U.S. to offer new NAFTA text this week
The U.S. is heading into the first round of talks on an updated North American Free Trade Agreement with an aggressive timeline for completing talks with Mexico and Canada, a White House official said.
U.S. negotiators will present their text this week that will be used to craft a proposed new agreement, an official with the U.S. trade representative's office said Tuesday. President Donald Trump's administration is aiming for a high-standard, comprehensive new agreement, according to the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The U.S., Mexico and Canada begin official talks today on revamping the 23-year-old accord, which governs more than $1.2 trillion in annual trade. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has said the U.S. wants to complete a deal by early January to avoid talks getting bogged down before a general election next year in Mexico and midterm congressional elections in the U.S.
On Tuesday, the U.S. trade official didn't specify when the U.S. hopes to conclude negotiations.
Trump has called the three-nation trade deal a "disaster," and threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement if he's not satisfied with the talks. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday that Canada won't accept "just any deal."
-- Bloomberg News
Uber settles privacy-violation charges
SAN FRANCISCO -- Uber has agreed to settle accusations by America's top consumer protection agency that the ride-hailing company failed to protect consumers' sensitive data.
Federal officials said the misstep allowed employees to access customer and driver information and led to a significant data breach in 2014 that exposed thousands of drivers' names and license numbers.
The settlement with the Federal Trade Commission reflects Uber's latest attempt to move past its troubled history and recent crises, which have been marked by the departure of top executives including chief executive Travis Kalanick as well as an investigation of a workplace culture that critics have called toxic.
The Federal Trade Commission is not requiring Uber to pay to settle the allegations, the agency said, though Uber will be hiring an outside firm to monitor its privacy practices, and future violations could lead to penalties.
-- The Washington Post
Shipyard overbills U.S., repays $9.2M
PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- One of the nation's largest military shipyards is paying $9.2 million back to the federal government in an overbilling settlement.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the settlement Tuesday with Huntington Ingalls Industries. The Newport News, Va., company operates the 10,000-employee Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.
The settlement resolves allegations that Huntington Ingalls charged labor costs to contracts for which work wasn't actually done, and charged the government as if supervisors had dived to work on ship hulls, or even for dives that never happened. The charges were made to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard contracts.
The allegations were originally brought on behalf of the government by a former Huntington Ingalls employee named Byron Faulkner. Under federal law, he'll get $1.6 million.
Federal prosecutors say problems ran from 2003 to 2015.
-- The Associated Press
IMF predicts debt-fueled China growth
WASHINGTON -- The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday increased its estimate for China's average annual growth rate through 2020, while warning that it would come at the cost of rising debt that increases medium-term risks to growth.
China's economy will expand at an average pace of 6.4 percent annually from 2017 through 2020, compared with a 6 percent estimate a year earlier, the IMF said in its Article IV review. Household, corporate and government debt will increase to almost 300 percent of gross domestic product by 2022 from 242 percent last year, fund staff estimated.
President Xi Jinping has been pushing financial regulators to address excessive borrowing at state enterprises and has said their indebtedness is "the priority of priorities." But ending the addiction to debt requires measures that include allowing companies to fail and sweeping shifts in the way capital is allocated that policymakers have yet to fully embrace.
"Given strong growth momentum, now is the time to intensify these deleveraging efforts," the IMF said. "Reform progress needs to accelerate to secure medium-term stability and address the risk that the current trajectory of the economy could eventually lead to a sharp adjustment."
-- Bloomberg News
Canada grocer braces for higher wages
MONTREAL -- Canadian grocer Metro Inc. is bracing for as much as $39.2 million in additional costs next year because of a minimum wage increase in Ontario.
The Montreal-based company said it's reviewing how to mitigate the impact of the measure on growth as it reported a decline in same-store sales and earnings that missed estimates. Profit for the third quarter ended July 1 rose to 61 cents a share, missing analysts' average projection of 62 cents.
Metro, which operates both discount and regular supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario, has been using price cuts to get shoppers to spend more and offset the impact of food deflation. Its cost discipline has also helped support profit growth.
More penny pinching will be required as Metro and competitors such as Loblaw Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. face a 32 percent increase in the minimum wage in Ontario over 18 months, from the current $8.94 to $11.76. Longer term, Amazon.com Inc.'s acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. also has investors worried about increased competition in the home delivery market.
Metro shares have lost 3.5 percent since June 15, the eve of the Amazon announcement. Loblaw has lost 9.1 percent. Loblaw said last month that the wage increases in Ontario and Alberta -- where the minimum wage will rise to $10.66 in October and to $11.76 in October 2018 -- will cost an extra $149 million.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 08/16/2017