Edward Luce, Chief U.S. columnist and commentator for The Financial Times, is one of the paper’s most popular writers and “one of the finest journalists of our time.” A U.K. native, Oxford graduate, and former speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, he is highly regarded by policymakers, leaders, and political junkies for his insider/outsider insights on American politics and his cross-border perspectives on geopolitics and economics.
At the FT, Luce has served as Washington bureau chief, Capital Markets editor, correspondent to the Philippines, and South Asia bureau chief. He also writes about the future of work and the major challenges facing the West, including the rise of populism and the decline of the middle class.
His new book, The Retreat of Western Liberalism, examines the weakening of western hegemony and the crisis of democratic liberalism ― of which Donald Trump and his European counterparts are not the cause, but a symptom. According to Luce, “What we do not yet know is whether the world’s democratic recession will turn into a global depression.” The New York Times called the book “insightful and harrowing.” An excerpt appeared in The Atlantic (The Changing of the Global Economic Guard).
Luce’s previous book, Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent, was described as “a masterful portrait of America.” He also is the author of In Spite of the Gods, praised by The Economist as “likely to be the definitive book on India for some time to come.”
Articles and commentaries by Luce that have garnered a lot of attention in the past year have included: “The boy who escaped Trump country,” “Britain’s Voyage to Inglorious Isolation,” and “Donald Trump leaves Angela Merkel to stand up for liberal values.” With his FT colleague Rana Foroohar, Luce also writes “Swamp Notes: Money and Power in Trumps’ America,” a weekly newsletter including columns, curated content, and personal stories.
A Graduate of Oxford University in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, he received his post-graduate in journalism from City University, London. He is a frequent guest on Charlie Rose, Fareed Zakaria GPS, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and C-SPAN.