Business

WASHINGTON — French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday repeated his frustration with US subsidies, saying they were hurting European companies by providing an unfair advantage to their American competitors.

International trade has bubbled into a point of contention this week as Macron becomes the first foreign leader hosted by President Joe Biden during an official state visit, injecting fresh tension in the meeting between two long-standing allies.

Those frustrations emerged into the open on Wednesday on Capitol Hill when Macron told lawmakers and business leaders that the US industrial subsidies that are part of Biden's huge green energy initiatives are "super aggressive" towards European business.

He repeated the warning Thursday in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" broadcast, saying that while Washington and Paris were "working closely together" on geopolitics and opposing Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, trade tensions remained.

The CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, two massive US laws designed to boost US competitiveness and innovation, "are both very good for the US economy", Macron acknowledged. 

"But as they were not fully coordinated with the European economies, they create just the absence of a level playing field," the French leader said.

With gas and energy prices "skyrocketing in Europe" since February due to Russia's invasion, Macron said it was vital that western nations coordinate more closely on economic and trade issues.

BEIRUT — Football fans looking for a respite from Lebanon's crushing economic crisis have found a challenge in simply watching the World Cup after the bankrupt state failed to pay for broadcasting rights.

"No football this year," said Jean Bassil angrily, flicking through channels on his old-fashioned television screen.

"They have deprived me of the only fun thing amid all this bad news," the 58-year-old told AFP at his small phone accessories shop in Jounieh, north of the capital Beirut.

Lebanon has been gripped by an economic crisis that the World Bank dubbed one of the worst in modern history.

Since late 2019, the local currency has lost more than 95 per cent of its market value, and poverty rates have climbed to cover most of the population.

Right until the start of the World Cup on November 20, Lebanese had hoped the matches would be broadcast free on public network Tele Liban, as was the case during the 2018 tournament.

But the caretaker cabinet has never approved the $5 million expense.

This has left many football fans with little choice but to watch the tournament in cafes, or via bootleg streaming services on their phones — though many complain Lebanon's sluggish internet has made this difficult

"After these three years, we Lebanese feel we need this fun," said Samer Idriss, an 18-year-old student, at a cafe-restaurant in Dekwaneh, east of Beirut.

The flags of teams such as Brazil, Argentina and Germany dot the streets of towns and cities across Lebanon.

But amid the country's overall gloomy outlook, even the usual football fever seems somewhat toned down.

"We try to have fun... as much as our economic situation allows," said Idriss, wearing a Brazil jersey and brandishing the South American country's flag.

Lebanon's economic meltdown came in tandem with the coronavirus pandemic and a devastating explosion at the Beirut port in 2020 that killed more than 200 people and ravaged swathes of the capital.

The state is now unable to deliver more than an hour or two of mains electricity a day, and the cost of a full tank of petrol now far exceeds the minimum monthly wage.

Idriss said he paid 250,000 Lebanese pounds (around $6) to watch a recent World Cup game, but some venues may ask for up to double that amount.

Others crowd pavements around informal streetside cafes whose generator-powered televisions light up roads plunged into darkness.

"We're watching at a cafe... It's all we can afford," said Zein Nasreddine, who works for a security company, at a venue in Beirut's southern suburbs.

For Tuesday night's highly anticipated Iran-United States game, a crowd watched at an outdoor cafe in that area — a stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed movement Hizbollah — some smoking shisha or waving Iranian flags.

Those who prefer to stay home and can afford it have instead started splitting the cost of cable television subscriptions, but even that is a luxury for many.

Sharbel Ghoussoub, 35, said he and his sister had shared the $90 for a subscription.

"They have even managed to deprive the Lebanese of the simple pleasure of watching the World Cup for free," he complained.

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter owner Elon Musk on Monday opened fire against Apple over its tight control of what is allowed on the App Store, saying the iPhone maker has threatened to oust his recently acquired social media platform.

Musk also joined the chorus crying foul over a 30 per cent fee Apple collects on transactions via its App Store — the sole gateway for applications to get onto its billion plus mobile devices.

A series of tweets fired off by Musk included a meme of a car with his first name on it veering onto a highway off-ramp labelled "Go to War", instead of continuing onwards towards "Pay 30%".

The billionaire CEO also tweeted that Apple has "threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won't tell us why".

Apple did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.

Both Apple and Google require social networking services on their app stores to have effective systems for moderating harmful or abusive content.

But since taking over Twitter last month, Musk has cut around half of Twitter's workforce, including many employees tasked with fighting disinformation, while an unknown number of others have voluntarily quit.

He has also reinstated previously banned accounts, including that of former president Donald Trump.

Yoel Roth, the former head of trust and safety at Twitter who left after Musk took over, wrote in a New York Times op-ed that "failure to adhere to Apple's and Google's guidelines would be catastrophic", and risk "expulsion from their app stores".

Describing himself as a "free speech absolutist", Musk believes that all content permitted by law should be allowed on Twitter, and on Monday described his actions as a "revolution against online censorship in America".

He also tweeted that he planned to publish "Twitter Files on free speech suppression", but without clarifying what data he had in mind to share with the public.

Though Musk says Twitter is seeing record high engagement with him at the helm, his approach has startled the company's major moneymaker — advertisers.

In recent weeks, half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers have announced they are suspending or have otherwise "seemingly stopped advertising on Twitter", an analysis conducted by nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters found.

Musk on Monday accused Apple of also having "mostly stopped advertising on Twitter".

"Do they hate free speech in America?" he asked, before replying with a tweet tagging Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In the first three months of 2022, Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, spending some $48 million on ads which accounted for more than 4 per cent of the social media platform's revenue, according to a Washington Post report citing an internal Twitter document.

Sarah Roberts, an information studies expert at University of California, Los Angeles, told AFP that "Musk didn't understand that Twitter itself was a brand, had cachet".

"Now companies don't even want to be associated with it. It's not even that they worry about the content. Twitter is a tainted brand, a brand non grata companies don't want to be associated with," she added.

Tarnishing Tesla? 

Musk on Monday also called Apple's fee on transactions through its App Store a "secret 30% tax" .

He shared a video released last year by Fortnite maker Epic Games that portrayed Apple as an oppressor in a mocking spin on a famous "1984" ad for Macintosh computers.

Apple has clashed in court with Epic, which has sought to break Apple's grip on the App Store, accusing the iPhone maker of operating a monopoly in its shop for digital goods or services.

A federal judge last year ordered Apple to loosen control of its App Store payment options, but said Epic had failed to prove that antitrust violations had taken place.

Musk's controversial moves at Twitter, along with the possibility he will need to sell more Tesla shares to keep the social media platform afloat, has taken shine off of the electric car company and its stock, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

"The Musk vs Apple new battle is not what investors want to see," Ives said in a tweet.

"[Wall] Street wants less drama, not more as this Twitter situation remains the gift that keeps on giving for the Tesla bears with every day a new chapter."

LONDON — Stocks and oil prices fell Monday on concerns about protests across China calling for political freedoms and an end to the government's hardline zero-COVID policy, fuelling uncertainty in the world's number-two economy.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in China at the weekend in the country's biggest demonstrations since pro-democracy rallies in 1989 were crushed.

"Unrest in major cities in China has de-stabilised risk-on markets including oil which is under pressure, pushing BP and Shell towards the bottom of the UK index," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

China-linked stocks took the brunt of selling in Asia, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closing down more than 1 per cent and Shanghai off 0.8 per cent. The yuan slipped by around 1 per cent.

The unrest also left Wall Street and European markets in a sea of red.

"Sentiment has turned sour as unrest across China grows," said SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes. 

"Risk of the situation escalating from here and short-term volatility remains high."

A deadly fire in the Xinjiang region Thursday served as the catalyst for the public anger in China, with many blaming virus lockdowns for hampering rescue efforts.

People have taken to the streets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu calling for an end to lockdowns, after an easing of some measures had fuelled hopes of a lighter pandemic approach.

Some demonstrators were even demanding the resignation of China's President Xi Jinping, who was recently reappointed to a precedent-breaking third term as the country's leader.

The latest targeted containment measures have been introduced as the country sees record-high COVID infections.

China's "zero COVID policy means the threat of more growth-choking lockdowns are there. This is going to hold back the yuan and Chinese stocks, and potentially risk assets outside of China - not least crude oil, as we have seen", City Index analyst Fawad Razaqzada said in a note.

The prospect of a hit to demand in the world's biggest crude importer hammered oil prices, with both main contracts down more than 2 per cent.

Eyes on Fed boss 

The weakness "isn't just about China. The reports out of China have also become a good excuse to take some money off the table following a big run by the market", Briefing.com analyst Patrick J O'Hare said in a note.

The selling has taken a bit out of recent gains across markets sparked by hopes of a slowdown in the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate hikes, with inflation finally showing signs of softening.

However, some observers said the protests could provide long-term benefits as they could force President Xi to shift away from his strict, economically damaging measures sooner.

Investors were also looking ahead to the release of US jobs data at the end of the week, which could provide clues about the Fed's next moves, while speeches by central bank boss Jerome Powell and other key policymakers will also be pored over.

BAGHDAD — Iraq has recovered "part" of $2.5 billion in public funds fraudulently withdrawn from a government account, the prime minister said on Sunday, calling on guilty parties to hand themselves in and return all the money.

Mohammed Shia Al Sudani said a wealthy businessman implicated in the theft from tax authorities had given back $125 million out of more than $1 billion that he "confessed" to having received. 

Businessman Nour Zuhair Jassem will be subject to an assets freeze and released on condition of recovering the remaining funds within two weeks, Sudani added.

The scandal has provoked widespread ire in Iraq, an oil-rich country ravaged by endemic corruption.

According to a document from the country's tax authority, the colossal sum was allegedly expropriated between September 2021 and August this year through 247 cheques cashed by five enterprises.

The money was subsequently withdrawn from the companies' accounts, the document showed.

The owners of those accounts — most of whom are on the run — are subject to arrest warrants. 

"The competent authorities have been able to retrieve a first tranche amounting to 182.6 billion Iraqi dinars," equating to more than $125 million, Sudani said. 

His comments came during a live address, and he was flanked by piles of banknotes stacked in packages.

Jassem was arrested late last month at Baghdad airport when he tried to leave the country on a private jet, authorities said at the time. 

The prime minister said the judiciary had reached an agreement with the accused that he return all the money. 

Another suspect, who was arrested in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, is the subject of proceedings to transfer him to Baghdad. 

"We call upon all the suspects subject to arrest warrants in this case to hand themselves in and hand back the stolen funds," the prime minister said.

"Arresting the thieves and those who aided them is very important," Sudani added.

"But the most important thing is the return of the funds. What does it matter if so and so is in prison if the [$2.5 billion] is not in the state's coffers?"

Tax officials and public bodies are implicated in the scandal, he said, adding that their identity "will be revealed at the end of the investigation". 

"We will spare no one," Sudani vowed.

The top echelons of power routinely evade accountability in Iraqi corruption cases.

LONDON — Facebook owner Meta is urging UK lawmakers considering legislation to scrap all retained European Union laws by 2024 to maintain some e-commerce rules to keep Britain globally competitive. 

The UK government introduced legislation in September to amend, repeal or replace all EU laws automatically retained after Brexit by the end of next year. 

"The Brexit Freedoms Bill will enable the UK government to remove years of burdensome EU regulation in favour of a more agile, home-grown regulatory approach that benefits people and businesses across the UK," it said at the time.

In a newly disclosed letter to a committee of MPs scrutinising the bill, the US tech giant said it wanted to draw "attention to one key area of retained EU legislation that we believe may be affected".

The California-based company, which has around 4,000 full-time staff in Britain, noted 2002 electronic commerce regulations based on an EU directive limit the liability of online platforms "that act as a mere conduit".

"This framework... is critical to maintaining an online environment that enables a thriving and diverse technology sector to flourish in the UK," Meta said.

It warned that without it, "platforms and websites are less likely to want to operate in the UK and may pull back from making the UK a hub for innovative new products and services in the way the government envisages".

Meta argued the provisions should be "either explicitly maintained elsewhere or recommend that the E-Commerce Regs are removed from scope of the Revocation Bill".

The draft legislation is currently working its way through parliament. 

It has provoked a backlash in Britain, with many public and private interest groups and organisations accusing the government of moving too far, too fast. 

Trade unions are among those opposed to the bill, with one leading organisation warning in another letter to the committee published Friday that it "poses a significant threat to workers' rights and should be opposed by MPs".

"It is striking that ministers have yet to explain which laws they intend to retain, to amend or allow to expire," the Trades Union Congress said. 

"Indeed, there even remains uncertainty about whether government knows which laws are affected," it added, arguing "the ultimate goal is deregulation".

Meanwhile TheCityUK, one of London's leading financial lobby groups, said it has "a number of reservations about the appropriateness of this Bill in current circumstances".

The organisation cited "the overall need for it, opportunity costs, the risk of worsening the relationship with the EU, and the potential for increased burdens on business". 

"At a minimum, a far longer sunset period for implementation should be allowed," it added.

STOCKHOLM — The owner of most Ikea stores, Ingka, reported on Friday a more than five-fold drop in its annual net profit due to higher interest rates and its exit from Russia.

The group said its net profit for the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in August, fell to 287 million euros ($299 million), down from 1.6 billion euros in 2021.

The drop was mainly due to rising interest rates, which hit its financial market investments. Central banks have hiked rates worldwide in efforts to curb soaring inflation.

"The net income was also impacted by the effects of scaling down operations in Russia," the company said.

Foreign firms have left Russia in droves in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and Western sanctions against the country.

The furniture group's holding company, Inter Ikea, also announced a sharp drop in profits due to inflation and the withdrawal from Russia.

NEW YORK — The Black Friday kick-off of the holiday shopping season is expected to bring especially deep discounts in 2022, but one challenge will be finding consumers confident enough to spend.

Grinding inflation in the world's biggest economy in recent months has cast uncertainty over this year's festive season, which kicks off the day after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

A year ago, retailers faced product shortfalls in the wake of shipping backlogs and Covid-19-related factory closures. To avert a repeat, the industry front-loaded its holiday imports this year, leaving it vulnerable to oversupply at a time when consumers are cutting back.

"Supply shortages was yesterday's problem," said Neil Saunders, managing director for GlobalData Retail, a consultancy. "Today's problem is having too much stuff."

Saunders said retailers have made progress in recent months in reducing excess inventories but that oversupply created banner conditions for bargain-hunters in many categories, including electronics, home improvement and apparel.

Juameelah Henderson always checks for sales, "but more so now", she said while exiting an Old Navy store in New York with four bags of items.

The clothing chain's prices were "pretty good", she said. "If it's not on sale, I really don't need it."

Higher costs for gasoline and household staples like meat and cereal are an economy-wide issue, but do not burden everyone equally.

"The lower incomes are definitely hit worst by the higher inflation," said Claire Li, a senior analyst at Moody's. "People have to spend on the essential items." 

Leading forecasts from Deloitte and the National Retail Federation project a single-digit percentage increase, but it likely won't exceed the inflation rate.

The consumer price index has been up about eight percent on an annual basis, which means that a similar size increase in holiday sales would equate with lower volumes.

US shoppers have remained resilient throughout the myriad stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, often spending more than expected, even when consumer sentiment surveys suggest they are in a gloomy mood.

Part of the reason has been the unusually robust state of savings, with many households banking government pandemic aid payments at a time of reduced consumption due to Covid-19 restrictions.

But that cushion is starting to whittle away. After hitting $2.5 trillion in excess savings in mid-2021, the benchmark fell to $1.7 trillion in the second quarter, according to Moody's.

Consumers with incomes below $35,000 were affected the most, with their excess savings falling nearly 39 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2021 and mid-2022, according to Moody's.

Accompanying this drop has been a rise in credit card debt visible in Federal Reserve data and anecdotally described by chains that also report more purchases made with food stamps.

"We're seeing continued pressure," said Michael Witynski, chief executive of Dollar Tree, a discount retailer that has seen "shifts" in shoppers, "where they're very consumable and needs-based focused to try and make that budget work and stretch it over the month".

Earnings reports from retailers in recent days have painted a mixed picture on consumer health.

Target stood on the downcast side of the ledger, pointing to a sharp decline in shopping activity in late October, potentially portending a weak holiday season.

The big-box chain expects a "very promotional" holiday season, said Chief Executive Brian Cornell.

"We've had a consumer who has been dealing with very stubborn inflation for quarter after quarter now," Cornell said on a conference call with analysts. 

"They're shopping very carefully on a budget, and I think they're looking at discretionary categories and saying, 'All right, if I'm going to buy, I'm looking for a great deal and a great value.'"

But Lowe's, another big US chain specialising in home-improvement, offered a very different view, describing the same late-October period as "strong" and seeing no evidence of consumer deterioration.

"We are not seeing anything that feels or looks like a trade down or consumer pullback," said Lowe's Chief Executive Marvin Ellison.

Consumers like Charmaine Taylor, who checks airline websites frequently, are staying vigilant

Taylor thus far has been thwarted in her travel aspirations due to exorbitant plane ticket prices. Taylor, who works in child care, isn't sure

how much she'll be able to spend on family this year

"I'm trying to give them some little gifts," Taylor said at a park in Harlem earlier this week. "I don't know if I'll be able to. Inflation is hitting pretty hard."