Author: Busman

The Portuguese economy is resisting the prevailing gloom in Europe. Activity remained strong, with GDP rising by 0.5% in the first quarter, or 1.8% at an annual rate, compared with 1.2% in the euro zone, forecasts Brussels. Following the trend of 2018, Portugal's good economic health…

More than 170 American shoe manufacturers and retailers, including such well-known athletic shoe brands as Nike, Under Armour and Adidas, urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to exempt footwear from any further tariffs he imposes on imported goods from China. The lobby for the shoe…

Trump administration sanctions against Huawei have begun to bite even though their dimensions remain unclear. U.S. companies that supply the Chinese tech powerhouse with computer chips saw their stock prices slump Monday, and Huawei faces decimated smartphone sales with the anticipated loss of Google's popular…

The U.S.-China trade war has not spared European companies in China. More than one-third of them are feeling a direct impact on their businesses and fear the situation will worsen in the coming weeks. “They [European companies] are feeling more anxious than they felt last…

Ford plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its global workforce, as part of a reorganization as it revamps its vehicle offerings, the company said Monday. The reorganization will involve some layoffs and reassignments and should be complete by the end of August,…

Vietnam and Europe could be swapping more pomelo fruit and Portuguese cheese soon if a new trade deal comes into effect, linking two regions that have been looking for an alternative to the trade tensions brought on by the United States. The European Parliament is…

Huawei Technologies' founder and chief executive said Saturday that the growth of the Chinese tech giant "may slow, but only slightly," because of recent U.S. restrictions.     In remarks to the Japanese press and reported by Nikkei Asian Review, Ren Zhengfei reiterated that the Chinese telecom equipment maker had not…

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday that recent U.S. words and actions had harmed the interests of China and its enterprises, and that Washington should show restraint, China's Foreign Ministry said.    Speaking to Pompeo by telephone,…

U.S. diplomats warned Saturday that commercial airliners flying over the wider Persian Gulf faced a risk of being "misidentified" amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The warning relayed by U.S. diplomatic posts from the Federal Aviation Administration underlined the risks the current tensions…

The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it may soon scale back restrictions on Huawei Technologies after this week’s blacklisting would have made it nearly impossible for the Chinese company to service its existing customers. The Commerce Department, which had effectively halted Huawei’s ability to buy…

Bogged down in a sprawling trade dispute with U.S. rival China, President Donald Trump took steps Friday to ease tensions with America's allies: lifting import taxes on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum and delaying auto tariffs that would have hurt Japan and Europe.   …

The United States must show sincerity if it is to hold meaningful trade talks, China said on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump dramatically raised the stakes with a potentially devastating blow to Chinese tech giant Huawei. China has yet to say whether or how…

A record number of 8.34 million university graduates are set to enter the Chinese job market this summer amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. Observers say that as China’s export-dependent economy braces for more hits from tariff hikes, which U.S. President Donald Trump…

Juhyun Lee contributed to this report. SEOUL -- As U.S. President Donald Trump intensifies his trade battle with China, one of the hardest-hit countries could be South Korea. Asia’s fourth-largest economy, South Korea is especially vulnerable to the tariff war because of its reliance on…

Executives from major global retailers played down the threat to employment in stores from artificial intelligence and automation on Thursday and pledged more training to help staff adopt more high-value tasks as machines take over their work. Retail is one of the largest employers in…

U.S. homebuilding increased more than expected in April and activity in the prior month was stronger than initially thought, suggesting declining mortgage rates were starting to provide some support to the struggling housing market. Land and labor shortages, however, continue to constrain builders’ ability to…

Turkey needs to put a comprehensive and credible economic plan in place if it is to avoid another cut to sovereign credit rating, a senior Moody's sovereign analyst said on Thursday. New analysis from the rating agency shows Turkey's recession, the slump in the lira,…

The costs seem to be mounting in the U.S. from President Donald Trump's tit-for-tat trade tariff war with China, both for farmers whose sales of crops to China have been cut and U.S. consumers paying higher prices for imported Chinese products. The government said Wednesday…

Ford Motor Co plans to start production of new luxury Lincoln models in China for that market as they are launched, starting with the new Corsair later this year, to benefit from lower costs and avoid the risk of tariffs, a top executive said Monday.…

The typical routines of life on a family farm carry a heavier burden these days for Pam Johnson. “First thing I do is make a pot of coffee,” she told VOA in an interview in one of the cavernous sheds that contain her green and…

For sale: waterfront property with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. Waves erode beach regularly. Flooding gets worse every year. Saltwater damage to lawn. Asking price: anyone’s guess. Some research suggests rising sea levels and flooding brought by global warming are harming coastal property values.…

Stocks climbed on Tuesday and clawed back a chunk of their losses from Monday's rout, the latest whipsaw move as investors weigh just how badly the escalating U.S.-China trade war will hurt the economy.  The day's rally was nearly a mirror image of Monday's plunge,…

A U.S. labor agency has concluded that ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc's drivers are independent contractors and not its employees, which could prevent them from joining unions. The National Labor Relations Board's general counsel, in a memo released on Tuesday, said Uber drivers set their…

The future of Bulgaria's vast number of low-wage truck drivers has become a top campaign issue in the country heading into European Parliament elections, with debates raging on how new EU rules could threaten the workers and deepen divisions between rich and poor nations in…

Capitol Hill correspondent Michael Bowman and reporter Ira Mellman contributed to this report President Donald Trump said the United States "can make a deal with China tomorrow" to resolve the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies, adding the accusation that China prevented the…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said U.S. tariffs on China bring billions of dollars into U.S. coffers. He said China's retaliatory tariffs can have no effect on the U.S. economy. The escalation of the U.S.-China trade war sent stock markets tumbling on Monday, with…

The Supreme Court is allowing consumers to pursue an antitrust lawsuit that claims Apple has unfairly monopolized the market for the sale of iPhone apps. New Justice Brett Kavanaugh is joining the court's four liberals Monday in rejecting a plea from Cupertino, California-based Apple to…

VOA's Michael Bowman and Ira Mellman contributed to this report. China says it is imposing tariffs on $60 billion worth of imports from the United States, retaliating after President Donald Trump boosted taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods sent to the United States…