Essentially, after years of criticizing China and much of Europe for the way they handle imports and exports, these officials want to copy them.
.. This could lead to slightly higher prices in the United States for everything from Chilean grapes to iPhones to gasoline. But it could also provide a boost to companies and workers who make things in the United States and sell them abroad... The World Trade Organization, the global trade adjudicator, has allowed developing countries to impose far higher tariffs than industrialized countries, while they build up industries at home. China has been counted as a developing country... China and other countries, but not the United States, also charge a steep value-added tax, which is a kind of national sales tax on imports and home-produced goods alike. Exports are exempt from value-added taxes... Once value-added taxes and sales taxes are included in an international comparison, America’s taxes on imports are much lower than those of almost every other country.
Report: Israel Passes U.S. Military Technology to China
Secret U.S. missile and electro-optics technology was transferred to China recently by Israel, prompting anger from the U.S. and causing a senior Israeli defense official to resign.
.. Israel has a long record of getting U.S. military technology to China.
In the early 1990s then-CIA Director James Woolsey told a Senate Government Affairs Committee that Israel had been selling U.S. secrets to China for about a decade. More than 12 years ago the U.S. demanded Israel cancel a contract to supply China with Python III missiles, which included technology developed by the U.S. for its Sidewinder missiles, The Associated Press reported in 2002.
Chinese Companies with Vast Amounts of Data Rife for Analysis
Besides money, Chinese companies have another edge against their U.S. competitors: the vast amount of data they have to work with—created by 731 million online users. In China, people use their smartphones to a much greater degree than in the U.S., and that has created a much richer trove of data for researchers.
Jared Kushner’s White House Role Complicates Skyscraper Deal
The project would entail stripping the 60-year-old building to its steel structure and adding about 40 floors. It could take until 2025 to complete.
.. Anbang Insurance Group, a big Chinese insurer with strong political and family connections to the government in Beijing, is in advanced talks to provide as much as half of the $2.5 billion in equity for the planned redevelopment.. Mr. Trump and Jared Kushner have taken steps to insulate themselves from potential conflicts of interest. For example, Mr. Kushner has sold his personal stake in 666 Fifth Ave. and dozens of other properties to a trust controlled by other family members... But some ethics experts have said these measures have fallen short.. Kushner Cos. is trying to change the fortunes of a property that looked at one point like a disastrous investment. The company purchased it for $1.8 billion in 2007, just before the real-estate crash. By 2011, the company was struggling to make mortgage payments, raising the possibility of a default.
.. Negotiations with Anbang began after the Chinese company reached out to Jared Kushner, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Since then Mr. Wu has met in New York with Charles Kushner multiple times, according to the people.