Category: Business

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 States and China, the world's two biggest economies. China has reacted to Washington's decision to slap 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods by reciprocating in kind. While the Geneva-based WTO will not comment on specific actions, the organization's director-general, Roberto Azevedo, has sent out a series of tweets warning nations against giving in to protectionist impulses. Azevedo says a new WTO monitoring report on trade measures enacted by the G-20 countries indicates a disturbing increase in trade restrictions by major economies.…

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 China is retaliating with taxes on an equal amount of U.S. products, including soybeans, pork and electric cars. The United States accuses China of using predatory tactics in a push to supplant U.S. technological dominance. The tactics include forcing American companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market, as well as outright cyber-theft. Trump’s tariffs are meant to pressure Beijing to reform its trade policies. Though the first exchange of tariffs is unlikely to inflict much economic harm on either…

Drivers of Kenya's digital taxis shut down operations Monday in protest of what they term as exploitative corporate practices. They say the firms are charging low rates to their clients, yet imposing high commissions on the drivers, leading them to work longer hours with little pay. The Digital Taxi Association of Kenya, representing more than 2,000 digital taxi drivers, is in the fourth day of a protest that has seen drivers switch off their services, stalling transportation in the country. The drivers say client charges have reduced over time as more digital taxi apps enter the market, but their commissions to the taxi firms have remained the same. The drivers are demanding a review of their rates and working conditions. Through their association, they want the digital taxi services to…

South Africa has become one of the biggest markets for illegal cigarette sales and is losing out on 7 billion rand ($514 million) a year in potential tax revenue, a report funded by a tobacco industry group said on Thursday. The study carried out by Ipsos found illegal cigarette trade spiked between 2014 and 2017 after a probe into the underground industry was dropped by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) under suspended commissioner Tom Moyane. Moyane, an ally of former President Jacob Zuma, is the main focus of an ongoing SARS commission of inquiry over allegations of widespread corruption at the tax agency under his watch. He denies any wrongdoing. Former head of enforcement at SARS, Gene Ravele, told the inquiry last week the decision to drop the investigation…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she would back lowering European Union tariffs on U.S. car imports, responding to an offer from Washington to abandon threatened levies on European cars in return for concessions. "When we want to negotiate tariffs, on cars for example, we need a common European position and we are still working on it," Merkel said. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened last month to impose a 20-percent import tariff on all EU-assembled vehicles, which could upend the industry's current business model for selling cars in the United States. According to an industry source, the U.S. ambassador to Germany told German car bosses from BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen at a meeting on Wednesday that Trump could abandon such threats if the EU scrapped duties on U.S. cars…

Trade rhetoric is spilling into the real world of jobs and consumer goods. The United States is set to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods from China on July 6. Beijing is fighting back with its own $34 billion of tariffs on American goods. As VOA's Arash Arabasadi reports, investors are understandably on edge. ...

United States Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell reportedly told German auto makers Wednesday the U.S. would back off threats of tariffs on European car imports in exchange for the European Union's elimination of duties on U.S. cars. The German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Grenell told BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen executives of the proposal during a meeting Wednesday at the embassy in Berlin. Daimler and Volkswagen declined to comment and BMW was not immediately available for comment, the report said. The reported proposal comes after the European Union warned U.S. President Donald Trump last Friday the potential indirect costs of imposing tariffs on cars could amount to $294 billion. The EU report, submitted to the U.S. Commerce Department, maintained the tariffs would disrupt cross-border supply chains in the automotive industry. The report…

European businesses are unsettled as they watch the U.S. and China collide over trade. And for good reason: the nascent global trade war could represent the biggest single threat to the economic upswing that has helped the region get past its financial crisis. In theory, some European companies could benefit, jumping into market niches if Chinese businesses are kept out of the U.S. market. But that would only be a few companies or sectors. When your entire economy is heavily dependent on trade, an overall slowdown in global commerce caused by tit-for-tat import taxes provokes fear and undermines confidence. And that’s just what’s happening in Europe. By one measure, business confidence has fallen in six of the past seven months in Germany, where exports are almost half of annual economic…

China is putting pressure on the European Union to issue a strong joint statement against President Donald Trump's trade policies at a summit this month, but it's facing resistance, European officials said. In meetings in Brussels, Berlin and Beijing, senior Chinese officials, including Vice Premier Liu He and the Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, have proposed an alliance between the two economic powers and offered to open more of the Chinese market in a gesture of goodwill. One proposal has been for China and the European Union to launch joint action against the United States at the World Trade Organization. But the European Union, the world's largest trading bloc, has rejected the idea of allying with Beijing against Washington, five EU officials and diplomats told Reuters, ahead of the Sino-European summit in Beijing on July 16-17. Instead, the…

President Donald Trump continues to turn up the heat on trade, a tactic that he insists will result in better deals for the American people. But the president’s rhetoric has economists concerned about a trade war. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more. ...

In the busy summer travel period in Cuba, a long line of people wait for hours in the sweltering heat outside the Havana office of state-owned airline Cubana, many of them eager to visit families in the provinces. But they are not waiting to book flights. Instead, they hope to get their money back on plane tickets or exchange them for bus tickets across the island. Cubana, which has a virtual monopoly on domestic flights, has suspended nearly all of them due to a lack of working aircraft, plunging travel on the Caribbean's largest island into chaos and highlighting problems at what was once a vanguard of Latin American aviation. The flight suspensions were made a month after a Cubana flight crashed after takeoff from Havana airport in May, killing…

Major U.S. trading partners including the European Union, China and Japan voiced deep concern at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday about possible U.S. measures imposing additional duties on imported autos and parts. Japan, which along with Russia had initiated the discussion at the WTO Council on Trade in Goods, warned that such measures could trigger a spiral of countermeasures and result in the collapse of the rules-based multilateral trading system, an official who attended the meeting said. More than 40 WTO members — including the 28 countries of the European Union — warned that the U.S. action could seriously disrupt the world market and threaten the WTO system, given the importance of cars to world trade. The United States has imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports…

Worried that Walmart’s $16 billion deal to takeover India’s biggest e-commerce company will force millions of mom and pop stores out of business, hundreds of shop owners in several cities have led protests against the U.S. retail giant.   India’s fast-growing retail trade is dominated by millions of small traders that have long opposed efforts by Walmart to establish its stores in the country. Now they are concerned its entry in the online market will drive down prices, making them uncompetitive, and are demanding the government block the deal. WATCH: Anjana Pasricha's video report Raising slogans such as “Walmart Go Back” at a sit-in protest Monday in New Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal, the secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders expressed fears that “Walmart will dump globally sourced material…

Zimbabwe's government is denying a report from Human Rights Watch that documented extensive child labor on the country's tobacco farms. Some of the children are as young as 10 years old, and the report says many have experienced acute nicotine poisoning from handling tobacco plants. The 105-page report, titled "A Bitter Harvest," documents how children working on tobacco farms in Zimbabwe are denied time in school and have to perform tasks that threaten their health and safety. According to Human Rights Watch, one of the most serious risks is "Green Tobacco Sickness," which is caused by absorbing nicotine through the skin from tobacco plants. The rights group said the 14 child workers it interviewed, and most of the adults, said they had experienced at least one symptom consistent with acute…

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday denounced President Donald Trump's handling of global trade disputes, issuing a report that argued tariffs imposed by Washington and retaliation by its partners would boomerang badly on the American economy. The Chamber, the nation's largest business lobbying group and a traditional ally of Trump's Republican Party, said the White House is risking a global trade war with its push to protect U.S. industry and workers with tariffs. The group's analysis of the harm each U.S. state could suffer from retaliation by U.S. trading partners painted a gloomy picture that could bring pressure on the White House from Republicans ahead of congressional elections in November. For example, nearly $4 billion worth of exports from Texas could be targeted by retaliatory tariffs, the Chamber said,…

Tesla Inc nearly produced 5,000 Model 3 electric sedans in the last week of its second quarter, with the final car rolling off the assembly line on Sunday morning, several hours after the midnight goal set by Chief Executive Elon Musk, two workers at the factory told Reuters. The 5,000th car finished final quality checks at the Fremont, California, factory around 5 a.m. PDT (1200 GMT), one person said. It was not clear if Tesla could maintain that level of production for a longer period. Musk said the company hit its target of 5,000 Model 3s in a week, according to an email sent to employees on Sunday afternoon and seen by Reuters. Tesla also expects to produce 6,000 Model 3 sedans a week "next month.” "I think we just…

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods take effect Sunday following the Trump administration’s new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said in a statement that the prime minister “had no choice but to announce reciprocal countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs that the United States imposed on June 1, 2018.” Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke late Friday to discuss trade and other economic issues, the White House said Saturday. “The two leaders agreed to stay in close touch on a way forward,” according to the prime minister’s office. The telephone conversation between the two leaders was their first encounter since the G-7 summit in Quebec in June. After that meeting, Trump tweeted that Trudeau was “weak” and “dishonest.” Trudeau also spoke…

Iran is studying ways to keep exporting oil and other measures to counter U.S. economic sanctions, state news agency IRNA reported Saturday. Since last month, when U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal that lifted most sanctions in 2015, the rial currency has dropped up to 40 percent in value, prompting protests by bazaar traders usually loyal to the Islamist rulers. Speaking after three days of those protests, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the U.S. sanctions were aimed at turning Iranians against their government. Other protesters clashed with police late Saturday during a demonstration against shortages of drinking water. "They bring to bear economic pressure to separate the nation from the system ... but six U.S. presidents before him [Trump] tried this and had to give up," Khamenei said on his website Khamenei.ir. With the return of…

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had received assurances from King Salman of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will increase oil production, “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” in response to turmoil in Iran and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia acknowledged the call took place, but mentioned no production targets. Trump wrote on Twitter that he had asked the king in a phone call to boost oil production “to make up the difference...Prices to (sic) high! He has agreed!” A little over an hour later, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on the call, but offered few details. “During the call, the two leaders stressed the need to make efforts to maintain the stability of oil markets and the growth of the global economy,” the statement said. It added that there also…

Editor's note: A look at the veracity of claims by political figures President Donald Trump has elevated his tax cuts to an act of biblical proportions, misleadingly claiming at a White House speech Friday that they triggered an “economic miracle.” Not quite. Also Friday, the president’s top economics aide, Larry Kudlow, appeared on the Fox Business Network to address one of the major problems with the tax cuts — that they’ll heap more than $1 trillion onto the national debt. Kudlow falsely countered that the budget deficit was falling because of growth generated by the tax cuts. The deficit is actually rising. A look at the statements and the fact: TRUMP: “Six months ago, we unleashed an economic miracle by signing the biggest tax cuts and reforms ... the biggest…

General Motors Co warned on Friday that higher tariffs on imported vehicles under consideration by the Trump administration could cost jobs and lead to a “a smaller GM” while isolating U.S. businesses from the global market. The administration in May launched an investigation into whether imported vehicles pose a national security threat, and U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose a 20 percent vehicle import tariff. The largest U.S. automaker said in comments filed with the U.S. Commerce Department that overly broad tariffs could “lead to a smaller GM, a reduced presence at home and abroad for this iconic American company, and risk less — not more — U.S. jobs.” Higher tariffs could also hike vehicle prices and reduce sales, GM said. ​Less investment, fewer workers Its comments…

U.S. President Donald Trump touted the Republican tax cut plan Friday, six months after he signed it into law, saying it was strengthening the U.S. economy and helping average Americans by increasing investment, jobs and wages. "It is my great honor to welcome you back to the White House to celebrate six months of new jobs, bigger paychecks and keeping more of your hard-earned money where it belongs: in your pocket or wherever else you want to spend it," he said. A recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, however, projects a gloomy fiscal outlook in the U.S., which is experiencing rising debt under the Trump administration. The CBO report predicts the country's debt burden will double in 30 years, exceeding even the U.S. debt load during World War…

President Donald Trump is denying any immediate plan to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization (WTO). “We have been treated very badly by the WTO,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One during a short Friday afternoon flight from Maryland to New Jersey. But asked if he intends to pull the United States from the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations, Trump replied, “Not at this point, but they have to treat us fairly.” The remarks come as Trump appears increasingly intent on confrontation, rather than cooperation, with the European Union, the Group of Seven (G-7) nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the WTO. He has repeatedly suggested the United States would be better off pursuing trade and strategic…

Canada struck back at U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Friday, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) of American goods and unveiling a C$2 billion aid package for affected industries and workers. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference the tariffs would come into effect on July 1. ...

Minnesota regulators on Thursday approved Enbridge Energy's proposal to replace its aging Line 3 oil pipeline across the northern part of the state. All five members of the Public Utilities Commission backed the project, though some cited heavy trepidation, and a narrow majority later approved the company's preferred route despite opposition from American Indian tribes and climate change activists. In discussion before the vote, several commissioners cited the deteriorating condition of the existing line , which was built in the 1960s, as a major factor in their decision. “It's irrefutable that that pipeline is an accident waiting to happen,” Commissioner Dan Lipschultz said ahead of the vote. “It feels like a gun to our head ... All I can say is the gun is real and it's loaded.” Some pipeline…

A U.S. delegation traveled to Kenya on Thursday to attend the inaugural economic summit of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya. About 500 delegates, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Gilbert Kaplan, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade, other high-ranking government officials from both nations and representatives from nearly 30 major U.S. corporations, gathered at the summit, which was aimed at creating partnerships between the two nations' public and private sectors in order to foster economic growth.  The Kenyan agenda was centered on advancing Kenyatta's "Big Four" priorities — universal health care, manufacturing, food security and affordable housing — that he set out after his re-election to a second term last year. American companies in attendance were looking for opportunities to expand and to increase trade and investment in Africa. Kaplan…

Importers of Iranian oil are facing pressure from the United States to find another energy source or be hit with sanctions. The Trump administration is threatening other countries, including close allies such as South Korea, with the sanctions if they don't cut off Iranian imports by early November, essentially erecting a global blockade around the world's sixth-biggest petroleum producer. South Korea accounted for 14 percent of Iran's oil exports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil with 24 percent, followed by India with 18 percent. Turkey stood at 9 percent, and Italy at 7 percent. A State Department official told reporters this week that the "vast majority" of countries will comply with the U.S. request. A group from the State Department…

Leaders in east Africa have agreed to work together to build a single railroad and highway network to enhance integration in the region. Leaders and representatives of eight countries met in Kenya Tuesday for the 14th time to discuss the northern corridor project aimed at improving trade and tightening security. The representatives stressed the need for better movement of people, goods and services with better joint infrastructure. Kenya got the go-ahead to continue building its standard gauge railways to the Uganda border. Kenya is about to finish the second phase of the rail line between the cities of Nairobi and Naivasha. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told his counterparts plans are under way to extend the line. “Preliminary discussions for the funding of Naivasha and Kisumu sections are in progress and…