In the past few years the rhetorical back and forth between China and the United States over economic institutional governance has intensified. Along with concerns over the governance of multilateral development banks and the role of China’s currency in the International Monetary Fund, free trade agreements (FTA) have become part of a war of words over the future of the ...

  Michael Froman When the winds of change blow, a Chinese proverb says, some people build walls and others build windmills. Given the tremendous environmental challenges the world faces, it’s not enough just to build windmills. We need to develop a range of innovative environmental technologies, and we need to break down barriers to trading them worldwide. Global trade in ...

Sharing economy platforms such as Uber and Airbnb have been struggling as some European countries attempt to regulate and make sense of their business. The European Union has finally come up with some guiding principles for its members, mildly telling them that the “collaborative economy,” as the bureaucrats call it, is generally a good thing that shouldn’t be banned. The ...

  Paris / Bloomberg Airbus Group SE will continue building the older variant of its single-aisle A320 aircraft until at least 2019, two years later than intended, as glitches with the re-engined Neo version curb handovers of the new plane. Customers due to take the New Engine Option jets next year will be invited to swap to the less expensive ...

  Dubai / Bloomberg Emirates, the largest operator of Airbus Group SE’s A380 superjumbo, has all but given up on getting an upgrade of the double-decker with new engines and is instead making a more modest pitch to the planemaker: please don’t drop the program altogether. “I can’t force Toulouse to do anything,” Emirates President Tim Clark told reporters on ...

  FAYETTEVILLE, Ark / AP Wal-Mart’s CEO urged employees to reimagine its future in a fast-shifting retail landscape. The company is at a crossroads, as its long-held dominance in pricing and convenience has been chipped away at by Amazon and dollar stores. But it’s fighting back on multiple fronts, growing more aggressive with prices and going after Amazon, both online ...

LONDON / Reuters Gucci is on course to top 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) in revenue for the first time this year as the Italian luxury brand’s revival gathers speed under its new leadership duo. Sales of items designed by new creative director Alessandro Michele have accelerated since March as more have reached shelves, Chief Executive Officer Marco Bizzarri told ...

  Sofia / Bloomberg The Bulgarian government started a tender for a 35-year concession to operate Sofia Airport, the country’s biggest, demanding at least 660 million lev ($382 million) in initial payment. The concessionaire will be required to invest at least 307 million lev in the airport, which includes building a new terminal with an annual capacity of 3 million ...

  MENLO PARK / Tribune News Service With a microphone floating in zero gravity, three astronauts aboard the International Space Station chatted with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg via live video about life in space. The social media company has been ramping up its efforts in live video this year, taking on Twitter-owned Periscope. The recent event was the first time ...

  Reuters Gulf Arab investors, some of the biggest buyers of British real estate, are holding back from new deals because they fear a property price slump if Britain leaves the European Union, according to legal and investment sources. Sovereign and private investors from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been prolific buyers of British assets ...