The U.S. and the European Union are set to engage in a new round of talks to resolve trade disputes, including those over U.S.-proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. “We have agreed to launch immediately a process of discussion with President Trump and the Trump administration on trade issues …

Top officials of the U.S. central bank raised the key interest rate slightly Wednesday, amid strong job gains and moderate economic growth.  The rate is one-quarter of a percentage point higher, putting it in a range between 1.5 and 1.75 percent.  WATCH: Fed Signals at Least Three More Rate Hikes …

The largest lease sale in American history in the offshore Gulf of Mexico yielded $124.76 million in winning bids Wednesday, a modest response to the Trump administration’s effort to pump up investment in the region. The Interior Department had offered up more than 77 million acres (31.2 million hectares), an …

Handshakes, smiles and jubilation accompanied the long-awaited launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area on Wednesday in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.  The trade bloc has been in negotiation since 2012, when the African Union first decided on a continent-wide plan. It aims to create a single market for goods and …

The United States will consider re-entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership once Washington accomplishes its goals on other trading relationships, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday while on an official visit to Chile. Trans-Pacific Partnership is aimed at cutting trade barriers in some of the fastest-growing economies of the Asia-Pacific …

Top officials of the U.S. central bank are expected to raise the key interest rate slightly Wednesday at the end of two days of private meetings and debate. Economists surveyed by news organizations say the rate will probably go up one quarter of a percentage point, to a range between …

Insurance broker Paul Marshall can count on his phone ringing in the aftermath of a school shooting. Since the Feb. 14 shooting at a Florida high school, where 17 people were killed and more than a dozen injured, seven South Florida school districts have bought $3 million worth of “active …

When Nestle executive Stephan Canz attended the German school in Nairobi in the early 1980s, it was surrounded by lush coffee farms. Today, the trees have long since been uprooted and replaced by a shopping mall and upmarket homes, driving a sharp drop in production of Kenya’s premium beans. “The …

French commuters face major train service disruptions on Thursday due to an unexpectedly large walkout by railway workers angry at the government’s plans to shake up the state-owned and highly indebted SNCF rail company. Labor unions said last week they would launch rolling strikes in early April, but France’s transport …

Peter G. Peterson, a billionaire and business executive who became one of the most prominent voices to argue for entitlement reform and reducing the U.S. national debt, died of natural causes early Tuesday, his family said. He was 91. Born in the small town of Kearney, Nebraska, to Greek immigrants, …

Women are often short-changed compared to men when communities are compensated or resettled during commercial land deals in Africa, and governments should take action to rectify that, researchers said Tuesday. The World Resources Institute’s (WRI) research showed men had received up to six times as much for their land. And …

When Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross held up a can of Campbell’s soup in a CNBC interview to make the case that the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs were “no big deal,” the canning industry begged to disagree — and they were hardly alone. President Donald Trump’s strong-armed trade policies …

The world’s financial leaders rejected protectionism Tuesday and urged “further dialogue” on trade, but failed to blunt the threat of a trade war days before U.S. metals tariffs take effect and Washington is to announce measures against China. Finance ministers and central bankers of the world’s 20 biggest economies, which …

President Donald Trump will reap a huge budget increase for the military while Democrats cement wins on infrastructure and other domestic programs that they failed to get under President Barack Obama if lawmakers can agree on a $1.3 trillion governmentwide spending bill before a deadline this week.  Battles over budget priorities …

Dozens of complaints of sexual harassment on the job are arriving nearly every day at the Time’s Up campaign, showing that decades of battling workplace misconduct have failed, its legal head said Tuesday. Reports of harassment have come from employees in more than 60 industries, from steel workers and prison …

Mexican leftist presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday that if he wins office former World Trade Organization economist Jesus Seade would lead NAFTA negotiations with the United States and Canada. Mexico elects a new president on July 1 and Lopez Obrador is leading by double-digits in most …

European officials said this week that significant obstacles remain to a long-delayed trade deal between the European Union and South American trade bloc Mercosur, even as South American officials expressed optimism a deal would be finalized soon. On the sidelines of a gathering among the finance ministers and central bank …

Nearly 50 countries expressed concern on Tuesday about the “serious threat” to the World Trade Organization posed by unilateral trade actions, a pointed reference to U.S. import tariffs that have caused a global outcry. Delivering concluding remarks after a two-day informal meeting of the WTO members in New Delhi, Indian …

The European Union said on Tuesday that the right of citizens from poorer member states to work in richer ones on a low salary would be limited to 18 months under a reform of the bloc’s labor laws sought by France. The new law, promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron …

The Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with a buyout offer in hand from a private equity firm, the latest twist in its efforts to survive the sexual misconduct scandal that brought down co-founder Harvey Weinstein, shook Hollywood and triggered a movement that spread out to convulse other …

Some coastal states opposed to President Donald Trump’s plan to allow oil and gas drilling off most of the nation’s coastline are fighting back with proposed state laws designed to thwart the proposal.   The drilling Trump proposes would take place in federal waters offshore in an area called the …

Cuba has opened up its first wholesale market in an economy dominated by government-run enterprises.   State-run newspaper Granma says the market is part of an ongoing effort to “reorganize” commerce on the communist island. The market will sell beans, beer, sugar, cigars and other basic staples for 20 to …

A New York City councilman and a tenants’ rights group said they will investigate allegations that the real estate company formerly controlled by Jared Kushner, a presidential adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, falsified building permits. In allegations first uncovered by The Associated Press, the Kushner Companies is accused of …

Colombia proposed on Monday that the International Monetary Fund provide assistance to help several hundred thousand Venezuelan refugees who have fled an economic and political crisis to  neighboring countries, officials at the G20 summit said. The proposal was discussed at a meeting on Venezuela by leading finance ministers from the …

The Trump administration on Monday banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency, saying that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. In a separate move, the administration also slapped sanctions on four current and former senior Venezuelan officials accused of corruption and mismanagement.   In an executive order …