Category: Business

America's auto industry is bracing for a potential escalation in President Donald Trump's tariff war with the world, one that could weaken the global auto industry and economy, inflate car prices and trigger a backlash in Congress. Late Sunday, the Commerce Department sent the White House a report on the results of an investigation Trump had ordered of whether imported vehicles and parts pose a threat to U.S. national security. Commerce hasn't made its recommendations public, and the White House has so far declined to comment. If Commerce did find that auto imports imperil national security, Trump would have 90 days to decide whether to impose those import taxes. Trump has repeatedly invoked his duty as president to safeguard national security in justifying previous rounds of tariffs. An obscure provision…

Pyongyang is upgrading its overcrowded mass transit system with brand new subway cars, trams and buses in a campaign meant to show leader Kim Jong Un is raising the country's standard of living.   The long-overdue improvements, while still modest, are a welcome change for the North Korean capital's roughly 3 million residents, who have few options to get to work or school each day.  First came new, high-tech subway cars and electric trolleybuses — each announced by the media with photos of Kim personally conducting the final inspection tours. Now, officials say three new electric trams are running daily routes across Pyongyang.  Transport officials say the capacity of the new trams is about 300, sitting and standing. Passengers must buy tickets in shops beforehand and put them in a ticket…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday fired one of his most senior aides and cabinet members, Gustavo Bebianno, amid a scandal involving campaign financing for some of his party's congressional candidates. Bebianno was secretary general of the president's office. His departure punctuated Bolsonaro's first cabinet crisis since he took office on Jan. 1 and has cast a shadow over the young government's plans. Brazilian markets fell on Monday as investors feared that the brewing scandal could hurt Bolsonaro's ability to pass a pension overhaul seen as key to fiscal and economic recovery. In a short video clip released late on Monday, Bolsonaro said he took the decision to dismiss Bebianno due to "differences of opinion on important issues," although he did not elaborate. Bebianno, who helped coordinate government affairs and…

A group representing some of Mexico's biggest companies told left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday that politicians should resist "extortion" by labor unions after strikes and blockades in recent weeks. Alejandro Ramirez, president of the Mexican Business Council, said strikes at factories in the northern state of Tamaulipas and blockades of railways by a teachers union had caused more than a billion dollars in losses and could cause businesses to close. Critics of Obrador Members of the group, including Mexico's second-richest man, German Larrea, who controls mining and transport conglomerate Grupo Mexico, were critics of Lopez Obrador before his July 1 election, warning voters should be wary of populism. "In labor matters, we look favorably on Mexicans starting a new era of union freedom that will allow the…

Chinese police have investigated 380 online lenders and frozen $1.5 billion in assets following an avalanche of scandals in the huge but lightly regulated industry, the government announced Monday. Beijing allowed a private finance industry to flourish in order to supply credit to entrepreneurs and households that aren't served by the state-run banking system. But that threatens to become a liability for the ruling Communist Party after bankruptcies and fraud cases prompted protests and complaints of official indifference to small investors.   The police ministry said it launched the investigation because person-to-person, or P2P, lending was increasingly risky and rife with complaints about fraud, mismanagement and waste.   The ministry gave no details of arrests but said more than 100 executives were being sought by investigators and some had fled…

President Donald Trump said Sunday "big progress" is being made in U.S. trade talks with China on what he calls "so many different fronts." "Our country has such fantastic potential for future growth and greatness on an even higher level," the president tweeted. Trump said last week he might put off the March 1 deadline to increase tariffs on China if a trade deal is close. But a China trade expert who served in the Obama administration says he has only seen "incremental progress" toward a trade deal with China. "The realistic approach is that the deadline gets extended and the negotiations possibly go into the end of this year, I would suspect," former Assistant Trade representative for China Jeff Moon tells VOA. Moon believes negotiators on both sides are…

It’s billed as North America’s largest and longest-running auto show, now in its 111th year. The 2019 Chicago Auto Show offers a lineup of nearly 1,000 vehicles occupying nearly 1 million-square-feet of space at the McCormick Place Convention Center. A special preview for members of the media at the annual show is a chance for manufacturers to show off their latest and greatest products about to enter the market. What is notable about this year’s event is what some manufacturers aren’t showing off — new sedans. Customers want trucks, SUVs “Over 10 years, there has been a consistent movement of customers in the United States and around the world, but even more so in the United States, moving away from sedans and more traditional passenger sedans into more utility vehicles,”…

The store checkout line may be a thing of the past sooner than we think. A year after Amazon opened its first store without a cashier, retailers and start-ups are competing to get similar technology in other stores worldwide, so shoppers do not have to stand in line. VOAs Deborah Block has a report. ...

President Donald Trump received an update on trade talks with China on Saturday at his Florida retreat after discussions in Beijing saw progress ahead of a March 1 deadline for reaching a deal. Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago club, was briefed in person by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and trade expert Peter Navarro, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and other aides joined by phone.  The White House offered no additional detail.  Both the United States and China reported progress in five days of negotiations in Beijing this week, but the White House said much work remained to be done to force changes in Chinese trade behavior.  Shortly after the meeting with his trade team, Trump said on Twitter the talks in Beijing were…

Payless ShoeSource is shuttering all of its 2,100 remaining stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, joining a list of iconic names like Toys R Us and Bon-Ton that have closed down in the last year.    The Topeka, Kan.-based chain said Friday that it will hold liquidation sales starting Sunday and wind down its e-commerce operations. All of the stores will remain open until at least the end of March and the majority will remain open until May.    The debt-burdened chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2017, closing hundreds of stores as part of its reorganization.    At the time, it had over 4,400 stores in more than 30 countries. It remerged from restructuring four months later with about 3,500 stores and eliminated more than $435 million in debt. …

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Friday with members of the U.S. trade delegation in Beijing where China and the U.S. are attempting to hammer out a trade deal. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin posted on Twitter Friday that he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had "productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He." Another round of negotiations between the two countries will continue next week in Wahington, Chinese state media reported. Earlier, a top White House economic adviser expressed confidence in the U.S. – China trade negotiations in Beijing. "The vibe in Beijing is good," National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters at the White House Thursday. Kudlow provided few details but said the U.S. delegation led by Lighthizer was “covering all ground.” “That's a very good sign…

Amazon will not be building a new headquarters in New York, a stunning reversal after a yearlong search. The online retailer faced opposition from some New York politicians, who were unhappy with the nearly $3 billion in tax incentives Amazon was promised. The Seattle-based Amazon had planned to bring 25,000 jobs to New York, and spend $2.5 billion building its offices.   "We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion — we love New York,'' the company said in a blog post, adding that it has 5,000 workers in the city and plans to grow those teams.   Amazon said Thursday it does not plan to look for another location at this time, and will continue to build out offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee.     ...

Some taxpayers are getting a bitter surprise this year as their usual annual tax refunds have shrunk — or turned into tax bills — even though President Donald Trump loudly promised them largest tax cut "in American history." And with tax season under way, thousands of unhappy taxpayers have been venting their displeasure on Twitter, using hashtags like #GOPTaxscam, and some threatened not to vote for Trump again. "Lowest refund I have ever had and I am 50 yrs old. No wall and now this tax reform sucks too!!" a woman going by "Speziale-Matheny" wrote from the crucial political swing state of Florida. "Starting to doubt Trump. I voted for him and trusted him too." During the year, American wage earners see a portion of each paycheck withheld as income…

The Somali government says it will award exploration licenses to foreign oil companies later this year, despite calls from the opposition to wait until laws and regulations governing the oil sector are in place. Seismic surveys conducted by two British companies, Soma Oil & Gas and Spectrum Geo, suggest that Somalia has promising oil reserves along the Indian Ocean coast, between the cities of Garad and Kismayo. Total offshore deposits could be as high as 100 billion barrels. The government says it will accept bids for exploration licenses on November 7, and the winners will be informed immediately. It says production-sharing agreements will be signed on December 9, with the agreements going into effect on January 1, 2020. “We have presented our wealth and resources to the companies,” Petroleum Minister…

A new report finds the world’s unemployment rate has dropped to five percent, the lowest level since the global economic crisis in 2008. The International Labor Organization reports the jobs being created, however, are poor quality jobs that keep most of the world’s workers mired in poverty. Slightly more than 172 million people globally were unemployed in 2018. That is about 2 million less than the previous year. The International Labor Organization expects the global unemployment rate of five percent to remain essentially unchanged over the next few years. The ILO report — World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2019 — finds a majority of the 3.3 billion people employed throughout the world, though, are working under poor conditions that do not guarantee them a decent living.   ILO Deputy Director-General…

Democrats pushed on Tuesday for a nationwide paid family leave system in the United States, the only developed nation that does not guarantee pay to workers taking time off to care for children or other relatives. The proposal would establish a national insurance program to provide workers with up to 12 weeks paid leave per year for the birth of a child, adoption or to care for a seriously ill family member. The lack of paid family leave takes a particular toll on women who tend to care for children and aging relatives, and the proposed Family Act would bring national policy in line with other countries, supporters say. The United States is one of only five nations that have no guaranteed paid maternity leave, the other four being Lesotho,…

American whiskey makers are feeling the pain after their major overseas markets imposed hefty duties on their liquor in retaliation against President Donald Trump's tariffs on aluminum imports. U.S. global whiskey exports, which include rye and bourbons, recorded a nifty 28 percent year-over-year increase in the first six months 2018, the Distilled Spirits Council said on Tuesday. But once levies from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union took effect, the collective whiskey exports from 37 U.S. states fell by 8 percent in the period from July to November last year, compared with the same five months in 2017, according to the Washington-based industry trade group. The tariff-induced drop wiped out the overseas sales gain the industry had enjoyed in the first half of 2018, the group's data showed. "Tariffs…

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell traveled Tuesday to a historically black university in the Mississippi Delta to deliver a message that the nation's prosperity has not been felt in many such areas around the country.   Powell said that many rural areas had been left out and needed special support, such as access to affordable credit to start small businesses and high-quality education to train workers.   In his comments, Powell did not address the future course of interest rates or the Fed's decision last month to announce that it planned to be "patient" in its future interest rate hikes. That decision triggered a big stock market rally from investors worried that the Fed was in danger of pushing rates up so much it could bring on a recession.  …

Toys R Us fans in the U.S. should see the iconic brand re-emerge in some form by this holiday season.   Richard Barry, a former Toys R Us executive and now CEO of the new company called Tru Kids Brands, told The Associated Press he and his team are still working on the details, but they're exploring various options including freestanding stores and shops within existing stores. He says that e-commerce will play a key role.   Toys R Us, buckling under competition from Amazon and several billions of dollars of debt, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in September 2017 and then liquidated its businesses last year in the U.S. as well as several other regions including the United Kingdom.   In October, a group of investors won an auction…

A union declared total victory in a mass strike by about 25,000 workers at 48 assembly plants in a Mexican border city, but the movement spawned a storm of wildcat walkouts Monday at other businesses.   The Industrial Workers and Laborers' Union won 20 percent wage increases at all 48 "maquiladora" factories in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. It also won a one-time bonus of about 32,000 pesos, about $1,685 at current exchange rates.   Now workers at about a dozen non-union businesses as well as factories organized by other unions have started wildcat walkouts to demand the same increases, known colloquially as "20/32."   The Tridonex auto parts company said in posts on its Facebook page Monday that pickets had prevented employees from entering its Matamoros plant…

Vale SA, the world's largest iron ore miner, knew last year that the dam in Brazil that collapsed in January and killed at least 165 people had a heightened risk of rupturing, according to an internal document seen by Reuters on Monday. The report, dated Oct. 3, 2018, shows that Vale classified Dam 1 at the Córrego do Feijão mine in Brumadinho as being two times more likely to fail than the maximum level of risk tolerated under the company's own dam safety policy. Vale did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously cited an independent audit last year declaring the dam safe and said that equipment showed the structure was stable just weeks before the collapse. First evidence of concern The previously unreported document is…

U.S. Steel Corp. will restart construction on an idled manufacturing facility in Alabama, and it gave some of the credit to President Donald Trump's trade policies in an announcement Monday. Trump's “strong trade actions” are partly responsible for the resumption of work on an advanced plant near Birmingham, the Pittsburgh-based company said in a statement. The administration's tariffs have raised prices on imported steel and aluminum. The manufacturer also cited improving market conditions, union support and government incentives for the decision. Work will resume immediately, the company said, and the facility will have an annual capacity of 1.6 million tons (1.5 million metric tons). U.S. Steel said it also will update other equipment and plans to spend about $215 million, adding about 150 full-time workers. The furnace is expected to…

China struck an upbeat note on Monday as trade talks resumed with the United States, but also expressed anger at a U.S. Navy mission through the disputed South China Sea, casting a shadow over the prospect for improved Beijing-Washington ties. White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday also expressed confidence in a possible deal. Asked if the two countries were getting close to a trade agreement, she told Fox News in an interview, "It looks that way, absolutely." The United States is expected to keep pressing China on longstanding demands that it reform how it treats American companies' intellectual property in order to seal a trade deal that could prevent tariffs from rising on Chinese imports. The latest talks kick off with working level discussions on Monday before high-level…

Since November, tens of thousands of angry French have taken to the streets, first against a fuel tax hike and now with myriad demands including better pay, fewer taxes, greater equality and citizens' participation in governing. More than 50,000 protesters were on the streets Saturday, February 9. How and when the protests will end is still in question. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA. ...

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and assured him that IMF stands ready to support his country. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, both IMF and prime minister Imran Khan's office said. "I reiterated that the IMF stands ready to support Pakistan," Lagarde said in a statement following meeting Khan. A team from the International Monetary Fund visited Pakistan in November to discuss a possible bailout with officials, though the talks ended without agreement, but since then the government official said talks were still ongoing on a possible bailout. Pakistan — which has gone to the IMF repeatedly since the late 1980s — is facing a balance of payments crisis.…

A joint study by the International Labor Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund finds the vast majority of the world’s children lack effective social protection coverage. It says this dooms them to a life of extreme poverty, with negative implications for society. The study finds only one third of children between zero and 14 years of age have any social protection. That means two-thirds, or 1.3 billion children live without a social safety net. International Labor Organization Social Protection Department Director Isabel Ortiz says just slightly more than one percent of GDP is allocated to social protection for children. She says this huge under-investment gap needs to be covered. “And, of course, the numbers worsen as we go by region. In Africa, for instance, children represent 40 percent of the African…

A portion of TransCanada Corp's Keystone oil pipeline remained shut on Thursday for investigation of a possible leak on its right-of-way near St. Louis, Missouri, a company spokesman said. TransCanada shut the pipeline on Wednesday between Steele City, Nebraska and Patoka, Illinois and sent crews to assess the situation, spokesman Terry Cunha said in an email. The 590,000 barrels-per-day Keystone pipeline is a critical artery taking Canadian crude from northern Alberta to U.S. refineries. Two pipelines operating near the release site will be excavated on Friday to determine the source of the leak, said Darius Kirkwood, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The agency is monitoring the response to the reported leak, he said. Canadian pipelines are already congested because of expanding…

Twitter said Thursday profits rose sharply in the fourth quarter, lifted by gains in advertising despite a drop in its global user base. The short-messaging platform said it posted a $255 million profit in the final three months of 2018, compared with $91 million a year earlier, as revenues rose 24 percent to $909 million. But Twitter's base of monthly active users declined to 321 million — a drop of nine million from a year earlier and five million from the prior quarter. Twitter said it would stop using the monthly user base metric and instead report "monetizable" daily active users in the US and worldwide. Using that measure, Twitter showed a base of 126 million worldwide, up nine percent over the year. "2018 is proof that our long-term strategy is…