German automaker BMW is taking a majority stake in its China joint venture and investing 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) in factories there, underscoring the importance of the Chinese market as the company prepares to meet increased demand for electric vehicles. Munich-based BMW said Thursday it would pay 3.6 billion …

Close to 70 percent of the world’s residents will live in cities by the middle of the century, according to recent United Nations figures, and experts warn that an exploding population will exacerbate a housing crisis in some regions. Officials predict that global cities could grow by 2.5 billion people …

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, according to United Nations figures.  By the middle of this century, 68 percent of the world will be urbanized, adding 2½ billion people to global cities.  The growth will bring problems, including lack of housing, and,  as Mike O’Sullivan reports, some ballooning …

The trade war between the United States and China has made for a nerve-wracking summer of uncertainty in Wisconsin, where manufacturing has long been in decline yet remains a vital part of the state’s economy. At Johnson Level and Tool in suburban Milwaukee, the Trump administration’s thrust-and-parry trade moves with …

The heads of the World Bank and IMF appealed Thursday to the U.S. and China to cool their dispute over technology policy and play by world trade rules, as tumbling share prices drove home potential perils from a clash between the world’s two biggest economies. Global economic growth is slowing …

A stock market rout that started on Wall Street rolled through Asia, driving China’s benchmark to a four-year low Thursday and knocking down indexes in Japan, Korea and Australia. The Shanghai Composite index plunged 5.2 percent to its lowest level since November 2014, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell by an …

Mat Beren and his friends used to drive by the vast greenhouses of southern British Columbia and joke about how much weed they could grow there. Years later, it’s no joke. The tomato and pepper plants that once filled some of those greenhouses have been replaced with a new cash …

U.S. stocks posted their worst loss since February on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average finishing the day down more than 800 points. The losses were widespread as bond yields remained high after steep increases last week. Companies that have been the biggest winners on the market the last few years, …

The Treasury Department has issued new rules on foreign investments into American companies that will give the government more power to block foreign transactions on national security grounds. The rules represent the latest escalation in an intensifying economic conflict between the United States and China. It will implement a program …

A new U.N. report finds a dramatic increase in the amount of economic loss incurred from natural disasters during the past 20 years, with climate-related disasters driving expensive property and infrastructure damage to new heights. The report finds so-called geophysical disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis are deadliest, but climate-related disasters such …

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is facing economic pressure to reverse a recent crackdown on opposition groups and basic freedoms in his country. Cambodia faces an economic collapse from the slated withdrawal of crucial European Union trade preferences that will likely force its leader to walk back a prolonged political …

Dark, dirty and slow, Zimbabwe’s trains, like much else in the impoverished southern African country, have seen better days. Once the preferred mode of transport for most Zimbabweans, the state-run rail service mirrors the decline in the country’s economic fortunes during the last two decades under the leadership of former …

Last month, Patrick Ho, a former Hong Kong official fighting foreign bribery charges in New York, thought he had finally received a break. In a dramatic move in the high-profile bribery case, prosecutors on Sept. 14 dropped all criminal charges against Cheikh Gadio, a former Senegalese foreign minister they had …

Ireland’s finance minister boosted budget day spending for the second year in a row as the government warned of economic “carnage” if neighboring Britain crashes out of the European Union without a divorce deal. Having already pre-committed 2.6 billion euros ($2.99 billion) on increased public sector and planned infrastructure spending …

The Trump administration is moving to allow year-round sales of gasoline with higher blends of ethanol, a boon for Iowa and other farm states that have pushed for greater sales of the corn-based fuel. President Donald Trump was expected to announce he will lift a federal ban on summer sales …

Sales of U.S. military equipment to foreign governments rose 33 percent to $55.6 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, a U.S. administration official told Reuters on Tuesday. The increase in foreign military sales came in part because the Trump administration rolled out a new “Buy American” plan in …

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday again criticized the Federal Reserve, telling reporters the central bank was going too fast in raising rates when inflation is minimal and government data point to a strong economy. “Well, I like to see low interest rates. The Fed is doing what it thinks is …

The Justice Department has ruled against a Georgia poultry company in a 7-year-long discrimination case. U.S. attorneys say Mar-Jac Poultry, north of Atlanta, broke federal law when it demanded noncitizens produce Department of Homeland Security documents proving their right to work. The company did not make similar demands to U.S. …

Foreign companies have been flocking to Vietnam. Earlier this year, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms Warburg Pincus added banking and logistics to its Vietnam portfolio, pushing its total investment into the country over the $1 billion mark. Auto players like JAC Motors of China, as well as …

Malaysia may introduce new taxes and sell assets such as land to pay down debt, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday, as his administration struggles with liabilities of around 1 trillion ringgit ($240.67 billion). Mahathir, who unexpectedly won a general election in May, has blamed the previous administration of …

Netflix has chosen New Mexico as the site of a new U.S. production hub and is in final negotiations to buy an existing multimillion-dollar studio complex on the edge of the state’s largest city, government and corporate leaders announced Monday.   It’s the company’s first purchase of such a property, …

The International Monetary Fund is downgrading its outlook for the world economy, citing rising interest rates and growing tensions over trade.   The IMF said Monday that the global economy will grow 3.7 percent this year, the same as in 2017 but down from the 3.9 percent it was forecasting …

Advocates of taxing fossil fuels believe their position is stronger now because of an alarming new report on climate change and a Nobel Prize awarded to by two American economists, but neither development is likely to break down political resistance to a carbon tax. Previous alarms about global warming met …

Nigeria, Singapore and India are among countries fueling the gap between the super-rich and poor, aid agency Oxfam said Tuesday as it launched an index spotlighting those nations doing the least to bridge the divide. South Korea, Georgia and Indonesia were among countries praised for trying to reduce inequality, through …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf courses in Scotland lost more than $6 million in 2017. A report released Monday said the Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen lost $1.7 million, slightly lower than the $1.8 million lost in 2016. His flagship Trump Turnberry resort along the Irish Sea posted a …