Month: July 2018

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday the country will soon sign up to a $3 trillion African free trade zone. Nigeria is one of Africa's two largest economies, the other being South Africa. Buhari's government had refused to join a continental free-trade zone established…

In a ceremony last week attended by heads of state from across East Africa, Djibouti inaugurated what it says will become the largest free-trade zone on the continent. The project will take 10 years to complete and will occupy more than 48 square kilometers when…

As the trade war between the world's two largest economies nears the end of its first week, its most unsettling fact may be this: No one seems to foresee any clear path to peace.   The United States insists that China abandon the brass-knuckles tactics…

Uber is getting into the scooter-rental business.   The ride-hailing company said Monday that it is investing in Lime, a startup based in San Mateo, California.   "Our investment and partnership in Lime is another step towards our vision of becoming a one-stop shop for…

President Donald Trump is threatening to "respond" after several major U.S. drug companies raised prices of some widely prescribed medicines. "Pfizer and others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason," Trump tweeted Monday. "They are merely taking advantage of the…

Behind a row of sealed red incubator doors in a new facility in northern China, about 400,000 chicks are hatched every day, part of the rapidly modernizing supply chain in China's $37 billion egg industry, the world's biggest. As China overhauls production of everything from…

What started as a simple desire to be able to provide for her children has turned into a multimillion-dollar business for Tammie Umbel of Dulles, Virginia. She not only runs a cosmetics company but home-schools her 14 children — and says she still finds time…

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will seek to end the country's massive fuel imports, nearly all from the United States, during the first three years of his term while also boosting refining at home. The landslide winner of last Sunday's election told reporters Saturday morning before attending private…

One of the world's biggest cargo shippers announced Saturday that it was pulling out of Iran for fear of becoming entangled in U.S. sanctions, and President Hassan Rouhani demanded that European countries to do more to offset the U.S. measures. The announcement by France's CMA CGM that it…

The opening shots have been fired in what some fear may be the start of a major trade war. China retaliating at midnight Friday with equivalent tariffs on U.S. goods after the U.S. followed through on its threat to raise tariffs on $34 billion worth…

Amid the very real hardships Syrian refugees face, little has been said about another major health and humanitarian issue: What to do with the massive accumulations of trash and waste. But one refugee camp in Jordan is doing something about it. With the help of…

The political squabbling between China and the United States over trade and other issues affect the world's two largest economies through a variety of mechanisms with unpredictable results.  For example, prices of stock in both nations have been hurt as some shareholders sold their shares…

U.S. employers kept up a brisk hiring pace in June by adding 213,000 jobs, a sign of confidence in the economy despite the start of a potentially punishing trade war with China. The job growth wasn't enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising from…

The World Trade Organization is urging nations to resolve trade tensions, warning that restrictive trade measures would have a harmful impact on the global economy. The group refuses to weigh in on what appears to be the start of a trade war between the United…

The world’s two biggest economies have fired the opening shots in a trade war that could have wide-ranging consequences for consumers, workers, companies, investors and political leaders. The United States slapped a 25 percent tax on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Friday, and…