Month: September 2017

One of China’s biggest textile mills is planning its first North American factory in a small town in the southern U.S. state of Arkansas. VOA’s Ping Zhang went to have a look at local expectations and the promise of new jobs. …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser expressed optimism on Tuesday about reaching agreement on a revised free trade pact with South Korea, days after Trump suggested scrapping the deal with a key American ally. Senior U.S. lawmakers and America’s biggest business lobby urged Trump not to pull out of the five-year-old U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), especially at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear missile tests. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, speaking in Mexico City after a second round of NAFTA talks with Canada and Mexico, said negotiations with Seoul were continuing. “We have a negotiation we’re in,” Lighthizer told reporters when asked whether KORUS would be terminated. “My hope is that we’ll have a successful discussion with the Koreans as things proceed and that the problems with that agreement from our perspective will be worked out.” Trump said on Saturday he would discuss KORUS’s fate with advisers this week, prompting widespread concern among lawmakers and the business community. The chairmen and senior Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee said in a statement on Tuesday that North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday “underscores the vital importance of the strong alliance between the United States and South Korea.” The statement by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, senior Democrat Richard Neal and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and senior Democrat Ron Wyden said talks to improve South Korea’s implementation and …

New York Fashion Week, the first in a series of global style weeks during September, is gearing up with designers ready to present their visions for Spring 2018. This season, more than 100 designers will showcase their latest creations in venues across New York on Thursday, although some flagship brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Thom Browne, Proenza Schouler, and Altuzarra have opted to move their shows overseas. The six-day schedule, which previously ran for a full week, has been streamlined to give buyers and editors more time to fly out to London Fashion Week, which follows directly after New York’s. “When you look at fashion weeks globally – starting in New York, then London, then Milan, then Paris – it’s basically a month. You have editors and buyers traveling to all those fashion weeks,” said Steven Kolb, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), describing the “sheer exhaustion” of such a jam-packed schedule. High-profile fashion houses Calvin Klein and Tom Ford are kicking off the New York shows to “put it on the same playing field” as its European counterparts, Kolb said. In keeping with the political messaging that often underlies the program, many fashionistas on and off the runway are expected to wear blue ribbons, created in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The ACLU is an important group that really stands up for people’s rights – the right for people to live their lives as they choose,” Kolb said. Celebrities have been …

The second round of talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement ended Tuesday amid resistance to discussing Mexico’s low wages and large differences over dispute resolution mechanisms.   The head negotiators for all three countries at the talks in Mexico City said progress had been made, but U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer said some areas were going to be challenging.   “There’s no secret that the labor provisions will be contentious and that it’s our objective to have provisions that raise wage rates in Mexico,” Lighthizer said. “I think that’s in the interest of Mexicans and in the interest of the United States.”   He also said that while the U.S. had proposed eliminating the current dispute resolution mechanism, “we haven’t had any detailed negotiations” on the system, which is known as Chapter 19.   Text was coming together for most chapters of the treaty, however, including small and medium enterprises, competitiveness, digital trade, services and the environment.   “The strategy is to conclude in the short term those things that can be concluded” and then tackle the thornier issues, Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo said.   Regarding energy, Guajardo said “there are no points of difference or controversy.” He said the main question was whether it should have its own chapter or be spread across all chapters.   But those close to the talks said relatively few concrete proposals appear to have been made on contentious issues like dispute-resolution mechanisms, seasonal farm tariffs and regional content …

Leaders of BRICS, an acronym for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa combined, on Monday expressed concerns over Pakistan-based militant groups and cited them as a problem for regional security. The economic bloc called for the supporters of these groups to be held accountable. The call for action comes two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump put Pakistan on notice to stop harboring Afghan militant groups that use Pakistani soil to plan and launch attacks against Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan. BRICS members condemned terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and called for an “immediate cessation of violence” in the country. “We, in this regard, express concern on the security situation in the region and violence caused by the Taliban, ISIL/DAISH, Al-Qaida and its affiliates, including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, TTP and Hizb ut-Tahrir,” read a joint declaration issued by the economic bloc during its annual summit in China’s Xiamen. “We reaffirm that those responsible for committing, organizing, or supporting terrorist acts must be held accountable,” the declaration added. While the BRICS statement has not named Islamabad directly, many of the groups cited in the declaration find safe haven in the country. Washington and Kabul have long accused Islamabad of turning a blind eye to the issue of safe havens for Afghan militant groups. Trump last month blamed Pakistan for “housing” terrorist groups that are fighting Afghan and American forces in Afghanistan. He vowed not to be “silent …

As a parade of motorists rolled down their windows on the edges of a Houston Home Depot parking lot offering cash, the crowd of day laborers had slowly thinned to about a dozen by mid-morning.   The workers who were already gone were off to tear out soggy carpeting, carry ruined sofas to the curb and saw apart mold-infested drywall. Those who still remained knew they were hot commodities and weren’t going to settle for low offers.   The owner of a car dealership shook his head and drove off after his $10-an-hour proposal to clean flooded vehicles drew no takers. A pickup driver who promised $50 for two hours to rip out wet carpeting and move furniture was told the job was too short to be worthwhile.   Day laborers — many of them immigrants and many of them in the country illegally — will continue to be in high demand as workers who clear debris make way for plumbers, electricians, drywall installers and carpenters. Employers are generally small, unregulated contractors or individual homeowners, resulting in a lack of oversight that creates potential for workers to be unpaid or work in dangerous conditions.   Houston’s day laborers are generally settling for $120 to $150 to clear homes of Harvey’s debris for eight hours. As noon struck Friday, three workers took a job for $100 for up to five hours rather than let the whole day slip. It didn’t hurt that the contractor provided tools, distributed bottles of cold water and dangled …

Orders at U.S. factories tumbled in July, dragged down by a sharp fall in orders for civilian aircraft.   The Commerce Department said Tuesday that factory orders declined 3.3 percent in July, after a 3.2 percent gain last month. July’s decline was mostly because of a 19.2 percent drop in orders in the volatile transportation equipment category. Orders for civilian aircraft — which can vary wildly from month to month — tumbled 70.8 percent in July after a 129.3 percent gain last month.   Excluding the transportation sector that includes aircraft, factory orders rose 0.5 percent in July after a tiny 0.1 percent uptick last month.   A category that serves as a proxy for business investment posted a solid 1 percent gain after a small 0.1 percent decline in June.   In recent months, U.S. manufacturing has been benefiting from a stronger dollar and an improving global economy. Growth has been picking up in Europe, Japan and parts of the developing world.   Despite the sharp fall in overall orders, the increase in the business investment category suggests companies are more optimistic about future demand from customers. A private survey last week showed that U.S. factories expanded at a brisk pace in August, another bright sign for the overall economy.   Orders for computers and electronic products rose 2.1 percent, and orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components rose 2.6 percent. Orders for autos and auto parts fell 0.9 percent.   Orders for durable goods — items meant to last at …

Chinese millennials with a dim view of their career and marriage prospects can wallow in despair with a range of teas such as “achieved-absolutely-nothing black tea,” and “my-ex’s-life-is-better-than-mine fruit tea.” While the drink names at the Sung chain of tea stalls are tongue-in-cheek, the sentiment they reflect is serious: A significant number of young Chinese with high expectations have become discouraged and embrace an attitude known on social media as “sang,” after a Chinese character associated with the word “funeral” that describes being dispirited. “Sang” culture, which revels in often-ironic defeatism, is fueled by internet celebrities, through music and the popularity of certain mobile games and TV shows, as well as sad-faced emojis and pessimistic slogans. It’s a reaction to cut-throat competition for good jobs in an economy that isn’t as robust as it was a few years ago and when home-ownership — long seen as a near-requirement for marriage in China — is increasingly unattainable in major cities as apartment prices have soared. “I wanted to fight for socialism today but the weather is so freaking cold that I’m only able to lay on the bed to play on my mobile phone,” 27-year-old Zhao Zengliang, a “sang” internet personality, wrote in one post. “It would be great if I could just wake up to retirement tomorrow,” she said in another. Such ironic humor is lost on China’s ruling Communist Party. In August, Sung Tea was called out for peddling “mental opium” by the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, which …

Security guard Eric Leon watches the Knightscope K5 security robot as it glides through the mall, charming shoppers with its blinking blue and white lights. The brawny automaton records video and sounds alerts. According to its maker, it deters mischief just by making the rounds. Leon, the all-too-human guard, feels pretty sure that the robot will someday take his job. “He doesn’t complain,” Leon says. “He’s quiet. No lunch break. He’s starting exactly at 10.” Even in the technology hotbed stretching from Silicon Valley to San Francisco, a security robot can captivate passers-by. But the K5 is only one of a growing menagerie of automated novelties in a region where you can eat a delivered pizza made via automation and drink beers at a bar served by an airborne robot. This summer, the San Francisco Chronicle published a tech tourism guide listing a dozen or so places where tourists can observe robots and automation in action. Yet San Francisco is also where workers were the first to embrace mandatory sick leave and fully paid parental leave. Voters approved a $15 hourly minimum wage in 2014, a requirement that Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law for the entire state in 2016. And now one official is pushing a statewide “tax” on robots that automate jobs and put people out of work. It’s too soon to say if the effort will prevail, let alone whether less-progressive jurisdictions might follow suit. The tussle points to the tensions that can flare when people embrace …

Ken Beck characterizes his life as a farmer in the U.S. right now as a gamble. “Risky at best,” he told VOA. “There is no money in this game anymore.”   Beck says he is entering a fifth year of losing money, due in part to lower corn and soy prices, along with high input costs for fertilizer and seed.     But he says there is something the U.S. government can do to help.   “Trade. Which is under attack right now.”   The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP agreement, earlier this year erased Beck’s hope for increased demand, and ultimately a boost in prices for his corn and soybeans.   That is why he now is closely watching the U.S. government’s efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with Canada and Mexico.   Campaign promises Renegotiating NAFTA fulfills a campaign promise made by President Donald Trump. While much of the focus is on manufacturing jobs, the original NAFTA agreement, signed in 1994, provided a critical boost for U.S. agricultural exports, and farmers like Beck are concerned about any changes to the current agreement that could negatively affect their bottom line.     “For a corn producer, grain producer, NAFTA’s been extremely good,” said Beck, standing not far from some of that produce which could ultimately travel south of border after it is harvested later this year.   The U.S. sent more than $2.5 billion of corn to …

In August, the United States began renegotiating NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, with Canada and Mexico, fulfilling a campaign promise made by President Donald Trump. While much of the focus is on manufacturing jobs, the 1994 NAFTA agreement provided a critical boost for U.S. agricultural exports, and as VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, farmers are concerned about whether changes to the current agreement could hurt them financially. …