Three top Democratic senators, in a rare show of bipartisanship, on Wednesday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to stand up to China as he prepares to launch an inquiry into Beijing’s intellectual property and trade practices in coming days.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer pressed the Republican president to skip the investigation and go straight to trade action against China.

“We should certainly go after them,” said Schumer in a statement. Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sherrod Brown of Ohio also urged Trump to rein in China.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated in recent months as Trump has pressed China to cut steel production to ease global oversupply and rein in North Korea’s missile program.

Sources familiar with the current discussions said Trump was expected to issue a presidential memorandum in coming days, citing Chinese theft of intellectual property as a problem. The European Union, Japan, Germany and Canada have all expressed concern over China’s behavior on intellectual property theft.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer would then initiate an investigation under the Trade Act of 1974’s Section 301, which allows the president to unilaterally impose tariffs or other trade restrictions to protect U.S. industries, the sources said.

It is unclear whether such a probe would result in trade sanctions against China, which Beijing would almost certainly challenge before the World Trade Organization.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters that China “opposes unilateral actions and trade protectionism in any form.”

Leverage for talks

U.S. Section 301 investigations have not led to trade sanctions since the WTO was launched in 1995. In the 1980s, Section 301 tariffs were levied against Japanese motorcycles, steel and other products.

“This could merely be leverage for bilateral negotiations,” James Bacchus, a former WTO chief judge and USTR official, said of a China intellectual property probe.

Some trade lawyers said that WTO does not have jurisdiction over investment rules — such as China’s requirements that foreign companies transfer technology to their joint venture partners — allowing sanctions to proceed outside the WTO’s dispute settlement system.

But Bacchus argued the United States has an obligation to turn first to the Geneva-based institution to resolve trade disputes, adding: “There is an obligation in WTO to enforce intellectual property rights that is not fully explored.”

Lighthizer and Trump’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, have complained the WTO is slow to resolve disputes and biased against the United States.

The threat comes at a time when Trump has become increasingly frustrated with the level of support from Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile program.

Trump has said in the past that China would get better treatment on trade with the United States if it acted more forcefully against Pyongyang. Beijing has said its influence on North Korea is limited.

China also says trade between the two nations benefits both sides, and that Beijing is willing to improve trade ties.

A senior Chinese official said Monday that there was no link between North Korea’s nuclear program and China-U.S. trade.

Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Lighthizer urging action to stop China from pressuring U.S. tech companies into giving up intellectual property rights.

Wyden’s state of Oregon is home to several companies that could make a case regarding intellectual property rights and China, including Nike and FLIR Systems.
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a sixth-straight record Wednesday, closing above 22,000 for the first time, but experts point out that whatever goes up must always come down.

The Dow closed up a fraction at 22,016.

Healthy earnings reports from computer technology giant Apple, the world’s largest publicly traded company, and airplane manufacturer Boeing were major contributors to the Dow hitting another major milestone.

The Dow Jones is an index of 30 major companies from a variety retail, manufacturing and service industries. It has been used as a gauge of the health of the U.S. stock market for more than 100 years.

The Dow is up 11 percent so far this year and all of Wall Street has been in what is known as a “bull market” for several years.

It has been buoyed, in part, by better-than-expected corporate earnings and expectations brought on by the pro-business Trump White House.

But some analysts say they cannot see a lot of room for the Dow to go much higher.

They say that while they expect more positive earnings reports, Congress’ inaction on President Trump’s proposed tax cuts could take some wind out of investor optimism.

Plus, they point out that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index of just 30 companies, which they say is sometimes a narrow gauge of overall investor confidence.

Some other world markets have outperformed the New York Stock Exchange so far this year, such as the Dow Jones China 88 Index, the eurozone’s Euro Stoxx Index and the Sao Paulo Bovespa Index in Brazil.
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India, one of the world’s largest markets for pharmaceuticals, is drawing up its first set of marketing rules for drugmakers, restricting gifts and trips offered to doctors and pharmacists to 1,000 rupees ($15), according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters.

Such rules are common overseas, but are not set in stone in India, where campaigners have long demanded a crackdown on unethical selling practices that include gifts ranging from electrical appliances to foreign trips to woo physicians and pharmacists into prescribing and stocking specific medicines.

The country has voluntary marketing guidelines for drugmakers, but critics say they are ineffective.

“In India, corruption and bribery of doctors is widespread,” said Samiran Nundy, a leading gastrointestinal surgeon. “I’ve seen a range of ways in which this works, from presents to doctors to paying for them to attend conferences.”

“It’s great that marketing rules are coming into place,” he added. “I hope that these will be enforced.”

Besides limiting marketing spending, the draft proposal — drawn up by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) and under review of India’s law ministry — also forbids drugmakers from making false claims on the curative abilities and efficacy of drugs.

An official at the DoP declined to comment on the draft’s specifics, but confirmed to Reuters that the order was under review, though the implementation date for the rules is not set.

The draft says a failure to abide by the rules would result in a marketing ban on a drugmaker for up to a year or more, depending on the degree of the violation. It would also lead to confiscation of all packs of the company’s highest-selling drug brands, which would then be given away to government hospitals.

Companies would also be able to turn a marketing suspension order into a fine, according to the proposal, by paying penalties of between 500,000 rupees ($7,800) and 100 million rupees ($1.56 million), depending on the order’s severity.

Trial samples

The rules limit the number of free samples a company can offer a doctor to full treatment courses for three patients.

But they don’t specify that only new medicine samples can be given away for free, noted Amitava Guha, national co-covener of the health care-focused civil society group Jan Swasthya Abhiyan.

“If this is applicable to all medicines of a company, there will be no change in the present situation,” he said, calling it a major loophole that the companies could exploit.

He also said the marketing ban penalty was vague as it did not specify if it would bar the company from marketing all, or specific, products. The penalty would be “meaningless” for a single product, as drug company salesmen market in private meetings so there is no material evidence, Guha said.

The Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), a lobby group of India’s largest drugmakers, said it supports mandatory rules for curbing undesirable marketing practices, but they should be transparent, easy to implement and unambiguous.

This “should not be reduced to yet another ‘Inspector Raj,'” IPA Secretary General D.G. Shah said, adding that rules should also address the need for doctors’ continuing medical education.

“Someone has to take responsibility of keeping doctors up to date with the latest advances in the field of medicines.”

The draft rules allow drugmakers to sponsor trips for doctors, pharmacists and relatives to attend seminars, medical conferences or scientific meetings, so long as the companies maintain a record of the minutes, expenses and agenda.

Mandatory code

In a letter last year, Tapan Sen, a member of India’s upper house of parliament, urged the government to act on drafting a mandatory code on the marketing of pharmaceuticals, citing irregular practices by several companies.

Indian media reported that the letter said the country’s largest drugmaker, Sun Pharma, Abbott India and privately-held Macleods Pharmaceuticals were among drugmakers found to have sent doctors on “pleasure trips.”

Abbott said at the time that it had a strict policy against providing gifts and other incentives to doctors, while Macleods refuted the allegations.

Sun told Reuters it organizes “continuous medical education” programs to educate doctors, not promote its products, and these are compliant with the voluntary marketing guidelines set by the government in 2015.

The current draft says companies will be allowed to organize screening camps or awareness campaigns at public health centers, but it bars advertising by stealth and mandates that doctors involved in such events be paid commensurate to their average daily income.

To ensure implementation of the rules, an Ethics Compliance Officer of the rank of joint secretary to the Indian government would be appointed.

Pharmaceutical marketing practices have long been a subject of controversy globally. In India, where health insurance is scarce and many rely on pharmacists for medical advice, critics say sketchy practices have led to over-prescription of strong cocktail drugs, causing drug-resistance.

GlaxoSmithKline was battered by a bribery scandal in China that landed it with a record $490 million fine in 2014.

It went on to slash the number of sales reps and overhaul its business globally, stopping sales-based incentives for drug reps and reducing paid junkets for doctors.
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As the U.S. stock market hit a new all-time high Wednesday, key U.S. lawmakers staked out core positions for a looming battle that could impact economic performance for decades: reforming America’s complicated and much-maligned tax system.

“Comprehensive tax reform represents the single most important action we can take now to grow the economy and to help middle-class families finally get ahead,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, adding that Washington has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to act.

“For families, we want to make their taxes simpler, fairer and lower. For small businesses, we want to provide the conditions they need to form, invest and grow,” McConnell said.

An object of near-universal ridicule, the federal tax code is thousands of pages long and forces many Americans to hire accountants or attorneys to comply with its vast array of provisions.

President Donald Trump made tax reform a major campaign promise last year, including lowering America’s corporate tax rate, the highest among the world’s major economies. Failure to deliver on what has been a core Republican pledge to voters for multiple election cycles would be a bitter pill for a party still licking its wounds over its inability — so far — to abolish former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

While Senate Democrats unified in opposition to repealing Obamacare, many say they are eager to work with Republicans on tax reform so long as certain conditions are met.

“First, don’t cut taxes for the top 1 percent [richest Americans],” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. “Second, don’t increase the [federal] debt and deficit. And third, negotiate in a fair and open process.”

Opposition to reconciliation

Democrats are objecting to any Republican attempt to pass tax reform though reconciliation, a Senate procedure that sets aside the three-fifths majority commonly required to advance a bill. Under reconciliation, Republicans could approve tax reform using their narrow Senate majority, bypassing Democrats entirely.

Schumer warned that reconciliation would torpedo “bipartisan tax reform before a discussion between our two parties has even begun.”

“Is he [McConnell] closing the door on bipartisanship because he so dearly wants to cut taxes on the top 1 percent?” the minority leader asked. “The wealthy are doing great right now, God bless them.”

For his part, McConnell promised ample opportunities for Democrats to help shape a final tax reform bill.

“Our expectation is for this legislation to move through the committees this fall under regular order, followed by consideration on both the House and Senate floor,” the majority leader said. “There’s a great deal of bipartisan consensus about what ails our tax code, and my hope is our friends on the other side of the aisle [Democrats] will join us in a serious way to address it.”

Revenue-neutral

McConnell has said that tax reform should be revenue-neutral, meaning that any tax cuts would have to be offset by revenue increases in other areas of the federal code. It is widely assumed that Republicans will propose reducing a variety of tax rates paid by wage earners and businesses, while eliminating some tax deductions many Americans use to lower their tax bills.

For decades, some Republicans have argued that tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating the economy, leading to higher output and more tax revenue. Democrats contend the theory was proven false under the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, which saw deficits rise after major tax cuts were enacted.
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Egypt’s foreign reserves reached over $36 billion in July, a record high, which the prime minister described as “good news” as it shows that the economy is recovering, the central bank said Tuesday.

The bank announced the increase in a brief statement saying that the figure is 4.7 billion dollars higher compared to the previous month. In December 2010, foreign reserves reached $36 billion.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail hailed the increase of the foreign reserves saying, “this is an assuring message about the Egyptian economy and that we are capable of covering the needs of the Egyptian people.”

 “This means that the Egyptian economy has recovered,” he said.  

$12 billion loan from IMF

The rise comes after the government secured a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. In order to qualify for that loan, the government imposed a set of tough economic measures, including subsidy cuts and the flotation of its local currency.

The economic measures were hailed by the IMF but have left many Egyptians struggling with both reduced buying power and spiraling inflation while the government struggles to generate jobs in country with an official population of 92 million.

This summer, Egypt raised electricity prices by more than 40 percent and increased gasoline prices by up to 55 percent while doubling the price of the household staple butane canisters, used for cooking.

Measures benefit middle, lower classes

Ahead of the latest hikes, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi approved a package of measures benefiting middle and lower class Egyptians, including income tax relief, bonuses for state employees, increases in pensions and ration card subsidies.

The government embarked on the economic reform program soon after el-Sissi took office three years ago. Egypt’s economy has been battered since the 2011 uprising and continues to face major challenges, including a rising Islamic militancy. Tourism, a major pillar of national revenue, was dealt a blow in 2015 when militants belonging to an affiliate of the Islamic State group downed a Russian airliner killing all 224 people aboard.

 
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Some European oil majors have made inroads into the emerging U.S. offshore wind energy market, aiming to leverage their experience of deepwater development and the crowded offshore wind arena at home.

Late entrants to the offshore wind game in Europe, which began with a project off Denmark 25 years ago and is now approaching maturity, they are looking across the Atlantic at what they view as a huge and potentially lucrative new market.

Norway’s Statoil has won a license to develop a wind farm of the New York coast, is marketing its new floating turbine to California and Hawaii and is retraining some oil and gas staff to work in its wind division.

Royal Dutch Shell bid for a lease offshore North Carolina earlier this year while Denmark’s DONG Energy, a wind energy pioneer which agreed to sell its oil and gas business in May, is in a Massachusetts-based offshore wind consortium, holds a lease off the New Jersey coast and has opened an office in Boston.

Offshore wind generation began in the United States late last year, ironically after the election of President Donald Trump. He is skeptical about climate change, complains about subsidies for renewable energy and battled against an offshore wind farm near his Scottish golf resort.

However, a string of federal seabed leases were awarded before Trump took office and more are planned. The investment needed to get projects going is one of the biggest

obstacles.

“Undeniably, offshore wind is a big boys’ game because it requires large amounts of capital because scale is such an important cost driver,” said Samuel Leupold chief executive of DONG Energy’s offshore wind business.

While DONG has shifted decisively towards renewables, Statoil and Shell are still firmly rooted in fossil fuels and other major European oil companies, in common with their U.S. counterparts, have so far steered clear of U.S. offshore wind.

Washington estimates its potential at 2,000 gigawatts (GW), many times anticipated capacity in Europe of 25 GW by 2020, but U.S. federal subsidies expire at the end of 2019 and while they may be renewed by Congress, that is no means certain.

Costs in Europe have fallen to a level that enabled DONG to place a zero subsidy bid earlier this year, but offshore wind farms are still multi-billion dollar projects. A push into deeper U.S. waters and the bigger turbines needed to compete without subsidies will keep price tags high.

Early Days

Trump signed an executive order in March expected to roll back his predecessor Barack Obama’s plan requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants. There is also no carbon price mechanism across the United States like those in Europe and elsewhere, although there are two regional ones.

U.S. oil companies have some investments in solar and onshore wind, but when it comes to offshore wind, many say they are waiting for a time when government support is not needed.

“Chevron supports renewables that are scalable and can compete without subsidies,” said Morgan Krinklaw, a spokesman for Chevron, which owns an onshore wind farm.

A report from analysts at Lazard in December pegged the cost of U.S. offshore wind at $118 MWh, around twice as much as onshore wind or combined-cycle gas turbines.

Asked to comment on that figure, Statoil, which is building its first floating wind turbine park off the Scottish coast, said costs were coming down and it was working to drive them down further, partly by redeploying existing staff.

The company has about 1,000 employees in the U.S. oil industry, said Stephen Bull, senior vice president of the company’s wind business. “There’s scope for us to plug into our existing oil and gas supply chain,” he added, referring to existing contracts with equipment and service suppliers.

Statoil spokeswoman Elin Isaksen said she did not expect any of its offshore wind projects in the U.S. to have begun construction by 2019 and that it was too early to quote numbers for the New York project, while acknowledging there was, as yet, no supply chain.

“We expect to see – and will help – the supply chain evolve rapidly in step with the broader industry as offshore wind takes hold in the U.S. in the coming years,” she said.

In Virginia, where Spanish utility Iberdrola’s Avangrid has secured an offshore wind licence, a rich marine engineering heritage is expected to help local companies gain work. Smaller European oil and gas firms are also gaining work.

JDR Cable Systems, a British company that has traditionally supplied subsea power lines to oil and gas platforms, earlier this year won a $275 million contract to provide electric cables for the largest U.S. offshore wind farm off the Maryland coast.

“We are well placed to develop business in the U.S. because of the existing relationships we have in Europe,” said John Price, global sales director for renewables at JDR.

State level decision-making on electricity procurement, the next stage of getting offshore wind off the ground, is helping.

Massachusetts, where DONG has secured a seabed license, last year issued a law requiring its utilities to buy up to 1.6 GW of offshore wind power by June 2027, with a tender to be held later this year.

DONG’s North America wind power president Thomas Bostrom said it would bid in the Massachusetts power purchase tender in December and would not comment on costs ahead of that. He too, emphasized his company was playing the long game.

“As excited as we are for offshore wind in the U.S., we are still in the early days of the industry,” Bostrom said.
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