Meloni’s Italian Populism Puts Investors, China on Notice (2)

Giorgia Meloni’s economic policy has just taken a sharply populist turn, launching an assault on bank profits and vying to tighten its grip over corporate Italy.

The prime minister’s nine-month-old far-right coalition government is doubling down on a state-led approach to managing prosperity with a program unveiled on Monday that unsettled investors and threatened to overshadow relations with China.

Italian bank stocks plunged in the wake of the late-night decree whose 40% tax on lenders’ profits was just the most eye-catching item in a whole raft of measures.

To contain the damage, the finance ministry issued a late-night ...