Mexico sees a serious risk the United States will withdraw from NAFTA and is preparing a plan for that eventuality, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday, calling talks to renegotiate the deal a “roller coaster.” U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened three times in the past week to abandon the …

Brazil will seek China’s expertise and financing to complete its third nuclear power plant when President Michel Temer makes a state visit to Beijing on Friday, Brazilian government officials said Tuesday. The Brazilian nuclear energy company Eletronuclear will sign a cooperation agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), signaling their …

Brazil’s government has revised a decree that stripped protections from a reserve in the Amazon after environmental groups criticized the original order. The new decree announced late Monday still lifts the reserve designation from a gold- and copper-rich area larger than the Netherlands in two northern Brazilian states.   But …

In Cambodia, the issue of land rights is a constant source of tension. The country’s biggest dam to date is set to go online in just weeks, adding 400 megawatts of power to the country’s critically overstretched grid. But the social and environmental costs of the project are huge, especially …

Japan leads the world in the number of robots per person that are used in the workplace. Instead of being wary, people apparently like them. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to a hotel and a beer factory where droids are doing just about everything. …

There are two ways to deal with climate change: stop or slow it through controlling emissions, or adapt to it. Chances are we’re going to have to do both. In the dry areas of Texas and California, researchers are getting started on the adapting part. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Peru expects a “very ambitious” free trade deal with Australia that covers goods, services and investments to be implemented as early as next year, Peru’s deputy trade minister said on Monday. The two countries resumed free trade talks in Australia on Monday following a first round of negotiations in July …

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto will travel to China next week to discuss trade and investment, as Mexico looks for ways to decrease its dependence on NAFTA, especially trade with neighboring United States. He will hold a bilateral meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping and participate in a summit of …

The price of a pack of cigarettes has skyrocketed in New York City, while the number of places they are available for sale is set to fall. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday signed a sweeping series of anti-smoking bills, part of a comprehensive effort to help reduce …

Kenya has become the latest African country to ban the use of polythene plastic bags, imposing stiff fines and even jail time for anyone found using, importing or manufacturing the bags. In one of the biggest garbage dumping sites in Nairobi, it was business as usual Monday. Loads of plastic …

Fall armyworm has spread to Cameroon.  The pest has attacked crops in at least 24 African countries.  In Cameroon, the Ministry of Agriculture says it is particularly concerned about the impact of the fall armyworm infestation in the north and the east of the country.  Minister-delegate Ananga Messina says fall …

Gasoline prices have been rising and oil costs have been changing as Hurricane Harvey’s winds and rising floodwaters slam into a part of Texas that has a significant portion of the nation’s oil industry, particularly oil refineries, shipping, and production. By Monday, gasoline futures rose by as much as seven …

Massive flooding caused by Tropical Storm Harvey along Texas’ refinery-rich coast could have long-standing and far-reaching consequences for the state’s oil and gas industry and the larger U.S. economy. The storm’s remnants left much of Houston underwater on Sunday, and the National Weather Service says it’s not over yet: Some …

U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his threat to scrap NAFTA and ripped on trading partners Canada and Mexico in a tweet early on Sunday, days before the three countries were scheduled to hold a second round of negotiations on rewriting the 23-year-old agreement. “We are in the NAFTA (worst trade …

The head of the U.S. central bank says the financial system is safer now than it was before the recession, and urges Washington to make some adjustments in financial regulations, rather than trash them. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the recession of 2008 cost nine million American jobs and …

South Korea this week pushed back against the United States’ demand to renegotiate the free trade agreement (FTA) between the close allies.  U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the five-year-old Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA as a horrible deal that created a $27 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea last …

When Ha Tran of Ho Chi Minh City shops for food, clothes or electronics, she avoids merchandise she can tell comes from Vietnam’s giant neighbor, China. It might not work, she said, and China is no friend of Vietnam anyway. “China exports many low-quality products to Vietnam, but we know …

The billionaire head of South Korea’s Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, was jailed for five years for bribery on Friday after a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down the president. Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favors from then president Park Geun-hye, according to a landmark ruling …

Environmentalists are condemning a decree by Brazilian President Michel Temer allowing mining in the heart of the Amazon. The measure strips protection from a national reserve between the northern states of Para and Amapa and clears the way for the private mining sector to explore the forest. The gold-rich area …

Stonehenge is dry and has been for too long — seven years too long. You can taste the dust well before you cross the cattle grids that cut the only road into town. More than 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) northwest of Sydney, Australia’s Stonehenge could not be more different from …

Canada said on Thursday the next few weeks would be critical to determine whether it could resolve a lumber dispute with the United States and threatened again that it would start litigation if no deal were struck. The U.S. Commerce Department this year slapped anti-dumping duties on imports of Canadian …

Argentina’s government is investigating all options and reserves the right to take legal action over the United States’ imposition of steep duties on imports of Argentine biodiesel, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. The statement said the imposition of duties above 50 percent, announced Tuesday, does not correspond …

President Donald Trump’s comments at a Phoenix rally that he will probably end up terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement brought cheers from the crowd but groans from the state’s top business group. Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Glenn Hamer posted a video calling any termination a …

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was willing to shut down the government to get funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, complicating two must-pass measures Congress will take up in September: a spending package and raising the debt ceiling. Here is what you need to know about both, and …

Just beyond the outskirts of Cairo on a desert road to the Suez Canal, a sprawling industrial zone is coming to life as Egypt’s leather industry leaves behind its ancient tanning quarters for modern workshops of Robiki Leather City. The new complex is part of a major expansion drive of …