February, 2019

• 19 February

  Japan says US won’t hike car tariffs during trade deal talks

  

  Bloomberg Japan is sticking to its view that the US won’t apply higher tariffs on imports of Japanese cars and auto parts so long as negotiations toward a trade deal continue, according to Tokyo’s lead negotiator with Washington. The comments from economy minister Toshimitsu Motegi come as policy makers in Japan and Europe fret about the findings of a US ...

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• 19 February

  Chinese officials head back to US for more talks

  Bloomberg Chinese and US trade negotiators will start the next round of talks this week in Washington, after discussions in Beijing last week that President Donald Trump called “very productive.” The two sides will hold talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on February 21-22, according to a statement from China’s Commerce Ministry. The talks ...

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• 19 February

  Malaysia nears deal with China to revive rail project

  

  Bloomberg Malaysia is making progress in talks with China to revive a high-speed rail project that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government said it would cancel, according to Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. China is willing to reduce the $20 billion price tag for the East Coast Rail Link project and talks are “in the last mile,” Saifuddin said in an interview ...

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• 19 February

  Arcelor offers $672mn for ‘Essar’ plant

  

  Bloomberg ArcelorMittal has made an offer of 48 billion rupees ($672 million) to buy an Essar Power generation plant in India, outbidding the founding Ruia brothers, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The non-binding offer from the world’s largest steel producer to lenders of 1,200-megawatt power plant in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh compares with a ...

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• 19 February

  Huawei founder says US can’t crush firm

  

  Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co.’s founder Ren Zhengfei said “there’s no way the US can crush us,” according to an interview he gave to BBC. “The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit,” he said. The Trump Administration has been ...

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• 19 February

  China plans to tie Hong Kong, Macau closer to mainland

  

  Bloomberg China unveiled a sweeping plan to link Hong Kong and Macau with cities in southern China to create a so-called Greater Bay Area, aiming to transform the coastal region into a high-tech megalopolis to rival California’s Silicon Valley. The outline plan, published in Chinese by Xinhua News Agency, said the government will seek to turn the area into a ...

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• 19 February

  Honda to shut UK factory in latest blow as Brexit looms

  

  Bloomberg Honda Motor Co. said it plans to close its factory in the UK in the biggest blow yet to the British auto industry already buckling under thousands of job cuts and the loss of key models in the run-up to Brexit. The site in Swindon, about 80 miles west of London, is the nation’s fourth-largest auto plant and employs ...

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• 19 February

  EU negotiators reach deal to impose first CO2 caps for trucks

  

  Bloomberg European Union negotiators agreed to impose caps on carbon dioxide from trucks for the first time, stepping up the fight against climate change with a challenge to manufacturers such as Daimler AG. Representatives of EU governments and the European Parliament fixed a 30 percent CO2-reduction target for 2030 compared with 2019 levels. At a meeting that ended early on ...

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• 19 February

  German investor confidence rises

  

  Bloomberg Investor confidence in Germany’s economic outlook improved for a fourth straight month, hinting at a modest pickup in momentum in the coming months. A gauge measuring prospects for the next half year rose to minus 13.4 in February, beating an estimate for a gain to minus 13.6. While the index recorded its longest streak of improvements since early 2015, ...

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• 19 February

  Nestle brings taste of Japan to Europe

  Bloomberg European chocolate lovers are about to get an injection of Japanese culture, as Nestle SA’s green-tea matcha KitKat launches on the continent. The confectionery brand will begin to sell the green chocolate bar in Europe this month, 15 years after it was created in Japan. The blend of imported green-tea matcha powder with cocoa butter and white chocolate will ...

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