Just Eat Takeaway’s sale of Grubhub has been thrown into disarray as bosses prepare for a multibillion-pound writedown on the US business in what could go down as one of the tech sector’s most disastrous deals.

Bankers from Bank of America have the task of finding a buyer or strategic partner for the American food delivery operator, which Just Eat Takeaway bought for $7.3 billion (£5.8 billion) less than a year ago.

However, sources said Grubhub was being offered to potential bidders at a fraction of that amid a global tech stock sell-off — and it may not find a buyer at all.

It is the latest crisis for the takeaway giant, which has suspended a senior executive and is seeking a new chairman.

Multiple

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By Parker Purifoy (May 27, 2022, 5:15 PM EDT) — Four subsidiaries and affiliates of JBS Foods USA have agreed to develop and implement an infectious-disease preparedness plan at seven of its meat processing plants as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, the DOL announced Friday.

To create and enact the plan, the company will assemble a team of company and third-party experts, including those recommended by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the United Food and Commercial Workers union, DOL said.

The settlement comes after OSHA fined JBS affiliates Swift Beef Co. and JBS Green Bay Inc. in September and October 2020 for failing to…

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When it comes to food ordering, robotic delivery is quickly evolving from fringe new technology to lived reality as restaurants and delivery services rush to find viable solutions to meet demand in spite of driver labor challenges. From drone drop-off to sidewalk rovers, trials of robotic delivery are live across a range of different United States cities.

The technology got a major push into the mainstream when Uber Eats kicked off two major trials of different kinds of autonomous delivery in Los Angeles last week, one in partnership with driverless vehicle technology company Motional and one with Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk delivery company that spun off from delivery company Postmates (now owned by Uber) back in 2017.

Additional details: Uber Eats Launches Two Robotic Delivery Pilots as Restaurant Industry Struggles to Meet Demand

Ali Kashani, Serve’s co-founder and CEO, explained in an interview with PYMNTS how, even as these sorts of robotic deliveries become more widespread, it will take time to overcome resistance to the new technology.

“There’s ton of demand already. … It’s just a matter of time. It’s just patience,” he said. “You have to go through this process, put the robots out, take care of the integrations, go through the manufacturing of more robots. It takes time to engage regulators, engage customers. … There’s an education component, making sure people understand why this exists, why it needs to exist.”

By the Numbers

Indeed, the demand is there. Research from the March/April edition of PYMNTS’ Digital Divide series, “The Digital Divide: Regional Variations in U.S. Food Ordering Trends and Digital Adoption, created in collaboration with Paytronix, which drew from a survey of more than 2,500 U.S. adults who regularly purchase food from restaurants, found that about one in three restaurant customers order from delivery aggregators each month.

See also: New Research Shows That Regional Dining Quirks Matter in Tailoring Restaurant Offers

Additionally, more consumers would be ordering from aggregators if it were not for the extra costs associated with the channel such as the fee for drivers’ labor and the added tip. This additional spending discourages many restaurant customers, according to data from PYMNTS’ Restaurant Friction Index, created collaboration with Paytronix, which drew from a survey of a census-balanced panel of over 2,100 United States adults.

Related news: New Data Show Digital Loyalty Programs Are Key Differentiator for Top-Performing Restaurants

The study found that, of the 58% of consumers who do not order via aggregator, 41% steer clear because they are unwilling to pay the delivery or service fee, a greater share than said the same of any other deterrent.

Both delivery services and restaurants, major brands and independents alike, are seeking out automated solutions to help meet this demand.

In fact, research from the January issue of PYMNTS’ Main Street Merchant Index™ (MSI), “Main Street Index: Optimism Amid Inflation Edition,” created in collaboration with Melio,  which drew from a survey of 765 Main Street U.S. business owners conducted in the late fall, found that 29% of businesses in the food, entertainment and accommodation segment reported that they are “very” or “extremely” likely to invest in automation/robotization of tasks that currently require manual labor. Plus, a greater share of businesses in the segment reported an interest in these technologies than in any other segment.

Read more: Two-Thirds Of US Main Street Businesses Show Optimism Despite Inflation, Economic Uncertainty

Separating the Wheat From the Chaff

Noting this demand, robotics companies are flooding into the space promising automated solutions.

“The key is … going out there and identifying what’s noise and what’s signal,” Kashani said. “Obviously, in any segment of technology, we have hype cycles where some things are over-promised and then over time, we figure out what the reality is.”

He cited the example of fully self-driving vehicles, arguing that, while some have been making big claims about the potential of the technology for years, only now is it becoming a viable possibility. As such, he contends that the dynamic has flipped, where now those who have undervalued the technology “might actually be on the losing side,” while those who are seriously exploring its possibilities are “going to be the winners.”

You may also like: Restaurants Turn to Robotics to Fulfill Delivery Demand

Full Autonomy

Now, as these players compete for restaurant and delivery service customers, some are offering devices piloted by remote drivers, while others are offering fully driverless options. Those operating in the latter space, including Serve, are offering level 4 autonomy, where vehicles can operate themselves under some conditions but not others.

“This idea that you can just have someone remotely drive a robot, it just doesn’t work. It’s not safe. It’s not economical,” Kashani argues, “but the solution has been presented. We now have what is needed to make [level 4 autonomy] commercially viable at scale, and that’s exactly what’s happening now.”

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NEW PYMNTS DATA: THE TAILORED SHOPPING EXPERIENCE STUDY – MAY 2022

About: PYMNTS’ survey of 2,094 consumers for The Tailored Shopping Experience report, a collaboration with Elastic Path, shows where merchants are getting it right and where they need to up their game to deliver a customized shopping experience.

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On May 16, 2022, senior officials from the United States and the European Union concluded the second meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Paris-Saclay, France.  US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, and European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis led the meeting as Co-Chairs of the TTC.  Following the meeting, the parties issued a Joint Statement that outlines the progress of the TTC and its ten working groups since last autumn, as well as plans for future cooperation on issues such as critical supply chains, technology standards, export controls, climate, and unfair trade practices. 

In keeping with the TTC’s status as forum for consultations, rather than the negotiation of binding legal outcomes, the initiatives described in the Joint Statement focus primarily on expanding information sharing between the two governments, articulating shared principles and concerns, working to voluntarily harmonize standards and approaches where possible, and advancing shared interests on a global basis.  Among other things, the Joint Statement broadly affirms the participants’ intentions to “continue to oppose actors who threaten the multilateral rules-based order and fundamental principles of international law,” and to continue “coordinating our actions to mitigate the negative impacts of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine[.]”  With respect to trade, the participants have committed to “intensify our work to resolve trade disagreements to our mutual advantage, reduce unnecessary barriers to bilateral trade and investment, and strive to prevent new ones from emerging[.]”  The parties also recognize “the need to reform the WTO,” and to take “effective action to address trade-distortive non-market policies and practices.”   

Beyond these general principles, the Joint Statement incorporates reports from the TTC’s ten working groups outlining progress on specific issues.  Some of the most notable outcomes and commitments documented by the working groups include the following:

Technology Standards

Recognizing that the establishment of “better aligned and interoperable technology standards” would facilitate trade, this working group seeks to foster the development of such standards and to “reduce non-tariff barriers in key technology areas[.]”  Accordingly, as of May 16, 2022, the US and EU have established a “Strategic Standardisation Information” (“SSI”) mechanism with the aim to “encourage engagement in new standardization opportunities” and “explore taking coordinated action if standardization activities pose a challenge to US-EU strategic interests and values.”  The working group is also developing a list of critical and emerging technologies that it will prioritize in its efforts coordinate technology standards.  Such technologies include additive manufacturing, megawatt charging systems for heavy-duty recharging points, recycling of materials, “digital identity,” and “Internet of Things.”

Global Trade Challenges

The working group on global trade challenges has focused on four general areas: (1) avoiding unnecessary trade barriers; (2) cooperation on “non-market policies and practices;” (3) trade and labor; and (4) trade and environment.  Notable outcomes and commitments in these areas include the following:

• Avoiding unnecessary trade barriers.  The parties will seek to facilitate trade by (1) exploring the use of digital tools for regulatory approvals and conformity assessments; (2) identifying specific areas or products where cooperation on conformity assessment could facilitate trade; (3) expanding cooperation in the area of government procurement; (4) identifying measures that will facilitate trade with Ukraine; and (5) seeking to avoid “unintended consequences of domestic requirements that could create unnecessary barriers to trade and investment, notably for critical products/areas[.]”  
• Cooperation on “non-market policies and practices.”  The parties plan to develop “joint or coordinated strategies, using available policies and tools,” aimed at countering the impact of “non-market, trade-distortive policies and practices” on technological development and competitiveness in key sectors, such as medical devices.  Additional sectors may be prioritized in the future.  When using domestic tools to address unfair practices, the United States and the EU “will seek to consult or coordinate with each other, with a view to avoiding or mitigating unintended consequences for each other, where possible.” 
• Labor.  The parties intend to collaborate on the promotion of internationally recognized labor rights in global supply chains, mostly through the exchange of information on best practices (e.g., for combatting forced labor) and work in multilateral fora.  They have also announced the establishment of a new tripartite trade and labor dialogue (“TALD”), involving relevant representatives of the US Government, the European Commission, and US and EU trade unions and businesses.
• Environment.  The parties intend to “take a leading role in using trade policy and tools to support climate and environmental policy goals[.]”  In addition to exchanging information, they have agreed that these efforts should include cooperation on the implementation of the WTO statement on the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions.  Such efforts will focus on (1) enabling a “trade facilitative approach” to remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, and direct reuse; and (2) “fostering better understanding of the role of trade” in disseminating goods and services to meet environmental and climate goals.

Climate and Clean Tech 

The climate and clean tech working group is focused on three main areas: (1) promoting green public procurement policies; (2) aligning methodologies for calculating the carbon footprint of selected products, and (3) advancing electro-mobility and interoperability with smart grids.  With respect to procurement, the parties “intend to work towards a joint US-EU initiative incorporating sustainability considerations in public procurement,” though these discussions currently are limited to “joint mapping of policies and a joint catalogue of best practices[.]”  The parties have also begun “expert-level exchanges” on methodologies for measuring the carbon footprint of selected products.  

Secure Supply Chains

The working group on secure supply chains has focused on identifying and addressing shared vulnerabilities in areas such as semiconductors, solar panels, rare earth magnets, and critical minerals.  Key updates in these areas include the following:

• Semiconductors.  US government agencies and the European Commission intend to participate in a two-month pilot to develop an “early warning system” for semiconductor supply chain disruptions.  Additionally, the parties have articulated a “common goal” to limit semiconductor subsidies “to what is necessary, appropriate and proportionate to achieve public policy objectives,” in order to avoid subsidy races.  The parties are “determined to provide any support for this sector in line with WTO rules.”
• Solar products.  The parties “pledge to cooperate on respective project development and the design of financing tools” and on “bolstering solar manufacturing capacity that adheres to shared environmental, social, and quality standards[.]”  They also will aim to “alleviate existing supply chain concentration, actively working together to address market access barriers and distortions to US-EU trade and investments[.]”  Additionally, the parties will “work to minimise the impact of any protective measures on their respective industries[.]”
• Rare earth magnets.  The parties plan on “redoubling and refocusing efforts” through the TTC and relevant multilateral initiatives “to continue address rare earth elements supply chain vulnerabilities and to promote undistorted trade throughout the rare earth supply chain.”  Such initiatives include the Conference on Critical Materials and Minerals between the European Union, the United States, Japan, Australia and Canada.  The parties have expressed their resolve “to preserve the openness of the transatlantic supply chains” in this sector.

ICTS Security and Competitiveness

Among other initiatives, the parties have launched a dedicated task force on “joint US-EU public financing for secure and resilient connectivity and ICTS supply chains in third countries.”  This task force will promote the use of “trusted/non-high-risk suppliers” in third countries and share information on US and EU efforts to support “secure, resilient, and rights-respecting ICTS projects” in third countries.  The task force’s efforts will support US and EU “flagship infrastructure initiatives” by prioritizing “high-quality” ICTS infrastructure projects that promote principles of security, transparency, and competition.

Export controls

The export controls working group noted that the United States and EU have achieved an “unprecedented” level of cooperation in limiting exports of dual-use items and strategic technologies to Russia following its actions in Ukraine. Going forward, the parties “intend[] to continue to regularly exchange pertinent information [on export controls], with an initial focus on Russia and other potential sanctions evaders.”  They also will seek to work with third countries on export controls “in a joint and structured effort to uphold international peace and security” and counter circumvention.  The parties also plan to exchange information and pursue coordination with respect to licensing practices, approaches to emerging technologies, and implementation of export controls.  

Investment Screening

At this stage, the working group on investment screening is focused primarily on sharing information and best practices.  Information exchanges thus far have focused on foreign direct investment trends, trends in investments from certain countries of origin, transaction structures of interest, and implementation of the parties’ respective investment screening regimes.  Moving forward, the working group intends to continue these information exchanges, and to develop a “holistic view” of security risks related to specific sensitive technologies and policy tools for addressing them.  

Outlook

The TTC’s work reflects important shifts in the format, substance, and ambition of transatlantic engagement on trade issues.  Prior initiatives such as the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership focused on liberalizing trade in a comprehensive and legally binding manner.  By contrast, the TTC reflects a strong focus on mitigating shared vulnerabilities and risks – including climate, geopolitical, national security, and supply chain risks – through mostly voluntary initiatives and policy coordination.  The TTC has yielded aspirational commitments to avoid “unnecessary” escalation of transatlantic trade barriers, but has dedicated relatively little attention to expanding trade, compared to other priorities.  Nevertheless, some TTC initiatives such as the proposed alignment of technology standards and conformity assessments have the potential to facilitate trade, and therefore are important priorities for the US business community.

Additionally, there are indications that the TTC’s work may feed into other important bilateral and plurilateral initiatives.  For example, the TTC’s efforts to align methodologies for calculating the carbon footprint of key products may inform the ongoing US-EU negotiation for a Global Arrangement on steel and aluminum trade, and subsequent policies developed pursuant to that arrangement.  Moreover, Secretary Raimondo has announced that the US and EU intend to work toward a “concrete alignment” on export controls by the time of the next TTC ministerial at the end of this year, with a likely focus on semiconductors.  She suggested that this arrangement could be broadened to include additional countries such as Japan in order to enhance its effectiveness.  Commissioner Vestager has raised the possibility of other “TTC spinoffs,” including a potential “framework” to spur investment in critical minerals in countries such as Canada and Australia.  These initiatives could magnify the impact of the work done in the TTC.

The Joint Statement can be viewed here.  

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Five immigrant investor-backed enterprises with revoked approvals under the EB-5 visa program are suing over a recent federal policy requiring all existing regional centers to get reauthorized.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia is the second filed against the Homeland Security Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services over the required reauthorization. More than 600 previously approved regional centers around the country have been affected, according to the complaint.

The EB-5 program allows immigrants to seek a green card if they invest a minimum amount of funds in a US business and …

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BNP Paribas increasingly wants to be seen in the U.S. as a bank for companies that do business overseas, particularly in Europe. 

That’s a marked difference from the Paris-based bank’s previous strategy of also serving U.S. retail customers through its Bank of the West unit, which it agreed to sell to Bank of Montreal in December 2021, and through   Bank of the West’s First Hawaiian Bank arm, which it sold off in 2019. 

The idea behind the shift in strategy, said Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA, is to get the U.S. business closer to the bank’s standing at home, where it comes in number one in Europe for corporate and institutional banking. In the U.S., it ranks in the top 10. 

“You have to be present. You have to have critical mass. You can’t be everything to everybody,” he said. 

Today, business clients are asking BNP Paribas for supply chain management; financing to pay for capital investments, working capital or M&A; and hedging of rates, equities or currencies. “The test is serving U.S. clients internationally,” Fillion said.

“Credit has been quite robust,” he added,, with high grade issuance close to 2021 levels. Mergers and acquisitions are also strong, especially in tech, media, and industrials, driven largely by private equity funds’ purchases, which are fueling the debt markets as well.

“BNP has a big investment banking unit that’s actually doing quite well,” said Claude Hanley, a partner at the Capital Performance Group consultancy. 

One challenge: How does this strategy to serve businesses as they move around the world fare if the Russian war in Ukraine sparks deglobalization? If that’s happening already, Fillion hasn’t seen it yet, although he said companies are starting to bring production and sourcing back home. “I see more clients today switching from ‘just-in-time’ to ‘just-in-case,’” which amounts to “redomestication,” he said.

Fillion joined BNP Paribas right out of college and moved from Paris to Chicago to cover mid-cap business clients. Later on, he lived in Los Angeles and then New York, where he’s now based, and has now spent  four decades in the U.S. 

“The world of banking is very different than it used to be,” he said, citing the complex geopolitical situation, the economy and the enhanced role of central banks, including the increased convergence of the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve. 

A more recent trend has been inflation, which was not part of the conversation even two years ago, he said. Now, everyone is aware of “the confusing time we’re going through with all the headwinds:” supply chain disruptions leading to higher prices; a hawkish Fed; and the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggering a crisis for both energy and refugees, especially in Europe. At the same time, “the U.S. economy is doing really well,” with BNP Paribas economists predicting 3% GDP growth in 2022. 

“In spite of inflation and consumer confidence being more volatile, households are continuing to spend,” Fillion said. “This economy is still benefiting from a stimulus dimension.” That matters, he said, since some 70% of U.S. GDP is driven by consumption.

And although BNP Paribas is divesting Bank of the West, the bank still expects to maintain a large presence in the U.S., where it has 5,000 employees, Fillion said. It has grown recently through bolt-on acquisitions in its markets unit, such as Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage, which brought electronic trading execution to BNP Paribas. The bank also signed an agreement to take over as many of Credit Suisse’s prime brokerage clients who want to move over to BNP after the Swiss bank said it would exit that business. The equity-research firm Exane, of which BNP Paribas recently bought the other half it didn’t already own, will also be expanding into the U.S. from its base in Europe.

How competitors are faring

BNP Paribas is not the only European-based bank moving away from serving U.S. retail customers.

“I think the European banks are all facing profitability pressures,” Hanley said. “A lot of them are withdrawing and rethinking the U.S. retail banking market because it’s not generating the returns they need.”

The strategy now, Hanley said, is to shift  towards the higher end of the income scale. “In the future, I think overseas banks coming into the U.S. will concentrate on wealthy people,” he said, citing UBS’ acquisition of robo advisor Wealthfront and HSBC’s strategy of placing branches in places where rich clients have overseas banking needs. 

High net worth consumers continue to spend; they tend to buy things that need financing, like real estate; and they are less susceptible to inflation because they own assets that tend to appreciate in price, like stocks. All of this makes them uniquely positioned to be good clients right now, especially since, as Visa Chief Economist Wayne Best noted, the affluent have a spending-demand backlog of a quarter of a trillion dollars right now, much of which they plan to use for travel and other high-ticket items.

“Growth rates are higher in Asia and the U.S. than they are in Europe,” Hanley said. “[European banks] have to go abroad because it’s where the growth rates are. But they have found they can’t compete by trying to be mainstream competitors, so they’re going niche.”

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SEOUL, South Korea — President Joe Biden is tending to both business and security interests Sunday as he wraps up a three-day visit to South Korea, showcasing Hyundai’s pledge to build a $5.5 billion electric vehicle and battery factory in Georgia and visiting U.S. and South Korean troops monitoring the rapidly evolving North Korean nuclear threat.

The major U.S. investment by a South Korean company, which was formally unveiled in Georgia on Friday, is a reflection of how the U.S. and South Korea are leveraging their longstanding military ties into a broader economic partnership.

The U.S. president has made greater economic cooperation with South Korea a priority, saying on Saturday that “it will bring our two countries even closer together, cooperating even more closely than we already do, and help strengthen our supply chains, secure them against shocks and give our economies a competitive edge.”

The pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has forced a deeper rethinking of national security and economic alliances. Coronavirus outbreaks led to shortages of computer chips, autos and other goods that the Biden administration says can ultimately be fixed by having more manufacturing domestically and with trusted allies.

Biden’s meeting Sunday with Hyundai’s Euisun Chung comes after the president made an earlier stop at a computer chip plant run by Samsung, the Korean electronics giant that plans to build a $17 billion production facility in Texas.

Hyundai’s Georgia factory is expected to employ 8,100 workers and produce up to 300,000 vehicles annually, with plans for construction to begin early next year and production to start in 2025 near the unincorporated town of Ellabell.

But the Hyundai plant shows that there are also tradeoffs as Biden pursues his economic agenda.

The president earlier in his term tried to link the production of electric vehicles to automakers with unionized workers. As part of a $1.85 trillion spending proposal last year that stalled in the Senate, Biden wanted extra tax credits to go to the buyers of EVs made by unionized factories. That would have provided a boost to the unionized auto plant owned by General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV at a vital moment when union membership nationwide has been steadily decreasing.

During the Samsung visit, Biden called on Korean companies building plants in the U.S. to hire union workers. In addition to its coming Texas plant, Samsung has a deal in place with Stellantis to build an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in the U.S.

“I urge Samsung and Stellantis and any company investing in the United States to enter into partnerships with our most highly skilled and dedicated and engaged workers you can find anywhere in the world: American union members,” he said.

There so far has been no guarantee that the Hyundai Georgia plant’s workers will be unionized.

Katie Byrd, the press secretary for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, noted in an email that the state is “Right-to-Work,” which “means that workers may not be required to join a union or make payments to a union as a condition of employment.”

A Hyundai spokesperson did not respond to an email asking if the Georgia plant would be unionized. A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said there was no contradiction between Biden encouraging investors to embrace union workforces while his administration does “whatever it can” to encourage investment and bring jobs to the U.S.

Before meeting Hyundai’s CEO, Biden attended Mass at his hotel in Seoul along with some White House staff. Biden will also meet with service members and military families at Osan Air Base and address U.S. and Korean troops. Biden and Korean President Yoon Sook Yeol on Saturday announced t hey will consider expanded joint military exercises to deter the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

The push toward deterrence by Biden and Yoon, who is less than two weeks into his presidency, marks a shift by the leaders from their predecessors. President Donald Trump had considered scrapping the exercises and expressed affection for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And the last South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, remained committed to dialogue with Kim to the end of his term despite being repeatedly rebuffed by the North.

Biden decided to skip a visit to the demilitarized zone on the North and South’s border, a regular stop for U.S. presidents when visiting Seoul. Instead, Biden, who had visited the DMZ as vice president, was more interested in visiting Osan to see an installation “where the rubber hits the road” for U.S. and South Korean troops maintaining security on the Korean Peninsula, said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Yoon campaigned on a promise to strengthen the U.S.-South Korea relationship. He reiterated at a dinner on Saturday in Biden’s honor that it was his goal to move the relationship “beyond security” issues with North Korea, which have long dominated the relationship.

“I will try and design a new future vision of our alliances with you, Mr. President,” Yoon said.

Biden heads to Tokyo later Sunday. On Monday, he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and lay out his vision for negotiating a new trade agreement called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

A central theme for the trip, Biden’s first to Asia as president, is to tighten U.S. alliances in the Pacific to counter China’s influence in the region.

But within the Biden administration, there’s an ongoing debate about whether to lift some of the $360 billion in Trump-era tariffs on China. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said some of the tariffs are doing more harm to U.S. business and consumers than they are to China.

Sullivan said the president’s national security and economic teams were still reviewing “how to move beyond the trade approach of the previous administration.”

On Tuesday, Japan will host Biden at a summit for the Quad, a four-country strategic alliance that also includes Australia and India. The U.S. president will then return to Washington.

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Wall Street slumped briefly into a bear market yesterday as continuing worries about economic growth and soaring inflation sent America’s investors running for cover.

At one point the benchmark S&P 500 share index was down more than 2 per cent, taking its losses since reaching a record high in January to more than 20 per cent, the threshold that defines bear territory. It rallied late in the session to finish almost flat, but still suffered its seventh straight week of losses, a stretch not seen since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.

The Dow Jones industrial average suffered its eighth straight week of declines, ensuring its longest losing streak since 1932, despite adding 8.77 points to 31,261.90 yesterday.

The S&P hit a record 4,766.18 points

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In February the U.S. House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act. The act “aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. economy and U.S. businesses, and counters anti-competitive actions taken by the People’s Republic of China …”

The aim of the act is wholly off target for one group of U.S. business owners: Wisconsin farmers.

The America COMPETES Act included an amendment that was not discussed with anyone ahead of its passing that bans mink production in the United States at the end of next year. This will directly affect Wisconsin mink farmers who are national leaders in this industry.

The amendment, championed as a public health and safety policy, was sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-CT.; Nancy Mace, R-SC. In a statement, Rep. DeLauro said, “The evidence is clear: mink operations can incubate and spread new COVID-19 variants and pose a unique threat of extending the pandemic.”

However, a statement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directly contradicts Rep. DeLauro’s opinion, noting there is “no evidence that mink are playing a significant role in the spread of COVID-19 to people.”

Rather than promoting public health and safety and increasing American competitiveness in a global marketplace, the amendment targeting mink farmers castigates generational farm families for producing a product that is seen as a luxury item despite polling from Gallup that shows more than half of Americans consistently think wearing fur is “morally acceptable.”

Down bedding is also a luxury product many people take for granted. Comforters and pillows filled with down feathers from various waterfowl are highly sought after for their warmth and durability. The fowl that provide the feathers are no different than mink or leather contributing animals, yet there is no mention of preventing their production or sale in the U.S.

That is because the mink ban amendment is about virtue signaling and cancel culture, not about public health and safety or even about the minks themselves. It is about pushing an anti-animal agriculture agenda.

Mink farming in Wisconsin is a highly regulated and monitored business, dedicated farmers care for the animals seeing their nutritional and health needs are met. No different than every other member of the animal use industry.

In a culture obsessed with buzz words like “no waste,” “organic,” and “holistic,” mink producers should be praised. Instead, after congressional action, they are faced with the potential of losing their livelihoods without even being asked for information about their work. Rather than celebrate natural fibers as viable and biodegradable, members of congress are unintentionally promoting the use of synthetic materials associated with landfill, microplastics, overconsumption, and pollution.  

What needs to be canceled is the throwaway mindset of “fast fashion” that creates pollution and consumer waste not Wisconsin farmers.

Fortunately, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) put forth a motion to instruct to reject proposals that prohibit “the possession, acquirement, receipt, transportation, sale, or purchase of mink raised in captivity in the United States for fur production.” The Natural Fibers Alliance stands with Senator Johnson and applauds his efforts to keep mink farming in Wisconsin intact. 

Mike Brown is the head of sustainability and public affairs for the Natural Fibers Alliance, which represents mink breeders and others throughout Wisconsin.

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It very much depends on what country you’re going to be resident in. First of all, you’ll probably have to set up some sort of business entity in order to register with the appropriate tax authorities and social insurance agencies. You are generally considered to be working in whatever country you are physically present in while doing the work – with no regard for where your customers are located, nor where or how you are being paid for your services.

It shouldn’t be all that difficult to arrange for some sort of phone transfer (that’s how all those annoying call centers work, after all) – it will just be an additional business expense. It’s even possible using something as simple as Skype, though for a business you’d probably want a more professional service.

 

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