TRADE
Next US-China visits set
A US delegation headed by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is scheduled to visit China on Thursday and Friday next week for the next round of negotiations, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said yesterday. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴) is to travel to Washington early next month for more talks, ministry spokesman Gao Feng (高峰) said. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the US might leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a “substantial period” to ensure that Beijing complies with any trade agreement.
CRIME
Counterfeiting gang nabbed
Chinese police have arrested 32 members of a group they said made and sold up to 100 million yuan (US$15 million) of counterfeit luxury goods from brands such as Louis Vuitton and Loewe, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Police in Shanghai also closed two assembly lines used to make the counterfeits and seized more than 4,000 bags, clothes and accessories.
CRIME
Fraud suspect pleads guilty
A Lithuanian man on Wednesday pleaded guilty to US charges that he helped orchestrate a scheme to defraud Facebook Inc and Google out of more than US$100 million. Evaldas Rimasauskas, 50, entered his plea to one count of wire fraud before US District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison at his sentencing in July. He also agreed to forfeit about US$49.7 million he obtained from the scheme.
BRAZIL
Interest rates unchanged
The central bank on Wednesday on left interest rates unchanged after holding its first monetary policy meeting under new Governor Roberto Campos Neto. The bank’s unanimous decision — only the second since pro-business President Jair Bolsonaro took power in January — to keep rates at 6.5 percent was in line with market expectations.
INVESTMENT
Levi Strauss IPO a success
Levis Strauss & Co raised $623.3 million in its US initial public offering (IPO), pricing shares above the marketed range. The iconic blue jeans maker sold 36.7 million shares at US$17 apiece on Wednesday, according to a statement. It had marketed them for US$14 to US$16 apiece. The stock started trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. The offering valued Levi Strauss at US$6.55 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding after the IPO.
CRIME
S Korean firms plead guilty
South Korean oil refiners S-Oil Corp and Hyundai Oilbank Co have agreed to plead guilty to criminal and civil charges of rigging bids to supply fuel to the US military, the US Department of Justice said on Wednesday. Hyundai is to pay US$83.1 million in criminal and civil fines, while S-Oil would pay US$43.58 million to settle the allegations, the department said.
AVIATION
India hopes to save jobs
The Indian government is mulling options to save jobs at Jet Airways India Ltd, including asking low-cost carrier SpiceJet Ltd to consider taking over some of the debt-laden company’s aircraft, people with knowledge of the matter said. The proposal involves SpiceJet acquiring as many as 40 of Jet Airways’ grounded planes that are owned by lessors, one of the people said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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