The US president says it is ‘very important for our farmers’ while adding that trade talks are ‘moving along nicely’
Donald Trump has urged China to abolish tariffs on agricultural products imported from the United States – adding that trade talks between the rival powers were going well.
“I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.),” the US president wrote on Twitter.
Continue reading...Sweden and France among states found by the World Bank to enshrine gender equality in laws, but implementation haphazard
If you’re a woman and want to be on an equal footing with men, it’s best to live and work in Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg or Sweden. The World Bank, which has tracked legal changes for the past decade, found these were the only countries in the world to enshrine gender equality in laws affecting work.
The bank’s women, business and the law 2019 report, published this week, measured gender discrimination in 187 countries. It found that, a decade ago, no country gave women and men equal legal rights.
Continue reading...America’s economy cooled last quarter, but not as much as feared, as consumer spending slowed
Earlier:
Kay Daniel Neufeld, managing economist at the CEBR thinktank, is relieved that America avoided an abrupt slowdown in the last quarter.
However, he also expects growth will be slower in 2019 - averaging 2.3% (again, below that 3% target).
Contrary to most other large economies, the US has bucked the trend and recorded faster GDP growth in 2018 than in the previous year. The weak retail sales recorded for December alarmed analysts fearing an abrupt slowdown to the US expansion in the final quarter of last year, but today’s stronger than expected GDP data suggest the December figures might have been a blip.
Nevertheless, there is little room for complacency. With the world economy slowing and the US –China trade conflict merely on hold, there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid if the US wants to achieve another stellar performance in 2019.”
The US has “proved the doubters wrong” by growing faster than expected in the last quarter of 2018, says James Knightley, ING’s chief international economist.
Here’s his take:
The details show a partial slowdown in consumer spending growth (2.8% versus 3.5% in 3Q18), but it continues to make a strong contribution. In fact, given the equity market turmoil at the time and the poor official retail sales figure for December, this isn’t a bad outcome at all.
Non-residential investment spending actually posted a decent performance, recording growth of 6.2% despite the concerns about what escalating trade tensions could mean in terms of supply chains and corporate profitability.
Continue reading...The US president says he will hold a summit with Xi Jinping to conclude an agreement to end the year-long standoff
Donald Trump has said he will delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods that had been scheduled for Friday, citing “substantial progress” in trade talks with China over the weekend.
Related: When multilateralism crumbles, so does our rules-based order | Mark Medish
Continue reading...President said potential delay was justified as deal ‘must be the biggest in history’
President Donald Trump has conceded that he will delay planned increases in import duties on $200bn (£155bn) of Chinese goods if there is progress in trade talks in Washington next week.
Appearing to soften his demand for talks to conclude before 1 March, Trump said there could be a 30- or 60-day extension, should negotiators get closer to a deal. He said a delay was justified, based on the scope and scale of the talks. Speaking on the White House lawn, he said: “Trade with China – how big does that get? It must be the biggest deal in history.”
Continue reading...The race to head the World Bank opened with the US candidate already known. Other countries must stand up and be counted
With characteristic lack of restraint, the Trump administration last week jumped the gun on the World Bank presidential election process by naming David Malpass as its preferred candidate to succeed Jim Yong Kim.
The formal nomination process, which did not begin until the following day, is based on selection principles agreed in 2011 that put the emphasis on an “open, merit-based and transparent” appointment. It is high time those principles were put in practice.
Continue reading...Although there is a cloud over economy, the silver lining is central banks are more dovish
After the synchronised global economic expansion of 2017 came the asynchronous growth of 2018, when most countries other than the US started to experience slowdowns. Worries about US inflation, the US Federal Reserve’s policy trajectory, trade wars, Italian budget and debt woes, China’s slowdown and emerging-market fragilities led to a sharp fall in global equity markets toward the end of the year.
The good news at the start of 2019 is that the risk of an outright global recession is low. The bad news is that we are heading into a year of synchronised global deceleration; growth will fall toward – and, in some cases, below – potential in most regions.
Continue reading...Goods dispatched in coming days may not arrive until after 29 March deadline
British exporters sending goods to far-flung destinations in the coming days risk being locked out of harbours around the world as a no-deal Brexit looms, business leaders have warned.
Independent trade experts and the UK’s biggest business groups said exporters could be dispatching goods from UK ports imminently that would not arrive until after the 29 March deadline. This raised the prospect of goods being stuck in ports or facing hefty additional costs in the event of a disorderly Brexit.
Continue reading...When Rutger Bregman and Winnie Byanyima spoke out about taxes at Davos they went viral. They talk with Winners Take All author Anand Giridharadas about why change is coming
Rutger: Winnie, why did the comments you and I made about billionaires and taxes at Davos go viral? Why do things seem to be changing right now?
Winnie: Why did we go viral? I think we said things that people have wanted to hear, especially on a big stage where powerful politicians and companies are represented. And they are rarely said. People go there and speak in coded words and praise themselves and spin out the stats that suit them, but for once we spoke plainly about the challenges that people face.
Continue reading...Speaking in Davos, chancellor says changes such as end to free movement are on the way
Philip Hammond has told business leaders they need to accept the result of Britain’s EU referendum and warned that a failure to implement it would damage the country’s political stability.
The chancellor told increasingly restless business leaders that he was working for a deal that safeguarded the economy, and said he understood their frustration but companies had to accept that changes were coming – such as an end to the free movement of people and business models built on a supply of cheap labour.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the first day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, including appearances from Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Prince William, Sir David Attenborough and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern
I’m delighted to report that Prince William has cracked a joke.
We’re being shown a dramatic clip from Our Planet, of a glacier ‘calving’ -- a massive skyscraper-sized piece of ice, surging upwards and away from the rest of the sheet (making the most almighty din)
Attenborough is now plugging his new TV venture, Our Planet, created with the World Wildlife Fund.
It’ll be shown on Netflix, Attenborough says excitedly, saying that this will give a new audience for his work.
Now, with Netflix, it is possible for a show to be seen by 150 million people overnight.
Continue reading...Fears China may not be able to help shore up weakening global growth as GDP figures are slowest nation has reported in 28 years
China’s economy grew 6.6% in 2018, its slowest pace in almost 30 years, confirming a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy that could threaten global growth.
After years of breakneck expansion, the world’s second largest economy is losing steam, official data on Monday confirmed. China’s growth in 2018 was the country’s slowest reported rate since 1990 and down from 6.8% growth in 2017.
Continue reading...Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, we must demand that they pay their fair share
Donald Trump tells us the US economy is “absolutely booming”, the “strongest we’ve ever had” and “the greatest in the history of America”.
Well, at his Mar-a-Lago country club where the price of admission has doubled to $200,000, he is right. The economy could not be better for the top 1% and corporate America.
Continue reading...First daughter’s name said to be ‘floating around Washington’ but it wouldn’t be her first unconventional role
The Financial Times reported on Friday that the name of Ivanka Trump is “floating around Washington” regarding the need for a new president of the World Bank.
The role will soon be open due to the surprise departure of the current president, Jim Yong Kim. But on politics Twitter, at least, the idea that his replacement might be the first daughter met with widespread derision.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Carolyn Fairbairn of industry body will urge MPs to put economy before politics
A no-deal Brexit would have profound economic consequences with GDP shrinking by up to 8%, putting thousands of jobs at risk, the Confederation of British Industry is to warn.
The business body is urging MPs to back Theresa May’s deal, describing it as a “solution” businesses can work with as it delivers a transition period and avoids a “hugely damaging cliff edge”.
Continue reading...All the day’s economic and financial news, as Germany’s factories suffer a 4.7% annual drop in output
Trade Optimism Trumped Weak European Economic Sentiment today, says Fiona Cincotta of City Index.
She explains
Global markets bounced higher on Tuesday as optimism grows over a US – Sino trade deal. A strong Asian session spilled into Europe, although markets pared gains as Wall Street opened owing to increasing tech concerns.
US and China extending trade talks for another day has been interpreted as a positive sign by the markets. Whilst no reason was given for the extension, Trump’s tweet that the talks “were going very well” was sufficient to lift sentiment boosting appetite for riskier assets such as stocks, whilst safe haven gold declined.
With US and China working to resolve their issues, the Fed promising to remain flexible and the US economy firing on all cylinders it is easy to see why sentiment is on the up. Obviously, this is not the end of US – China trade tensions by a long shot, ad there will almost certainly be further bumps and twists along the way but for now the markets are happy with the slow steady progress which it perceives has been achieved.
This comes hot on heels of downbeat German factory orders, which dropped by -4.3% in November. These are the latest signs that the eurozone economy is slowing, as trade tensions sap momentum for the powerhouse of Europe.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index of top shares has closed 50 points higher at 6861 points, a gain of 0.75% today.
Optimism that Beijing and Washington are making progress in their trade negotiations lured investors into buying shares, following the recent sell off.
FTSE 100: The percentage of traders net-long is now its lowest since Sep 19 when FTSE 100 traded near 7343.4. https://t.co/8uGQ7iiKO5 pic.twitter.com/mR1klOf9uC
Continue reading...It epitomises China’s position in the global economy that a seismic warning about its health last week came from a US company: Apple. The iPhone maker cut sales forecasts, citing the unforeseen “magnitude” of the economic slowdown in China – a vital growth market. At the same time the head of Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, warned his employees that “winter is coming” in the world’s second-largest economy.
If China is indeed entering an economic winter, then the chill will spread around the globe. Forty years after communist China opened its doors to trade with the west in a dash for growth, the country’s mix of free-market policies and central planning faces one of its sternest tests.
Continue reading...Concerns over Chinese growth could spell problems for Africa and other parts of the developing world. Beijing funded an overseas investment boom in the past few decades as it strove to become the world’s second largest economic superpower, while also buying vast amounts of the natural resources produced by emerging nations.
The scale of the expansion forms part of China’s multibillion-dollar “Belt and Road” Initiative, a state-backed campaign to promote its influence around the world, while providing stimulus for its own slowing economy. The transcontinental development project, launched by China’s president, Xi Jinping, in 2013, aims to improve infrastructure links between Asia, Europe and Africa, with the aim for China to reap the benefits from increasing levels of global trade.
Continue reading...As US officials fly to Beijing for negotiations, the president says the Chinese ‘sort of have to’ make a deal on tariffs
Donald Trump has said China’s weakening economic growth puts the United States in a strong position as negotiators from the world’s two largest economies prepare for trade talks on Monday.
US officials are heading to Beijing this weekend for the first face-to-face talks since Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, agreed in December to a 90-day truce in the trade war as they sought to strike a deal.
Continue reading...Trump claims ‘We’re the talk of the world’ as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown
After their worst year in close to a decade US stocks started the new year with a more than 1% decline on Wednesday before inching their way back into the black as Donald Trump blamed a “glitch” for last year’s losses.
Markets wobbled between gains and losses all day on Wednesday as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown while the US government shutdown dragged on.
Continue reading...