German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday she would back lowering European Union tariffs on U.S. car imports, responding to an offer from Washington to abandon threatened levies on European cars in return for concessions. “When we want to negotiate tariffs, on cars for example, we need a common European …

Unemployment among Saudi citizens edged up to a record 12.9 percent in the first quarter of this year as private employers struggled under the weight of a new tax and a domestic fuel price hike, official data showed on Thursday. The figures underlined the difficulties which the government faces as …

U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently called on OPEC producers to help reduce oil prices, has raised prices through his tweets, Iranian OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted as saying by news agency SHANA on Thursday. “Your tweets have increased the prices by at least $10. Please stop this …

U.S. car maker Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it has no plans currently to hike retail prices of its imported Ford and Lincoln models in China, despite steep additional tariffs on imported U.S. vehicles set to come into play on Friday. The firm, which has been facing sluggish sales …

Trade rhetoric is spilling into the real world of jobs and consumer goods. The United States is set to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods from China on July 6. Beijing is fighting back with its own $34 billion of tariffs on American goods. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi …

United States Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell reportedly told German auto makers Wednesday the U.S. would back off threats of tariffs on European car imports in exchange for the European Union’s elimination of duties on U.S. cars. The German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Grenell told BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen executives of …

European businesses are unsettled as they watch the U.S. and China collide over trade. And for good reason: the nascent global trade war could represent the biggest single threat to the economic upswing that has helped the region get past its financial crisis. In theory, some European companies could benefit, …

China is putting pressure on the European Union to issue a strong joint statement against President Donald Trump’s trade policies at a summit this month, but it’s facing resistance, European officials said. In meetings in Brussels, Berlin and Beijing, senior Chinese officials, including Vice Premier Liu He and the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State …

President Donald Trump continues to turn up the heat on trade, a tactic that he insists will result in better deals for the American people. But the president’s rhetoric has economists concerned about a trade war. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more. …

In the busy summer travel period in Cuba, a long line of people wait for hours in the sweltering heat outside the Havana office of state-owned airline Cubana, many of them eager to visit families in the provinces. But they are not waiting to book flights. Instead, they hope to …

The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday granted a temporary reprieve to ZTE that allows China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker to conduct business needed to maintain existing networks and equipment in the United States as it works toward the lifting of a U.S. sales ban. The authorization from the department’s Bureau of Industry and Services, …

Eike Batista, the former mining and oil magnate who was once Brazil’s richest man, was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for bribing Rio de Janeiro state’s disgraced ex-governor, according to a court document published Tuesday. Batista’s conviction and sentencing by federal judge Marcelo Bretas are the latest …

Major U.S. trading partners including the European Union, China and Japan voiced deep concern at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday about possible U.S. measures imposing additional duties on imported autos and parts. Japan, which along with Russia had initiated the discussion at the WTO Council on Trade in …

Worried that Walmart’s $16 billion deal to takeover India’s biggest e-commerce company will force millions of mom and pop stores out of business, hundreds of shop owners in several cities have led protests against the U.S. retail giant.   India’s fast-growing retail trade is dominated by millions of small traders …

Zimbabwe’s government is denying a report from Human Rights Watch that documented extensive child labor on the country’s tobacco farms. Some of the children are as young as 10 years old, and the report says many have experienced acute nicotine poisoning from handling tobacco plants. The 105-page report, titled “A …

Under the midday sun, dozens of fishermen wait to sell their day’s catch by a lagoon in the town of Rio Chico on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. But they aren’t expecting cash in return. Instead, they’re swapping mullets and snappers for packages of flour, rice and cooking oil. “There …

A tense and short-tempered Chief Executive Elon Musk barked at engineers on the Fremont, California assembly line. Tesla Inc. pulled workers from other departments to keep pumping out the Model 3 electric sedans, disrupting production of the Model S and X lines. And weekend shifts were mandatory. Tesla pulled out …

An 11th-hour deal clinched by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to rescue her fragile government by limiting migrant arrivals immediately ran into European resistance Tuesday, with neighboring Austria vowing to “protect” its borders. In high-stakes crisis talks overnight, Merkel put to rest for now a dangerous row with a longtime rival, …

The U.S. government moved on Monday to block China Mobile Ltd. from offering services to the U.S. telecommunications market, recommending its application be rejected because the government-owned firm posed national security risks. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should deny China Mobile’s 2011 application to offer telecommunication services between the United …

Halima Sheikh Ali is the proud owner of one of the few ATMs in Wajir town in northeast Kenya. But rather than doling out shilling notes, it dispenses something tastier: a fresh pint of camel milk. “For 100 Kenyan shillings ($1), you get one liter of the freshest milk in …

A Portuguese tech firm is uncorking an Android smartphone whose case is made from cork, a natural and renewable material native to the Iberian country. The Ikimobile phone is one of the first to use materials other than plastic, metal and glass and represents a boost for the country’s technology …

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday denounced President Donald Trump’s handling of global trade disputes, issuing a report that argued tariffs imposed by Washington and retaliation by its partners would boomerang badly on the American economy. The Chamber, the nation’s largest business lobbying group and a traditional ally of …

The European Union has warned the United States that placing tariffs on automobiles would end up hurting the U.S. economy and would probably result in retaliatory measures from its trading partners. In a letter sent to U.S. Commerce Department Friday, the European Union said tariffs on European cars and car …

Tesla Inc nearly produced 5,000 Model 3 electric sedans in the last week of its second quarter, with the final car rolling off the assembly line on Sunday morning, several hours after the midnight goal set by Chief Executive Elon Musk, two workers at the factory told Reuters. The 5,000th …

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods take effect Sunday following the Trump administration’s new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said in a statement that the prime minister “had no choice but to announce reciprocal countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs that the …