TRADE
S Korea, Australia ink pact
South Korea and Australia signed a free-trade deal yesterday which is to scrap almost all tariffs within a decade while immediately lifting levies on some key exports, including South Korean cars and Australian wine. The deal is to see almost all tariffs on goods traded between the two countries scrapped within 10 years of the pact taking effect. Canberra is to immediately abolish 5 percent tariffs on most South Korean-made cars, as well as televisions, refrigerators and machinery. Seoul is to immediately lift tariffs on nearly half of agricultural imports from Australia, including wine and coconut oil, as well as about a fifth of fish imports. It is hoped that the deal will be ratified by the end of the year, the South Korean trade ministry said.
JAPAN
Bank upbeat on economy
The Bank of Japan yesterday painted an upbeat picture of the world’s No. 3 economy and delayed action on its monetary easing program as it assesses the impact of a controversial rise in sales tax. Policymakers decided to hold fire on the multibillion-dollar asset-purchase scheme introduced in April last year as part of a drive by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to drag the country out of years of deflation and slumbering growth.
ECONOMY
Japan posts surplus
Japan posted its first current account surplus in five months in February, helped by a narrower trade deficit and higher returns on investment abroad, Japanese government data showed yesterday. Japan logged a surplus of ¥612.7 billion (US$5.9 billion) in February, down 5.7 percent from the surplus the year before, but a reversal of a deficit of ¥1.59 trillion in January. The monthly trade deficit shrank by 1.4 percent on-year to ¥533.4 billion as exports grew faster than imports. Exports rose 15.7 percent to ¥5.94 trillion, while imports went up 14.1 percent to ¥6.47 trillion.
PHARMACEUTICALS
GSK probes Iraq claims
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said on Monday it has launched an investigation into allegations it bribed doctors in Iraq, as the pharmaceuticals giant remains embroiled in a major corruption scandal in China. The company said it is probing allegations of “improper conduct in our Iraq business” after reports that it hired 16 doctors and pharmacists in Iraq as paid sales representatives at a time they continued working for the government. “In total, we employ fewer than 60 people in Iraq in our pharmaceuticals operation and these allegations relate to a small number of individuals in the country,” it said in a statement, adding: “We have zero tolerance for unethical or illegal behavior.”
AUTOMAKERS
Ford recalls two models
Ford Motor Co issued two vehicle recalls on Monday, one to fix a corrosion risk that could affect steering and another to replace seat frames that do not meet safety standards. Ford said it was recalling about 385,7500 Ford Escape sport-utility vehicles in the model years 2001 to 2004 to address a potential subframe corrosion issue that could cause the lower control arm to separate, resulting in reduced steering control and an increased crash risk. The No. 2 US automaker said it was aware of one crash that may be related to the issue, but knew of no injuries.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last