UNITED STATES
Deal ready for signature
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a trade deal with South Korea has been fully renegotiated and might be signed at the UN, during the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, which opened that day. “It was a terrible deal for the United States, now it’s a fair deal,” Trump told a news conference. The South Korean Ministry of Trade is preparing for the possible signing between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump next week, a ministry official said. She said it is hoped the deal could be implemented from Jan. 1 next year, but the schedule depended on a parliamentary approval.
TRANSPORTATION
Didi expands in Mexico
Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing (滴滴出行) on Tuesday said it is launching in Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, expanding its presence in the country — and its challenge to market king Uber Technologies Inc. Didi Chuxing in April launched trial operations in the city of Toluca, and has also launched in the country’s third-largest city, Monterrey. One of Asia’s most valuable start-ups, it has entered Australia, Japan and Brazil, while forcing Uber to retreat from Southeast Asia. In Mexico, it is starting from the ground up, rather than purchasing an existing firm as it did in Brazil and India.
AVIATION
Qatar posts US$69m loss
Qatar Airways Ltd on Tuesday posted a net loss of more than US$69 million in the year to March, blaming the “illegal blockade” against Qatar by a Saudi-led bloc of countries. In a statement, the airline said the blockade had directly affected its revenues, slashing seat occupancy on flights leaving Doha by about 19 percent. It said its fleet had been forced to fly longer routes, raising fuel costs, as well as canceling flights to 18 destinations. The airline opened 14 new routes over the period, but said they came with launch costs, adding that establishing a presence in new markets would take time. Its losses came despite a 7 percent rise in revenues.
AUTOMAKERS
BMW plans freeze at UK plant
BMW AG on Tuesday said it is scheduling a weeks-long shutdown of its Mini plant in the UK to coincide with Brexit as insurance against supply hiccups from a disorderly British departure from the EU. The German automaker said annual maintenance at its Cowley factory would begin on April 1 next year — the first working day after Brexit on March 29 — and would last several weeks. The shutdown usually takes place in summer. BMW said that it made the decision “to minimize the risk of any possible short-term parts-supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.” The company said it considers that “worst-case scenario” unlikely.
BANKING
Visa, MasterCard to settle
Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc said that they and several banks would pay US$6.2 billion to settle part of a long-running lawsuit brought by merchants in the US over fees on credit card transactions. Visa said it is paying US$4.1 billion and MasterCard is paying about US$900 million. The two companies said they have already set aside money to cover the payment. A group of 19 merchants and trade groups alleged Visa and MasterCard conspired to fix fees that are charged to stores for handling credit card payments. The settlement on Tuesday covers the monetary claims in the lawsuit, but a lawsuit over their network rules is ongoing.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained