Category: Business

In the U.S., there's an old saying that there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. But as it turns out, death is way more certain than taxes in the United States. Corporations and some wealthy individuals, including President Donald Trump, are able to legally avoid any federal taxation in some years by deducting business expenses such as capital investments, charitable donations, interest on their home loans, health care costs and numerous other write-offs from their corporate or personal income. In a report late Tuesday, The New York Times said from 1985 to 1994, Trump lost more than $1 billion in his real estate business operations and paid no federal income taxes in eight of those 10 years. Trump called the report inaccurate but did…

If a rising tide lifts all boats, then Vietnam may find that there is a related saying in economics: when the tide goes out, you will see who was swimming naked. The Southeast Asian country has fared fairly well amid the trade frictions around the world, with its foreign investment and gross domestic product continuing to grow. But even Vietnam is not immune if a recession hits the global economy, as some are expecting, which is why they are bracing for a hard landing. News this week that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods has just added to the frictions, sending Asian stock markets plummeting. An economic downturn — in other words, the tide going out — could expose vulnerabilities for Vietnam, the equivalent of those swimming…

Drivers for ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are turning off their apps to protest what they say are declining wages at a time when both companies are raking in billions of dollars from investors. Organizers are planning demonstrations in 10 U.S. cities Wednesday, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, as well as some European locations like London.   The protests arrive just ahead of Uber's initial public stock offering, which is planned for Friday. Uber hopes to raise $9 billion and is expected to be valued at up to $91.5 billion.   It's not the first time drivers for ride-hailing apps have staged protests. Strikes were planned in several cities ahead of Lyft's IPO last month, although the disruption to riders appeared to be minimal. More…

Instead of managing livestock with her family on her Floyd, Iowa, farm, Pam Johnson would rather see tractors in her fields. “I look outside at the weather and how we should be planting right now to have optimum yields this year, and we’re kind of stuck,” she told VOA, standing in a building on her farm that provided shelter from the intermittent downpours. Johnson says she is stuck — not just because of the soggy weather, but also between a rock (trade agreements) and a hard place (tariffs).  “The soybean tariffs are hurting us here,” she somberly explained.  Tariffs on soybeans, imposed by China in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, have been in place for a year. The impact on prices, and the bottom line for…

U.S. stocks slid Tuesday as escalating trade tensions between the United States and China triggered global growth fears and drove investors away from riskier assets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its second-biggest daily percentage drop of the year, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered their third-biggest percentage drops, even as the major indexes pared losses to end off their session lows. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said late Monday that China had backtracked from commitments made during trade negotiations. Those comments followed President Donald Trump’s unexpected statement Sunday that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent. Beijing said Tuesday that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States Thursday and Friday…

German sports car maker and Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche will pay a 535-million-euro ($598 million) fine over diesel vehicles that emitted more harmful pollutants than allowed, Stuttgart prosecutors said Tuesday. "The Stuttgart prosecutor's office has levied a 535-million-euro fine against Porsche AG for negligence in quality control," the investigators said. Porsche "abstained from a legal challenge" against the decision, the prosecutors office added. Tuesday's levy against Porsche is the latest in a string of fines against VW over its years-long "dieselgate" scandal. The auto behemoth admitted in 2015 to manipulating 11 million vehicles worldwide to appear less polluting in laboratory tests than they were in real driving conditions. Following fines against VW, high-end subsidiary Audi and now Porsche, no further investigations over "administrative offences" remain open against the group, a spokesman…

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday that American technologies and expertise could play an important role in developing India's economy, but were facing significant barriers to accessing its markets. Ross told a gathering of business leaders in New Delhi that foreign companies were at a disadvantage due to India's tariff and non-tariff barriers and myriad regulations.   Ross said India was already the world's third largest economy and by 2030 it would become the world's largest consumer market because of the rapid growth of its middle class. "Yet today, India is only the U.S 13th largest export market due to overly restrictive market access barriers."   Meanwhile, the United States is India's largest export market, accounting for something like 20 percent of the total. "That's a real imbalance,…

China has confirmed that its top trade negotiator will travel to the United States to conduct a new round of trade talks later this week, even after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened higher tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods after he complained the process is taking too long.   The Commerce Ministry issued a statement Tuesday that Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s top economic advisor, will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for two days of talks beginning Thursday.   Trump's Twitter comments on Sunday about the new tariffs sent Asian stocks and U.S. futures tumbling Monday and added uncertainty over the future of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Despite the market drop, China's official media stayed silent on Trump's comments all…

Farah Ballout's big, infectious smile is the first thing that greets you at her workplace, a cafe in Lebanon with a mission to do more than just brew coffee. Before she was hired, the 29-year-old — who has Angelman Syndrome, a genetic disorder that means she has developmental disabilities — had struggled to find work in a country with high unemployment. "I feel like it is a dream that I started here," Ballout said as tears rolled down her face. "It feels like you are walking into your home — it doesn't feel like you are going to work." Almost all the 14 staff at the Agonist coffee shop near Beirut where Ballout has worked for the past five months have special needs, from autism to Down's Syndrome. Wassim El…

Pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta said on Monday that clean Russian oil had started flowing from Belarus towards Ukraine and it was ready to resume oil exports to the European Union following a transit hiatus over contaminated crude. Flows through the Druzhba pipeline were suspended in late April because tainted crude had entered the system, sending shocks through global oil markets and damaging Russia's image as a reliable supplier of energy. The southern spur of the Druzhba pipeline passes from Belarus through Ukraine to Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. It was not immediately clear if clean supplies were also flowing on the northern spur, which runs directly between Belarus and Poland and Germany. "The oil with the quality, which is in line with the standard, has started to flow...to the Druzhba…

The Peruvian government passed a law on Monday aimed at closing loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying taxes, estimating it will be able to collect additional revenues equal to nearly 1 percent of gross domestic product per year. The law, which was passed by decree after being approved by Congress, targets tax schemes including corporate reorganizations and contracts that defer earnings or bring forward spending in order to avoid taxes, the finance ministry said in a statement. The government expects the new law to generate an additional 6 billion soles ($1.8 billion) per year, Prime Minister Salvador del Solar said in an interview with state-run TV Peru. The measure will likely help the government meet its goal of trimming the fiscal deficit to its goal of 2.2 percent of…

Boeing did not tell U.S. regulators for more than a year that it inadvertently made an alarm alerting pilots to a mismatch of flight data optional on the 737 MAX, instead of standard as on earlier 737s, but insisted on Sunday the missing display represented no safety risk. The U.S. plane maker has been trying for weeks to dispel suggestions that it made airlines pay for safety features after it emerged that an alert designed to show discrepancies in Angle of Attack readings from two sensors was optional on the 737 MAX. Erroneous data from a sensor responsible for measuring the angle at which the wing slices through the air - known as the Angle of Attack - is suspected of triggering a flawed piece of software that pushed the…

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday proposed a sweeping agriculture and rural investment plan to break up big agriculture monopolies and shift farm subsidies toward small family farmers.   "I think a farmer that produces the food we eat may be almost as important as some crook on Wall Street who destroys the economy," Sanders said during a campaign event in Osage, a town of fewer than 4,000 people. "Those of us who come from rural America have nothing to be ashamed about, and the time is long overdue for us to stand up and fight for our way of life."   Sanders' plan expands on themes that have been central to his presidential campaign in Iowa since the start, including his emphasis on rural America and pledge to…

U.S. President Donald Trump, looking to pressure China to speed up talks on a new trade agreement, says that starting Friday he will impose sharply higher tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese exports to the United States. Trump wrote Sunday on Twitter: "The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!" He said he will raise existing 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25%, and to impose new tariffs on another $325 billion of other products. The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that China is considering canceling trade talks scheduled to take place in Washington this week. The White House press secretary had not yet responded to VOA for comment regarding the Wall Street Journal report. Trump and…

U.S. employers added a robust 263,000 jobs in April, suggesting that businesses have shrugged off earlier concerns that the economy might slow this year and anticipate strong customer demand. The unemployment rate fell to a five-decade low of 3.6% from 3.8%, though that drop partly reflected an increase in the number of Americans who stopped looking for work. Average hourly pay rose 3.2% from 12 months earlier, a healthy increase though unchanged from the previous month. Friday's jobs report from the Labor Department showed that solid economic growth is still encouraging strong hiring nearly a decade into the economy's recovery from the Great Recession. The economic expansion is set to become the longest in history in July. Many businesses say they are struggling to find workers. Some have taken a…

A White House meeting between the current U.S. president and a prominent businessman who is seeking to become president of Taiwan is causing concern.  The White House on Thursday sought to downplay any diplomatic or political sensitivities, saying President Donald Trump and Foxconn founder Terry Gou did not discuss support for the billionaire's presidential campaign in Taiwan.  "He is just a great friend" of Trump, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.  The Taiwanese businessman, however, in a Facebook posting after Wednesday's meeting and in a discussion with reporters, said he told the president of his candidacy and Trump responded that being president "was a tough job."  He also displayed a pen and autographed coin he said that Trump gave him. "If I am elected president of the…

The Nasdaq is adding fake meat to its diet. Beyond Meat, the purveyor of plant-based burgers and sausages, made its debut on the stock exchange Thursday. It’s the first pure-play maker of vegan “meat” to go public, according to Renaissance Capital, which researches and tracks IPOs. Beyond Meat raised about $240 million selling 9.6 million shares at $25 each. That values the company at about $1.5 billion. The 10-year-old company has attracted celebrity investors like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio and buzz for placing its products in burger joints like Carl’s Jr. It sells to 30,000 grocery stores, restaurants and schools in the U.S., Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Israel. Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said the IPO timing is right because the company wants to…

President Donald Trump is increasingly reliant upon economic sanctions to achieve his foreign policy goals, despite a repeated emphasis that the use of military force remains a viable option.  However, these coercive measures, analysts say, have not produced their intended results, and at times have put the United States at odds with allies.   Venezuela In the case of Venezuela, the Trump sanctions that include the seizure of Venezuela’s oil assets in the United States, along with joining more than 50 other countries in recognizing Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, as the interim president, have energized the opposition.  Despite the economic pain caused by the sanctions, the massive protests in the country, and reports of growing mid-level military support for the opposition, socialist leader Nicolas Maduro has…

The United States and China are nearing a trade deal that would roll back a portion of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Politico reported on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two countries completed "productive" talks in Beijing. Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, held a day of discussions with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, aimed at ending a trade war. The talks are to resume next week in Washington, where some observers say a deal announcement is possible. "Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, D.C. next week," Mnuchin wrote on his Twitter account. He gave no details. The three appeared before cameras at the end…

Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day. The tradition of May Day marches for workers’ rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners. Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here’s a look at Wednesday’s protests : VIOLENT RADICALS DISRUPT MAY DAY IN FRANCE French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set…

Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day. The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.  Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here's a look at Wednesday's protests: Puerto Rico Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to traditional music while protesting austerity measures, with many…

Major cities around the world have ramped up security, increasing police presence and even using drones to monitor crowds expected at May Day rallies. International Workers' Day, which is commonly known as May Day, celebrates the international labor movement on the first day of May every year. It’s a national holiday in more than 80 countries around the world. France, which has been recently rankled by violent anti-government yellow vest protests, plans to deploy more than 7,400 police and dozens of drones in Paris.  Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers Wednesday in the streets of Paris and across the country. He said the goal was to protect demonstrators with "legitimate aspirations" and defend Paris from…

France has set more ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions by 2050 but few measures will take effect on President Emmanuel Macron's watch as the "yellow vest" protest movement limits his scope for environmental protection. A draft new "energy transition law," presented to cabinet on Tuesday and seen by Reuters, pledges to reduce carbon emissions by a factor of more than six by 2050 compared to 1990. That increases the emissions' reduction target from a factor of four stipulated in a 2015 energy law introduced by Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande. Months after coming to power in 2017, Macron dropped that law's key provision — despite a pledge to respect it — to reduce nuclear energy's share in French electricity production to 50 percent by 2025, from 75 percent currently. The…

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc committed $10 billion on Tuesday to Occidental Petroleum Corp’s $38 billion cash-and-stock bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp, boosting its chances of snatching a deal from Chevron Corp. Occidental and Chevron are locked in the biggest oil-industry takeover battle in years as they eye Anadarko’s prized assets in West Texas’ huge Permian shale oil field. Anadarko on Monday agreed to start negotiations with Occidental, saying its bid could potentially be superior to Chevron’s existing deal to buy Anadarko for $33 billion in cash and stock. Berkshire’s cash provides Occidental with flexibility to fund and even increase its proposal. Anadarko has previously expressed reservations about the risk of Occidental having to get any deal voted through by its own shareholders. Occidental could now use the majority of…

The Trump administration is ready to provide more federal aid to farmers if required, a White House adviser said on Monday, after rolling out up to $12 billion since last year to offset agricultural losses from the trade dispute with China. "We have allocated $12 billion, some such, to farm assistance. And we stand ready to do more if necessary," White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had previously ruled out a new round of aid for 2019. As of March, more than $8 billion was paid out as part of last year's program. On Monday, the department said it had extended the deadline to apply to May 17. A constituency that helped carry Republican President Donald Trump to victory in 2016, U.S. farmers…

Palm oil plantations in Liberia are billed as bringing jobs and development but actually leave locals poorer, said a Liberian lawyer who won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday. The U.S.-based Goldman Environmental Foundation gives the prize — often known as the Green Nobel — to six grassroots activists each year for efforts to protect the environment, often at their own risk. Alfred Brownell was awarded for his successful campaign to protect more than 500,000 acres of tropical forest from palm oil development in the West African country, after which he was forced to flee Liberia in fear for his life. He now lives in the United States but hopes to return to continue his work, as palm oil development continues to displace farmers without giving them an alternative…

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday symbolically launched work on a new airport for Mexico City to replace the nearly half-built $13 billion project he cancelled upon taking office.   Lopez Obrador promised the new Felipe Angeles airport northeast of the capital won't exceed its budget and will save the government money even with the cancellation of the partially built airport.   "It's going to resolve the problem of saturation at the current Mexico City airport, but also be an example of how you can carry out a rational, austere policy based on honesty that needs to establish itself as the way to live and the way to govern in our country," Lopez Obrador said.   The new airport — named for a general allied with revolutionary icon…

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting Iran's economy to shrink by 6% this year as it faces pressure from U.S. sanctions. In a report released Monday, the IMF said its estimates for Iran, which include the potential for inflation to top 40%, predate a U.S. decision to end waivers that have allowed some Iranian oil buyers to continue making their purchases despite new sanctions that went into effect last year. The Trump administration is due to formally end the waivers on Thursday for some of Iran's top crude purchasers, including China, India, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. The United States says it wants to deprive Iran of $50 billion in annual oil revenues to pressure it to end its nuclear and missile programs. The White House says it is working…