Category: News

Washington is digesting China’s stated intention to purchase more American goods and reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, last week’s talks between U.S. and Chinese negotiators did not yield specific commitments from Beijing in dollar figures, sparking criticism from some lawmakers in Washington. ...

South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate, LG Group, said its Chairman Koo Bon-moo did Sunday. Koo, 73, had been struggling with an illness for a year, LG Group said in a statement. “Becoming the third chairman of LG at the age of 50 in 1995, Koo established key three businesses — electronics, chemicals and telecommunications — led a global company LG, and contributed to driving (South Korea’s) industrial competitiveness and national economic development,” LG said. A group official said Koo had been unwell for a year and had undergone surgery. The official declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Before its chairman’s death, LG Group had established a holding company in order to streamline ownership structure and begin the process of succession. Heir apparent Koo Kwang-mo is from…

The United States and China agreed to take measures to reduce the U.S. trade deficit in goods by having China purchase more American goods, particularly agriculture and energy products, according to a joint statement the two nations released Saturday. "There was a consensus on taking effective measures to substantially reduce the United States trade deficit in goods with China," the joint statement said. "To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services. This will help support growth and employment in the United States." The statement concluded joint talks Thursday and Friday between the two countries, which included several U.S. Cabinet secretaries and China's State Council Vice Premier Liu He. President Donald Trump made reducing the U.S. trade deficit with China a key campaign promise. The…

India and the European Union have given the World Trade Organization lists of the U.S. products that could incur high tariffs in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump's global tariffs on steel and aluminum, WTO filings showed Friday. The EU said Trump's steel tariffs could cost $1.5 billion and aluminum tariffs a further $100 million, and listed rice, cranberries, bourbon, corn, peanut butter, and steel products among the U.S. goods that it might target for retaliation. India said it was facing additional U.S. tariffs of $31 million on aluminum and $134 million on steel, and listed U.S. exports of soya oil, palmolein and cashew nuts among its potential targets for retaliatory tariffs. One trade official described the lists of retaliatory tariffs as "loading a gun," making it plain to U.S.…

China has dropped an anti-dumping investigation and given long awaited approval for the sale of Toshiba's memory chip business, in gestures that could suggest a thaw between Beijing and the U.S. as trade talks resumed in Washington. The Commerce Ministry said Friday ended the probe into imported U.S. sorghum because it's not in the public interest. A day earlier, Beijing cleared the way for a group led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital to buy Toshiba Corp.'s computer memory chip business. The moves signaled Beijing's willingness to make a deal with Washington amid talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials aimed at averting a trade war between the world's two biggest economies, analysts say. "I think China is willing to make concessions," said Wang Tao, chief China economist at…

The European Commission is proposing that EU governments make direct money transfers to Iran's central bank to avoid U.S. penalties, an EU official said, in what would be the most forthright challenge to Washington's newly reimposed sanctions. The step, which would seek to bypass the U.S. financial system, would allow European companies to repay Iran for oil exports and repatriate Iranian funds in Europe, a senior EU official said, although the details were still to be worked out. The European Union, once Iran's biggest oil importer, is determined to save the nuclear accord, that U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned on May 8, by keeping money flowing to Tehran as long as the Islamic Republic complies with the 2015 deal to prevent it from developing an atomic weapon. "Commission President Jean-Claude…

Switzerland’s government has requested a report into the risks and opportunities of launching its own cryptocurrency, a so-called “e-franc” that would use technology similar to privately launched coins like bitcoin but have backing of the state. The lower house of the Swiss parliament must now decide whether to back the Federal Council’s request for a study into the subject, which has been discussed in Sweden. Cryptocurrencies have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and international governing bodies coming to grips with the technology’s rapid ascent. The coins use encryption and a blockchain transaction database designed to enable anonymous transactions that do not require centralized processing. Other countries interested Several countries have begun evaluating the viability of introducing their own state-backed digital currency, with Sweden’s Riksbank saying an e-crown might help counteract issues…

The United States sought on Thursday to further choke off funding sources for Iranian-backed Hezbollah, imposing sanctions on its representative to Iran, as well as a major financier and his five companies in Europe, West Africa and the Middle East. The U.S. Treasury said Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi was a Hezbollah financier operating through Belgium, Lebanon and Iraq, and was a close associate of Gambia's former president Yahya Jammeh, who is accused of acquiring vast wealth during his decades-long rule. It also imposed sanctions on Hezbollah's representative to Iran, Abdallah Safi Al-Din, who it said served as an interlocutor between Hezbollah and Iran on financial issues. The department said it had blacklisted Belgian energy services conglomerate Global Trading Group; Gambia-based petroleum company Euro African Group; and Lebanon-based Africa Middle East Investment…

The United Nations is forecasting that the global economy will expand by more than 3 percent this year and next year — but it warns that increasing risks could trigger "a shock to investment and trade" and a sharp drop to 1.8 percent growth in 2019.   The U.N.'s mid-year report on the World Economic Situation and Prospects launched Thursday says growth in the world economy is surpassing expectations, reflecting further economic expansion in developed countries and broadly favorable investment conditions.   However, the report said, "downside risks" have increased including "a rise in the probability of trade conflicts between major economies."   Dawn Holland, chief of the U.N.'s Global Economic Monitoring Branch, cited the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs in January and proposed new tariffs against China as well…

Iranian state TV is reporting that the country has signed an agreement with a British consortium to develop an oil field, just as another major company, France's Total, says it will withdraw from Iran because of the renewed U.S. sanctions. The new agreement is the first between Iran and a company from a key Western ally of the United States since Washington last week announced it will pull out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and Western powers. The U.S. said it was reinstalling sanctions against Iran. Managing Director of Pergas International Consortium Colin Rowley, and Bijan Alipour, managing director of National Iranian South Oil Co., signed a preliminary deed on the partnership in the presence of British Ambassador Rob Macaire in Tehran on Wednesday night. The project,…

The European Union has called on U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to stop threatening it with tariffs on steel and aluminum, saying Thursday it is prepared to discuss trade — but not at gun-point.   In March, Trump slapped tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum, but granted the 28 EU countries a temporary exemption until June 1. He also temporarily exempted big steel producers Canada and Mexico, provided they agree to renegotiate a North American trade deal to his satisfaction.   "It's Europe's economic sovereignty, and what we are demanding is that we are exempted without conditions or time limits," French President Emmanuel Macron said in Bulgaria, where EU leaders have gathered for a summit with Balkans countries.   Convinced that the U.S. move…

President Donald Trump says the United States has not “folded” in trade negotiations with China as both countries get set for another round of meetings. “We have not seen China’s demands yet,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “The U.S. has very little to give because it has given so much over the years. China has much to give.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin opens two days of talks in Washington with Chinese officials Thursday. “These meetings are a continuation of the talks held in Beijing two weeks ago and will focus on rebalancing the United States-China bilateral economic relationship,” the White House says. They are also aimed at avoiding a full-blown trade war after the U.S. and China exchanged tariffs in March. Trump told the country Wednesday that the U.S. has been…

President Mauricio Macri said Wednesday that Argentina's currency crisis is over, speaking as the country's currency rebounded somewhat and prices for its stocks and bonds rose.   Macri announced last week that Argentina was seeking a financing deal with the International Monetary Fund following a sharp drop in the peso. The decision brought back haunting memories for Argentines who blame the IMF for introducing policies that led to the country's 2001 economic implosion.   Argentina was forced to impose interest rate hikes and to tighten the fiscal deficit target to try to halt the devaluation of its currency, which has lost about 25 percent of its value in recent weeks.   The peso hit a new all-time low of 25.30 to the U.S. dollar Monday. But it rose at 24.8…

Amsterdam unveiled far-reaching plans Wednesday to rein in tourism, reflecting the dissatisfaction of many residents who feel the city's historic center has been overrun. The leading Green-Left and other parties negotiating a new municipal government after March elections vowed to return "Balance to the City," in a document of that name seen by Reuters. "The positive sides of tourism such as employment and city revenues are being more and more overshadowed by the negative consequences," including trash and noise pollution, the document said. Changes the document outlines include curtailing "amusement transportation" such as multiperson "beer bikes"; cracking down on alcohol use in boats on the canals; further restricting Airbnb and other home rentals; and a large tax hike. The plans announced Wednesday also include creating an inventory of all commercial beds in the city to try to cap various sectors, such as those on cruise…

Four years ago, Maeve Taylor and her husband decided to quit their jobs and move their family across the United States to start an organic dairy farm in New York. The couple used a federal loan to buy 35 cows and started to learn their new trade on a patch of rented farmland. But when they began looking for land of their own they hit their first major hurdle. Even in an area with a long agricultural tradition and lots of farmland, there was nothing to buy — at least at a price they could afford. "You'd think you could buy something, but hardly any of it is for sale," Taylor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Wealthy landowners ... live here as retirement homes or have purchased property as a…

Malaysia's new government to scrutinize past economic policies under the now ousted Najib Razak administration is prompting analysts to warn of a slide in investment and growth in one of Southeast Asia's top economies. The new leadership has appointed a group of prominent citizens, an eminent persons group, to come up with a new policy agenda within the next 100 days that will, among other things, review mega investment projects that have been key drivers of economic growth. The new government has also established a special task force as corruption allegations over the abuse of funds in a sovereign wealth fund set up by Najib, and ordered a review of political representation on Malaysia's largest government investment firms, including the main sovereign and pension funds. Leading the eminent persons group is…