Month: December 2018

The United States and China blamed each other for the crisis in the world trading system during a two-day "trade policy review" of the United States at the World Trade Organization. The Chinese representative to the WTO, Hu Yingzhi, accused the United States of deforming the rules of world trade, which is having a detrimental impact on the economy and on American workers. U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Dennis Shea retorted that the crisis was caused by China's trade-distorting practices. He disputed the charge that the United States is the center of the crisis, saying instead that the U.S. is the epicenter of the solution. WTO Trade Policy Review Division Director Willy Alfaro described the two-day debate as lively and engaged. He told VOA that member states expressed a number…

Poland has signed a long-term deal with a U.S. company for supplies of liquefied natural gas as part of an effort to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, the two sides announced on Wednesday. Port Arthur LNG, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, and Poland’s state gas company PGNiG jointly announced the agreement for the sale of 2.7 billion cubic meters per year of gas to Poland over a 20-year period. Their statement said that is enough to meet about 15 percent of Poland’s daily gas needs. “This agreement marks an important step toward Poland’s energy independence and security,” the U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said. Sempra Energy’s CEO Jeffrey Martin said the deal helps his company “advance our vision to become North America’s premier energy infrastructure company.”…

The White House and Congress appeared headed toward agreement Wednesday on a stopgap spending plan to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday, but it does not include the $5 billion President Donald Trump wanted for construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote later in the day on the measure funding operations for a quarter of the U.S. government until Feb. 8, when Trump and lawmakers could again face the possibility of a partial closure. Democratic leader Charles Schumer said Democrats would support the temporary spending plan, with the remainder of the U.S. government already funded through the end of next September. Trump made a pledge during his 2016 campaign to build a border wall to thwart illegal…

Every Brazilian, including current and former members of the armed forces, will have to compromise under the next administration's pension reform plan, a former general set to become government minister said in an interview. Retired General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz told Reuters in Brasilia last week that it was "inadmissible" in today's world for some Brazilians employed in the public sector to retire in their 40s or 50s. On December 4, right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said he planned to tackle the overhaul of Brazil's fiscally burdensome pension system with piecemeal reforms that can pass Congress, starting with an increase in the minimum age of retirement. Many economists say cuts to Brazil's social security system are essential to controlling a huge federal deficit and regaining Brazil's investment-grade rating. "There are…

Greek lawmakers approved the heavily indebted country's budget for 2019 late Tuesday, the first since Greece exited an eight-year bailout program. The budget lawmakers passed with a 154-143 vote still is heavy on austerity measures to ensure Greece registers a hefty surplus, in compliance with its debt relief deal with international creditors. Earlier Tuesday, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said the proposed budget was Greece's first in 10 years to be drafted "under circumstances of relative financial and political freedom" from bailout creditors. "Today we have the opportunity to vote for a budget that now reflects the priorities of the Greek government, and not of [its] supervising institutions," he said during a parliamentary debate. As the debate drew to a close, more than 2,000 people demonstrated peacefully outside parliament in two…

The finance committee of Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Tuesday rapidly approved the revenue section of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s 2019 draft budget, auguring speedy passage in the legislature his party controls. Lopez Obrador’s leftist government only unveiled the budget proposal on Saturday night. It met with a positive initial response from financial markets, with investors warming to his commitment to keep a lid on spending. The president’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and its allies dominate Congress, having won the first outright majority in more than two decades. Having been approved by the finance committee without changes, the revenue section is expected to go to the floor of the lower house on Tuesday afternoon. Once approved, the revenue budget proposal moves to the Senate. The budget is a…

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for the implementation of reforms but offered no new specific measures in a highly anticipated speech that marked the 40th anniversary of China's move towards market liberalization. In a speech lasting nearly an hour-and-a-half, Xi called for support of the state economy while also guiding the development of the private sector, and said China will expand efforts at opening up and ensure the implementation of major reforms. "We must, unswervingly, reinforce the development of the state economy while, unswervingly, encouraging, supporting and guiding the development of the non-state economy," Xi said during a speech at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Xi was speaking on the day China marked as the 40th anniversary of the start of late leader Deng Xiaoping's campaign of…

China hopes Britain's exit from the European Union can happen in an orderly way and that the bloc will reduce hurdles to Chinese investment and keep its markets open, China's foreign ministry said on Tuesday. China, the world's second-largest economy, has watched Brexit nervously, worried not only about potential market turmoil from a disorderly departure but about losing Britain's supportive voice for free trade within the EU. "China hopes to see Brexit proceed in an orderly fashion and stands ready to advance China-EU and China-UK relations in parallel," the ministry said in a lengthy policy document on EU ties. The EU and China are often at loggerheads over trade and other issues, with the EU sharing many of the same concerns as the United States about market access, trade imbalances…

Mexico's wage commission said on Monday it planned to hike the country's minimum wage by 16 percent to around $5 per day and leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged further increases to keep salaries apace with inflation. The salary commission, made up of government, business and labor representatives, said the daily minimum wage would rise to 102.68 pesos from 88.36 pesos on Jan. 1, the biggest such hike since 1996. "During many years the minimum wage has lost its purchasing power. Some say it has lost 70 percent of its purchasing power over the last 30 years," said Lopez Obrador. "We're never going to have wage (increases) below inflation," said Lopez Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1. Low wages have helped to attract foreign companies to Mexico and…

Nissan's board met Monday but failed to pick a new chairman to replace Carlos Ghosn, who was arrested last month on charges of violating financial regulations, saying more discussion was needed.   Nissan Motor Co. Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa told reporters that the board approved a special committee of outsiders to strengthen governance at the company. A date for the selection of a chairman was not decided.   "We plan to be cautious in this process, and I do not plan to rush this," Saikawa said.   The recommendations for beefing up governance are due in March, and Saikawa said he was willing to wait until then to choose a chairman.   The board meeting came amid an unfolding scandal that threatens the Japanese automaker's two-decade alliance with Renault SA…

The United States said on Monday that China's "unfair competitive practices" were harming foreign companies and workers in a way that violates World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, but vowed to lead reform efforts. U.S. trade ambassador Dennis Shea drew fire from Chinese envoy Zhang Xiangchen who said the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum products allowed protectionism under the guise of dubious national security concerns. The heated words, in texts seen by Reuters, were exchanged at the start of a closed-door review of U.S. trade policies, held every two years at the WTO, which continues on Wednesday. Shea expressed concern about the WTO dispute settlement system having "strayed far from the system agreed to by members" and said that the Appellate Body had overreached in some legal interpretations. Zhang…

A group of young female business owners in Guinea Bissau have banded together to learn more about the business world and increase sales. A year later, their efforts appear to be paying off. Ricci Shryock reports from the west African nation. ...

Homeowners appear to have learned the lesson of the Great Recession about not taking on too much debt. There is some concern that Corporate America didn't get the message.   For much of the past decade, companies have borrowed at super-low interest rates and used the money to buy back stock, acquire other businesses and refinance old debt. The vast majority of companies are paying their bills on time, thanks in large part to profits that have surged since the economy emerged from the Great Recession nine and a half years ago.   But with interest rates rising and U.S. economic growth expected to slow next year, worries are building from Washington to Wall Street that corporate debt is approaching potentially dangerous levels. U.S. corporate debt has grown by nearly…

After two weeks of bruising negotiations, officials from almost 200 countries agreed Saturday on universal, transparent rules that will govern efforts to cut emissions and curb global warming. Fierce disagreements on two other climate issues were kicked down the road for a year to help bridge a chasm of opinions on the best solutions.    The deal agreed upon at U.N. climate talks in Poland enables countries to put into action the principles in the 2015 Paris climate accord.   "Through this package, you have made a thousand little steps forward together,'' said Michal Kurtyka, a senior Polish official chairing the talks.    He said while each individual country would likely find some parts of the agreement it didn't like, efforts had been made to balance the interests of all…

Stocks staggered to eight-month lows Friday after weak economic data from China and Europe set off more worries about the global economy. Mounting tensions in Europe over Britain's impeding departure from the European Union also darkened traders' moods. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped as much as 563 points. On the benchmark S&P 500 index, health care and technology companies absorbed the worst losses. Johnson & Johnson plunged by the most in 16 years after Reuters reported that the company has known since the 1970s that its talc Baby Powder sometimes contained carcinogenic asbestos. The company denied the report. China said industrial output and retail sales both slowed in November. That could be another sign that China's trade dispute with the U.S. and tighter lending conditions are chilling its economy, which…

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the country's economy was in "bad shape," the governor of a northwestern state told reporters Friday after a meeting with governors from across the country.  Buhari will seek a second term in an election to be held in February in which the economy is likely to be a campaign issue.  Africa's top oil producer last year emerged from its first recession in 25 years, caused by low crude prices, but growth remains sluggish.  "Mr. President, as usual, responded by telling us that the economy is in a bad shape and we have to come together and think and rethink on the way forward," Abdulaziz Yari, who chairs the Nigeria Governors' Forum, told reporters when asked how Buhari answered requests for a bailout to some states.  "Mr. President talked to us in the manner that we have a task ahead…

The federal budget deficit surged to a record for the month of November of $204.9 billion, but a big part of the increase reflected a calendar quirk.    In its monthly budget report, the Treasury Department said Thursday that the deficit for November was $66.4 billion higher than the imbalance in November 2017.    But $44 billion of that figure reflected the fact that December benefits in many government entitlement programs were paid in November this year because Dec. 1 fell on a Saturday.    For the first two months of this budget year, the deficit totals $305.4 billion, up 51.4 percent from the same period last year. The Trump administration is projecting that this year's deficit will top $1 trillion, reflecting increased government spending and the loss of revenue…