade war is unwinnable by either side, according to new research shown exclusively to TIME.

On Sept. 1, the Trump Administration slapped 15% levies on an additional $125 billion of Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to retaliate with 5-10% tariffs on 1,717 American products, including soybeans, crude oil and car parts. The average U.S. tax on Chinese imports now stands at 21.2%, up from just 3.1% when President Donald Trump took office.

The bruising trade tussle has roiled bourses and upset supply chains for over a year, hastening fears of a global recession. Nevertheless, there is no sign of a resolution in sight, with Trump tweeting on Aug. 23, “We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far better off without them.”

Economists at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Open University of Hong Kong disagree. A new number-crunching analysis says only China has the manufacturing capacity to satisfy the U.S.’s huge appetite for products, ..

(BEIJING) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents should be protected, adding that a solution to the Chinese city’s political crisis can only be garnered through dialogue while violence should be avoided.

Merkel met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang after arriving in Beijing in the morning. She will dine with President Xi Jinping in the evening.

The German leader faces the challenge of balancing human rights concerns and economic discussions with one of Germany’s largest trading partners.

“I indicated during the talks that the rights and freedoms agreed upon in Hong Kong’s Basic Law should be safeguarded,” Merkel said during a joint news briefing with Li. The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s de facto constitution, which promises the semi-autonomous Chinese city certain democratic rights not afforded to the mainland.

Merkel added that political dialogue — not violence — is the path toward a resolution.

China was Germany’s biggest sing..

Retail giant H&M announced Thursday that it will suspend leather purchases from Brazil over concerns that the material is linked to fires that have devastated the Amazon this year.

H&M said that it is issuing a temporary freeze on orders until it is confident that the material is not causing “environmental harm,” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“Due to the severe fires in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest, and the connections to cattle production, we have decided to place a temporary ban on leather from Brazil,” the Swedish fashion firm said in a statement to AFP.

Another major company, VF Corporation, which owns brands Timberland, Vans and The North Face, announced late last month that it would stop buying Brazilian leather due to concerns about destruction of the Amazon, according to AFP.

A record number of forest fires have burned in the Amazon this year, according to Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, a space research center, which tracks fir..

(LONDON) — Boxed in by opponents and abandoned politically even by his own brother, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struggled Thursday to keep his Brexit plans on track, and he accused lawmakers of thwarting democracy by blocking his call for a new election.

Johnson remained determined to secure an election after lawmakers rejected his attempt to trigger a snap poll, and moved to stop the U.K. leaving the European Union next month without a divorce deal. House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told Parliament that a vote would be held Monday on a new motion calling for an election in October.

It’s uncertain whether it will pass, with opposition parties divided over whether to agree to an election now.

Johnson said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than delay Brexit any further, and insisted that whether or not Britain left the EU as planned on Oct. 31 must be “a matter for the people of this country to decide.”

“I don’t want an election at all, but frankly I cannot see any ..

(MANILA, Philippines) — An American woman who attempted to carry a 6-day-old baby out of the Philippines hidden inside a sling bag has been arrested at Manila’s airport and charged with human trafficking, officials said Thursday.

They said Jennifer Erin Talbot was able to pass through the airport immigration counter on Wednesday without declaring the baby boy but was intercepted at the boarding gate by airline personnel.

Talbot was unable to produce any passport, boarding pass or government permits for the baby, airport officials said.

Public records indicate she has been living in Utah. Philippines officials previously said Talbot was from Ohio, and records indicate she has family connections there.

Property records obtained Thursday show Talbot owns a home in a suburb of Salt Lake City, and got a traffic citation there in March. People answering the door in Sandy, Utah, declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Wearing an orange detainee shirt and handcuffs, Talbot, 43, was p..

Bahamians are scrambling to respond to a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane that the nation’s Prime Minister has described as a “historic tragedy” since the slow-moving storm made landfall Sunday. Hurricane Dorian has claimed at least 20 lives and destroyed many buildings, especially on the islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco.

Governments and nonprofits are offering money, workers and other aid to help with the rescue and recovery effort. According to the Red Cross, about 45% of the homes on Grand Bahama and Abaco — about 13,000 houses — are believed to be severely damaged or destroyed as a result of the storm, and some 62,000 people will need clean drinking water, the Associated Press reports. U.N. officials said that more than 60,000 people will need food assistance.

At the same time, Bahamians have carried out their own efforts to account for loved ones, posting frantic photos and notes on Facebook and WhatsApp begging for word about missing friends and family members.

Here’s what t..