Republican and Democratic House leaders expressed optimism Sunday that they will get enough votes in favor of raising the debt ceiling. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has details on a deal that has in principle, been struck. Video editor: Marcus Harton.
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US Commerce Secretary: US ‘Won’t Tolerate’ China’s Ban on Micron Chips
The United States "won't tolerate" China's effective ban on purchases of Micron Technology MU.O memory chips and is working closely with allies to address such "economic coercion," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Saturday.
Raimondo told a news conference after a meeting of trade ministers in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks that the U.S. "firmly opposes" China's actions against Micron.
These "target a single U.S. company without any basis in fact, and we see it as plain and simple economic coercion and we won't tolerate it, nor do we think it will be successful."...
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US-Led Indo-Pacific Talks Produce Deal on Supply Chain Early Warnings
Trade ministers of 14 countries in the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks "substantially completed" negotiations on an agreement to make supply chains more resilient and secure, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Saturday.
The "first of its kind" agreement calls for countries to form a council to coordinate supply chain activities and a "Crisis Response Network" to give early warnings to IPEF countries of potential supply disruptions, Raimondo told a news conference following a ministerial meeting in Detroit.
The deal provides an emergency communications channel for IP...
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UPS Strike Looms in World Reliant on Everything Delivered Everywhere All the Time
Living in New York City, working full time and without a car, Jessica Ray and her husband have come to rely on deliveries of food and just about everything else for their home. It has meant more free time on weekends with their young son, rather than standing in line for toilet paper or dragging heavy bags of dog food back to their apartment.
"I don't even know where to buy dog food," said Jessica Ray of the specialty food she buys for the family's aging dog.
There are millions of families like the Rays who have swapped store visits for doorstep deliveries in recent years, meaning that conte...
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US Trade Representative, China’s Commerce Minister Clash on APEC Sidelines
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised complaints about China's state-led economic policies during a meeting on Friday with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who objected to U.S. tariffs and trade policies, their offices said.
But statements from the U.S. Trade Representative's office and China's Commerce Ministry both emphasized the need for Washington and Beijing to maintain communication on trade.
"Ambassador Tai highlighted the need to address the critical imbalances caused by China’s state-led, nonmarket approach to the economy and trade policy," USTR said in a statement re...
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US Farmers Buffeted by War in Ukraine, High Interest Rates
For a second year, the war in Ukraine is adding to worries for American farmers already pinched by higher interest rates. VOA's Kane Farabaugh speaks with farmers in the Midwest state of Illinois about the impact of world events as they launch another planting season. Camera: Kane Farabaugh.
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Japan and US to Commit to Closer Chip Cooperation in Joint Statement
Japan and the United States will issue a joint statement on technology cooperation on Friday that will commit them to closer cooperation in research and development of advanced chips and other technologies, a Japanese government source said.
Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo will meet in Detroit in the U.S. on the sidelines of the 2023 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, Yomiuri reported earlier. In addition to semiconductors, they will discuss artificial intelligence and quantum technology, the newspaper...
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Last Quarter US Economic Growth Revised Up to Still-Tepid 1.3% Annual Rate
The U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 1.3% annual rate from January through March as businesses wary of an economic slowdown trimmed their inventories, the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade from its initial estimate.
The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 1.1% annual rate last quarter.
The Commerce Department's revised measure of growth in the nation's gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — marked a deceleration from 3.2% annual growth from July through September and 2.6% from October through December.
Despite the f...
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EU Fines Facebook Parent Meta $1.3 Billion for Transferring User Data to US
The European Union fined Meta a record $1.3 billion on Monday and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. digital snooping fears.
The privacy fine of 1.2 billion euros from Ireland's Data Protection Commission is the biggest since the EU's strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon's 746 million euro penalty in 2021 for data protection violations.
The Irish watchdog is Meta's lead privacy regulator in the 27-nation bloc because the Silicon Valley tech giant's European headqua...
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Biden Calls on Republicans to Abandon ‘Extreme Position’ on Government Spending
U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday that opposition Republicans in the House of Representatives must move away from their “extreme position” on government spending in order to reach a deal with Democrats to raise the country’s borrowing limit before it runs out of cash to pay its bills.
The government could come up short to meet its financial obligations as soon as June 1, but the Democratic president said at a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, that there will be no agreement to avert a catastrophic default affecting the U.S. and global economies only on Republican terms.
“It's time for ...
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Despite War, Dutch Farmer Stays in Ukraine to Help Country
The United Nations and Turkey have negotiated a two-month extension to an agreement allowing Ukraine farmers to continue to export of millions of tons of grain. That’s good news for Dutch farmer Kees Huizinga, who has been farming in Ukraine for 20 years. Anna Kosstutschenko reports.
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Fewer Americans Apply for Jobless Benefits, Labor Market Still Showing Strength
Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week after a previous spike that some took as a sign that higher interest rates were finally cooling the labor market.
Applications for jobless claims for the week ending May 6 fell by 22,000 to 242,000, from 264,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The weekly claims numbers are broadly as representative of the number of U.S. layoffs.
The four-week moving average of claims, which flattens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, ticked down by 1,000 to 244,250. Analysts have pointed to a sustained increase in the four-we...
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Biden Tries to Ease Fears of Government Default Amid Budget Talks
President Joe Biden on Wednesday sought to assure Americans that the U.S. will not default on its debts as the White House and top congressional leaders conduct tense, protracted budget negotiations in which Republicans seek substantial spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit.
“I'm confident that we'll get the agreement on the budget and America will not default,” Biden said as he prepared to leave Washington for a summit in Japan with leaders of most of the world’s biggest economies. “And every leader in the room understands the consequences if we fail to pay our bills. And it w...
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Zimbabwe’s Gold-Backed Digital Currency Hopes to Stem Devaluation
Zimbabwe's central bank on May 8 launched a gold-backed digital currency it hopes will reduce the demand for US dollars and the devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar. But analysts say the government-controlled foreign-exchange market is fueling the problem. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe.
Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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Biden, Congressional Leaders Meeting Again on Debt Ceiling, Spending Cuts
U.S. President Joe Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other top congressional leaders are meeting Tuesday at the White House in a new effort to reach agreement on raising the country's debt ceiling so the government can borrow more to pay its existing obligations.
Biden has insisted that Congress raise the current $31.4 trillion debt ceiling without conditions on future spending. McCarthy and congressional Republicans have called for substantial cuts in future government spending in exchange for raising the debt limit for a year.
That scenario would require a new round of debt ceilin...
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Ghana’s Cocoa Farmers Suffer Falling Incomes as Chocolate Makers Reap Profits, Says Oxfam
The world’s biggest chocolate producers are enjoying large profits while failing to pass on the benefits to cocoa farmers, many of whom are suffering falling incomes and worsening poverty, according to a report from the charity Oxfam.
The report was published ahead of World Fair Trade Day on May 13.
Falling incomes
The analysis focuses on Ghana, the world’s second-largest producer of cocoa. The charity says farmer’s incomes in the country have fallen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“An Oxfam survey of more than 400 cocoa farmers supplying chocolate corporations across ...
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Oxfam: Chocolate Makers Reap Profits, But Not Cocoa Farmers
The world’s biggest chocolate producers are enjoying record profits – but are failing to pass on the benefits to cocoa farmers, many of whom are suffering falling incomes and worsening poverty, according to a report from the charity Oxfam. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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G7 Talks Focus on Ways to Fortify Banks, Supply Chains
Bank runs, cybersecurity and supply chain reliability were among items on the agenda of closed-door financial talks Friday in Japan by the Group of Seven advanced economies.
Tensions with China, and with Russia over its war on Ukraine, loomed large on the wide horizon of issues the G-7 is tackling this year in Japan, its only Asian member.
But while G-7 finance ministers and central bank chiefs discussed ways to protect the international rules-based order and prevent what they are calling "economic coercion" by China, Beijing lashed back, accusing the club of wealthy nations of hypocrisy. ...
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