“Tough” policy on China may not help deficit much
Washington – The administration’s new get-tough approach with China could involve filing trade charges against the Asian giant over auto parts and copyright piracy, and branding the Chinese as currency manipulators.
But the betting is that the harder line won’t have much impact, at least right away, on the soaring U.S. trade deficit, which hit an all-time high of $726 billion last year.
That deficit is getting a lot of attention in Washington, especially the more than one-fourth of the deficit that is accounted for by a single country – the $202 billion trade gap with China.
That figure prompted howls of protest in Congress. Lawmakers contended it showed President Bush is not doing enough to counter China’s unfair trade practices, which they say have contributed to the loss of nearly 3 million U.S. manufacturing jobs since mid-2000.
Lawmakers rushed to introduce more bills to slam China with tough economic sanctions.
Hoping to head that off, the administration last week unveiled its own get-tough strategy, a 29-page “top-to-bottom review” of trade relations between the two nations.
GOLDEN
Acquisitions set stage for Gateway Station
Denver-based NexCore Group LP last week closed on the acquisition of two properties in downtown Golden, clearing the way for Gateway Station.
The first phase of the $20 million mixed-use redevelopment at 13th and Washington will include about 16,000 square feet of street-level retail and restaurant space and about 7,500 square feet of second-floor for-sale office condominiums, topped by 34 luxury residences.
The redevelopment will transform a stretch of Golden’s historic Washington Avenue that has been an eyesore since Hested’s Department Store vacated its building nearly 30 years ago.
DENVER
Miami development sold for $163.5 million
Apartment Investment and Management Co., a Denver- based real-estate investment trust, is selling a portion of its Flamingo South Beach property in Miami for $163.5 million.
The sale includes 562 residential units in the south tower and AIM Co.’s rights to the property’s marina. The agreement also gives the buyer, MCZ/Centrum Florida XVI LLC, the option to purchase the north and central towers at later dates.
BOULDER
Surveillance company raises $3.7 million
Boulder-based video-surveillance company EnVysion said Friday it raised $3.7 million in venture-capital funding.
The money will develop software used to monitor small businesses like convenience stores and fast-food restaurants, said Matt Steinfort, a company spokes man.
EnVysion has 10 employees and reported revenues of about $1 million in 2005.
BOULDER
Econergy’s London IPO gets $105 million
Econergy International Plc, an alternative-energy investor and emission-permits broker, sold 60 million pounds, $105 million, of stock that will begin trading Thursday on the Alternative Investment Market in London in an initial offering. The funds will be spent on power generation and carbon-dioxide credits.
The Boulder-based company has businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean.
LONDON
Oil prices rise after Nigeria pipes attacked
Oil prices rose more than $1.50 a barrel Monday in response to violent militant action against oil pipelines in the Niger Delta that led to a 20 percent cut in Nigeria’s oil production.
April Brent crude futures rose $1.59 to $61.48 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed for the Presidents Day holiday. Oil prices had jumped more than $1 and settled near $60 a barrel Friday on supply concerns.
ATLANTA
EarthLink will offer Dish, DirecTV
EarthLink Inc. said Monday it will offer Douglas County-based EchoStar Communications’ Dish Network and DirecTV satellite-television service in bundled options in select markets across the United States.
The Atlanta-based Internet service provider said the offers will begin by the end of the first quarter. It did not identify the markets in which the options will be available or provide pricing details.
NEW YORK
Macy’s workers OK strike if talks fail
The union representing 3,500 workers at four Macy’s department stores – including the flagship Herald Square location – has voted to authorize a strike if talks with store management fail to resolve a contract dispute.
Sales associates, tailors, stock clerks, gift wrappers and other workers at the Manhattan store – and three others in Queens, the Bronx and White Plains – voted over the past week to authorize a walkout, union spokeswoman Carolyn Daly said Monday.
LIMA, Peru
Gold output jumps after new mine opens
Peru, the world’s fifth-biggest gold producer, said output of the metal jumped by more than half in December from a year earlier, spurred by the startup of Barrick Gold Corp.’s Alto Chicama mine.
Gold output rose to 20,903 kilograms in the month after Toronto-based Barrick opened Peru’s second-largest gold mine in mid-2005, the Energy and Mines Ministry said on its website. The mine, Barrick’s second in the country, cost $340 million and took 18 months to build.
SEOUL, South Korea
South’s growth may aid investment rating
South Korea’s rating may be raised as accelerating economic growth outweighs concerns over the North’s nuclear-arms program, Moody’s Investors Service’s Thomas Byrne said.
South Korea’s $737 billion economy, Asia’s third-largest, is forecast this year to expand at the fastest pace in four years as consumers increase spending and companies crank up production to meet rising demand at home and abroad.
SINGAPORE
State-owned carriers may merge after IPOs
State-owned carriers Air India and Indian Airlines may be merged after their initial public offerings are completed, India’s Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said Monday.
A merger could help raise the competitiveness of the airlines against more efficient privately owned carriers, Patel told reporters on the sidelines of an aviation conference in Singapore. A final decision on the merger will be made this year.
