Economy

The meetings were part of the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, a program opposed by China, which views self-governing Taiwan as its own territory.”During the meetings, the two sides exchanged views on the key concepts to be addressed in several of the trade areas set out in the negotiating mandate for this new initiative,” USTR said in a statement. The U.S. delegation included representatives from USTR, the National Economic Council, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Treasury, the Small Business Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration, USTR said. Both sides agreed to hold additional meetings “in the near future,” it said. Washington and Taipei unveiled the framework in June days after the Biden administration excluded Taiwan from its Asia-focused economic plan designed to counter China’s growing influence.It includes negotiations on 11 areas of trade, including trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anticorruption, agriculture, digital trade, labor, and the environment.China has said it “firmly” opposes the new trade talks.Despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, the United States has been keen to bolster support for Taiwan, especially as it faces increased political pressure from China to accept its sovereignty claims. More

The UK’s top fund managers have told company boards to keep pay for chief executives and other senior managers “in check” this year to reflect the pain being inflicted on many of their staff by the cost of living crisis. In a letter to the heads of remuneration at FTSE-listed companies, the Investment Association, which represents British fund managers, called for restraint on executive salary increases this year as many UK households struggle financially.The letter, which reflects its annual pay guidelines and principles for FTSE companies, comes after PwC this week found that CEO pay in the FTSE 100 was at the highest level for at least five years, having soared by almost a quarter in 2022.Average total pay for FTSE 100 chief executives increased by 23 per cent to £3.9mn in 2022, boosted by record levels of bonus payouts as executives hit targets often set at low levels during the pandemic. The IA principles, which set out what investors will be looking for from companies on executive pay in the 2023 AGM season, signal the likelihood of bruising encounters between companies and their shareholders next year.Companies have complained that they are not able to pay their top executives at levels in line with global rivals, even while many are trading well in sectors and countries that are unaffected by any British domestic economic slowdown.But Andrew Ninian, director of stewardship and corporate governance at the IA, urged boards to consider macroeconomic challenges affecting the global economy, including the impact of the invasion of Ukraine, the resulting increase in energy prices, the wider cost of living crisis and the inflationary environment. The IA’s 250 members manage £10tn of assets.He said fund managers wanted companies to “sensitively balance the need to continue to incentivise executive performance and ensure the executive experience is commensurate with that of shareholders, employees, and those most impacted by the cost of living crisis”.The IA urged companies to consider “additional restraint” to bring salary increases below inflation. It noted that even small rises would have a greater impact on the overall remuneration of a CEO than for a lower-paid worker “where a greater proportion of their income will be spent on energy or food”.The letter said that “if salary increases are needed, IA members encourage committees to consider increases below the rate of salary increases given to all employees”.The IA expected the majority of companies would seek shareholder approval for their remuneration policy next year. On variable pay such as bonuses, it said companies should also show restraint on increases and “may require wider performance ranges and discretion”.The trade association also warned against chief executives benefiting from “windfall” payouts from longer-term incentive packages made in 2020 at easy to reach levels.These decisions were often made following significant pandemic share price falls, so a greater number of shares were granted compared with previous years. However, many companies bounced back strongly as Covid-19 lockdowns ended.Ninian said that “to ensure that participants do not benefit from being granted significantly more shares, it is important [to] consider if vesting outcomes need to be reduced”. More

Biden was asked at a news conference whether he thought Musk was a threat to national security and if his acquisition of Twitter with help from a Saudi Arabian conglomerate should be investigated by the U.S. government. “I think that Elon Musk’s cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at,” Biden said. “Whether he is doing anything inappropriate, I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting they’re worth being looked at.”The White House said last month that reports the United States was discussing launching a national security review of some of Musk’s ventures including Twitter were “not true.”Musk’s purchase of Twitter sparked concerns that he could face pressure from countries trying to control online speech.The world’s richest man, Musk is CEO of electric carmaker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) which counts China as a key market and production base. Tesla operates a factory in Shanghai, China, which accounted for about half of Tesla’s global deliveries last year. Musk is also CEO of rocket and satellite internet company SpaceX, among others. Musk previously suggested that tensions between China and Taiwan could be resolved by handing over some control of Taiwan to Beijing. Musk also said China has sought assurances that he would not offer SpaceX’s Starlink internet service there. He also proposed Ukraine permanently cede Crimea to Russia, while saying SpaceX could not indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine. Ian Bremmer, head of political-risk consultancy Eurasia Group, tweeted that Musk told him that he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine. Musk denied his claims. More

(Reuters) -Beyond Meat on Wednesday posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as rising freight and raw material costs eat into its margins, and the plant-based meat maker said it expects further slowdown in demand for its products.Shares of Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) fell 1% in extended trading after the company also missed quarterly revenue estimates.Consumers, impacted by decades-high inflation, have been curbing spending on discretionary products such as pricier plant-based meat products and preferring pocket-friendly animal meat.”We are testing a pricing reduction that more quickly collapses the pricing delta between one of our core products and its animal protein equivalent,” Chief Executive Ethan Brown said on an earnings call.In October, Beyond Meat trimmed its full-year revenue forecast for a second time on softening demand, specifically in its refrigerated sub-segment. The company had also cut 200 more jobs to save about $39 million.”It doesn’t look like the top line will get significantly better for Beyond anytime soon,” CFRA Research analyst Arun Sundaram said.The company’s margins have been hit due to lingering industry-wide supply chain challenges, the Russia-Ukraine war and rising inflation.Beyond Meat, which faces increasing competition from companies such as Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) and privately owned Impossible Food Inc, has also been heavily discounting that has further pressured its margins.CEO Brown said the volume of competition in plant-based meat category has eroded some of Beyond Meat’s market share.The company’s net loss widened to $101.7 million, or $1.60 per share, in the third quarter. Analysts on average had expected a loss of $1.14 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.Net revenue fell 22.5% to $82.5 million, missing analysts’ estimates of $98.1 million. More

BRF, which sells pork and poultry across Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, reported a quarterly net loss of 137 million reais ($26 million), compared to a 277 million reais loss a year earlier.Analysts polled by Refinitiv had projected a 64.8 million real profit.BRF said its results were weighed by high interest rates that pushed up the cost of its debt. Interest on loans and financing reached 474 million reais, it said, up 25.3% from a year earlier, it said.BRF’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) landed at 1.4 billion reais, in line with a 1.42 billion real estimate.The group’s net revenue meanwhile grew 13.4% to 14.05 billion reais, while income from Brazil, its main market, rose 6.6% to 6.81 billion reais.Revenue from its shipments abroad reached 6.54 billion reais, 7.4% higher than a year earlier, as it fattened its margins from sales to China, Japan and South Korea.($1 = 5.1864 reais) More

Binance will abandon its deal to rescue Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange, citing concerns about its business practices and investigations by US financial regulators.The move comes a day after Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto trading venues, tentatively agreed to buy FTX after it suffered a liquidity crunch. “As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com,” Binance said in a statement late on Wednesday. The about-turn came as the Securities and Exchange Commission expanded an investigation into FTX, which includes examining the platform’s cryptocurrency lending products and the management of customer funds, according to a person familiar with the matter.Go deeper: FTX was considered one of the better-managed players in an industry that regulators have called a “wild west”. So what happened?Do you think Binance was right to abandon its deal with FTX? Tell me what you think at [email protected]. Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. — EmilyFive more stories in the news1. Russia orders retreat from Kherson Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered troops to withdraw from the strategic city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, in another major setback for President Vladimir Putin’s nine-month invasion of the country. 2. US Congress hangs in balance Joe Biden and the Democrats avoided sweeping defeats but still risked losing control of Congress to the Republicans after US midterm elections showed Americans are unwilling to hand a strong political mandate to either party. Track the results with our live results map.

3. Germany blocks another Chinese acquisition Germany’s economy minister announced the decision to block a Chinese acquisition of a domestic semiconductor company, but declined to name the company affected. However, a person familiar with the matter said it was ERS Electronic. The government also confirmed that it had stopped the sale of Dortmund-based Elmos’s semiconductor plant to Chinese-owned Silex Microsystems.4. China factory gate prices contract for first time since 2020 China’s factory gate prices fell into deflationary territory last month and consumer prices rose less than expected, in further signs of the damping effect of Covid-19 lockdowns on domestic demand. The country’s producer price index, a gauge of prices for goods as they leave factories, fell 1.3 per cent in October year on year.5. Musk outlines ambitious payments vision for Twitter Elon Musk laid out his long-term vision for bringing payments to Twitter — which could include offering high-yield money market accounts and debit cards and peer-to-peer transactions — as the social media company filed paperwork with US authorities to become a financial services business.The day aheadInflation data Japan’s producer price index for October will be released today, as will the closely watched US consumer price index. Last week, the Japanese government unveiled a $200bn stimulus package to fight the negative impact of inflation. In the US, Wall Street has forecast CPI to have increased 8 per cent year over year in October, down from 8.2 per cent in September.Philippines Q3 GDP figures Growth is expected to have slowed in the third quarter when data is released today. Economists point to rising inflation and a weak peso. (CNN Philippines) Pakistan march set to continue The countrywide march at which Imran Khan was shot is set to restart today without the former prime minister, who is still recovering from his injuries.What else we’re reading and listening to‘There was no hope’: Chinese factories struggle to survive Factory managers in southern China are reporting a fall in orders in October of as much as 50 per cent on the back of full inventories in the US and Europe, deepening the gloomy outlook for the world’s second-largest economy.Taiwan rallies drone makers to prepare military for China threat Taiwan is attempting to build a domestic supply chain within a year for drones that its military could use in a war with China. The strategy is part of President Tsai Ing-wen’s effort to make the armed forces focus on an increasingly pressing threat from Beijing. Republican blame game begins The US midterm elections were supposed to deliver a thumping Republican victory that would easily flip control of the House of Representatives. Instead, it seemed to confirm, yet again, the country’s entrenched divisions.Opinion: Things could have been much worse for the Democrats last night, writes Edward Luce in our Swamp Notes newsletter. But they made it worse for themselves by sticking their head under a rock.Mark Carney clings to his dream of a greener finance industry One year after COP26 in Glasgow, where former Bank of England governor Mark Carney pledged that $130tn — four in every 10 dollars under management globally — would be deployed to limit global warming, his alliance risks falling short of expectations and promises. Here’s why.

The loneliness of the long Covid employee Tens of millions of people worldwide are believed to be suffering from long Covid, experiencing symptoms lasting for more than four weeks after they had Covid-19. This week’s Working It podcast explains why workplaces have been reluctant to address the issue.Related read: In the latest Working It newsletter, learn how to boost your career with a personal board of directors.Obituary British banker Evelyn de Rothschild, 91, who advised the late Queen Elizabeth II on financial matters, has died “after a short illness”, the family said yesterday. The businessman, who trained racehorses, dedicated 42 years of his career to his family’s bank.

© Bloomberg More

Nursing staff across the NHS have voted to strike over pay and patient safety concerns, a historic step that will fuel fears of widespread disruption across the UK public sector this winter. Announcing the result of its first ballot on industrial action since its foundation 106 years ago, the Royal College of Nursing union said staff at many of the country’s biggest hospitals had voted to take part in a strike. However, others hospitals had narrowly missed the legal turnout thresholds to qualify for action, the RCN added. The threshold was met in 176 employers out of 311 where ballots had been held. Industrial action by RCN members is expected to begin before the end of this year, although the mandate runs until early May. RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said: “Anger has become action.” She added that nurses would no longer tolerate “a financial knife-edge at home and a raw deal at work”.The RCN decision sets the stage for an unprecedented wave of industrial action in the months ahead. Ballots covering more than 1mn public sector workers — including the RCN’s more than 300,000 members — are set to conclude over the coming weeks, threatening to affect the running of schools, hospitals and railways. Unison, the union that represents more than 400,000 NHS workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, launched its own ballot two weeks ago and — if it receives a mandate for industrial action — could call strikes in the new year.The UK chancellor’s Autumn Statement due on November 17 gave the government an opportunity to signal a new direction and serious investment, Cullen added, insisting that “politicians have the power to stop this now and at any point”.Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay expressed deep “regret that some union members have voted for industrial action”.The government had accepted the recommendations of the independent NHS pay review body in full and had given more than 1mn NHS workers a pay rise of at least £1,400 this year, he said. This came on top of a 3 per cent pay increase last year when public sector pay was frozen and wider government support with the cost of living.“Our priority is keeping patients safe during any strikes. The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption and ensure emergency services continue to operate,” Barclay added.The RCN has been campaigning for a pay rise of 5 per cent above inflation, arguing that this was needed to address a crisis in NHS recruitment after a decade of real terms pay cuts. In September, UK inflation reached 10.1 per cent — its highest level for 40 years.The impact of the strike on an already severely stretched NHS may test public support for prolonged action. It could lead to operations and appointments being cancelled, potentially hampering efforts to clear record queues for hospital care.However, unions argued that pressures have become so acute that many parts of the health system were already operating with staffing levels close to the minimum that would be in place during a strike in order to ensure patients’ safety.Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health organisations across the country, said trust leaders had been planning for possible strikes and “will do all they can to minimise disruption for patients”.The government needed to sit down with union leaders to find an agreed solution as soon as possible, she added.The opposition Labour party said the decision to strike represented a failure of Conservative government leadership. “Government ministers spent the summer dodging calls and requests for meetings from the Royal College of Nursing,” said Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary. Dame Anne Marie Rafferty, professor of nursing policy at King’s College London and a former head of the RCN, said nurses had faced a real terms pay decline of 15 per cent over the past decade.“People I’m speaking to who in the past would never have countenanced strike action are now saying they feel there is no choice,” she said. “They have reached a point where they feel the system cannot be trusted to look after them, or their patients.” More

A broader list of countries affected by natural disasters should be able to pause their debt payments, under a scheme drawn up by international financial institutions including the IMF, World Bank and private sector lenders.Vulnerable countries will be able to add climate resilient debt clauses in to future bonds they offer on international markets, using new measures published by the International Capital Market Association. If defined trigger events occur, such as droughts, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, nations should be able to defer payments for a maximum of two years, freeing up funds for disaster relief.The measures, announced at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Wednesday, come in the wake of highly indebted, climate-affected countries like Pakistan struggling to keep up with their debt obligations. The nation has been hit by unprecedented flooding since June, triggering a humanitarian crisis and causing an estimated $30bn in damages. A draft paper from the UN Development Programme in September proposed that Pakistan negotiate debt relief with its creditors.While CRDCs have previously been included in a small number of bonds and loans, particularly in the Caribbean, efforts by the ICMA, which represents banks and investors, are an attempt to standardise the practice and make them applicable in a wider range of disaster situations and locations. Any country could take advantage of the measures, but the ICMA said they are likely to be most suitable for “low-income countries, small island developing states, or other developing countries particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change”.Leland Goss, the ICMA’s general counsel, said in a statement: “We live in a world today where countries are vulnerable to both growing debt levels and an increasing risk of climatic shocks. If sovereign borrowers can avoid default at the time of a natural catastrophe, this will benefit both affected countries but also their creditors and the global financial system that might otherwise be providing finance potentially simultaneously in multiple jurisdictions.”The clauses were drawn up by a private sector working group, chaired by the UK Treasury, which included the IMF, World Bank, academics, as well as lenders such as banks and investment firms.Exact arrangements for the repayment of deferred debt will be left to issuer countries and their creditors to define, but broadly, payments can either be added to the bond and repaid gradually over a set period, or they can be tagged on at the end of the life of the debt instrument where the repayment forms a lump sum on the maturity date.The ICMA did not specify whether issuers would be subject to a price premium for inserting CRDCs in to debt issues, but it cautioned that “if there was an additional cost inherent in CRDCs then countries would need to consider carefully whether the additional benefits of increased macro-stability and liquidity during an exogenous shock outweighed any additional cost of raising financing”.Previous attempts to incorporate private finance in disaster relief have drawn mixed results. The World Bank’s pandemic bonds, in 2017 raised $320mn, but they were designed to pay out only if an outbreak of an infectious disease such as Ebola reached a second country and caused at least 20 deaths. Investors enjoyed high returns, but the instruments were criticised for producing small amounts to help with the Ebola crisis in central Africa. More