|
The Morning Risk Report: Trump Telecom Ban Takes Aim at China, Huawei
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Huawei offices in Reading, Britain on May 2 PHOTO: TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS
|
|
|
Good morning. President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that allows the U.S. to ban telecommunications network gear and services from foreign adversaries, in a measure widely believed to be aimed at China and telecom companies including Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp.
A White House press release describing the order doesn’t list any countries or companies by name. Instead, it gives the commerce secretary the authority to ban the import of gear or services from companies that have close ties to foreign governments and could use their equipment to monitor or disrupt U.S. telecommunications or other infrastructure.
[Continued below...]
|
|
|
|
U.S. national security officials have contended that Chinese companies pose just such a threat, since under China’s Communist Party rule they are obliged to abide by Beijing’s orders. Huawei and ZTE didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment late Wednesday. But asked about the prospect of such an order in Beijing earlier that day, Huawei Executive Director David Wang said such a measure would be misguided.
Huawei in March filed a lawsuit challenging a law signed by President Trump in August that restricts federal agencies from doing business with the Chinese company.
|
|
|
|
FinCEN Renews Disclosure Rules for All-Cash Real-Estate Deals
|
|
The Treasury Department’s financial crimes office renewed regulations aimed at targeting money laundering through U.S. real estate, leaving unchanged its closely watched list of high-risk cities.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Wednesday reaffirmed its disclosure requirements for all-cash real-estate deals. The requirements, known as geographic targeting orders, require title insurers in certain cities to identify the people behind anonymous shell companies that pay at least $300,000 for residential property.
The orders are intended to cover certain real-estate purchases in and near the following U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
FinCEN is required to renew the program every six months. Previous renewals have expanded the program to additional cities. Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that, among other provisions, would make the program permanent and expand it nationwide. The bill, S.482, hasn’t been taken up for consideration on the Senate floor.
Here is the order and a list of frequently asked questions from FinCEN.
—Kristin Broughton
|
|
|
|
A firefighter sprays a home in Paradise Pines, Calif., as the Camp Fire spread through the region on Nov. 8, 2018. PHOTO: PETER DASILVA/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
|
|
|
-
California investigators found that PG&E Corp.’s equipment sparked the deadliest wildfire in state history, putting additional pressure on a company already facing billions of dollars in potential liability costs.
-
North Carolina officials are suing Juul Labs Inc., accusing the e-cigarette startup of targeting teenagers and misrepresenting the strength and health risks from the addictive nicotine in its products. Meanwhile, the U.S. subsidiary of British American Tobacco PLC has started marketing its e-cigarettes on Twitter and Instagram, seeking to regain market share lost to upstart Juul.
-
A Hong Kong anticorruption body charged a former executive at JPMorgan Chase & Co. with bribery, saying she bribed the chairman of a logistics company by offering to employ his son at the bank.
-
Responding to widespread consumer complaints, the Federal Communications Commission says it will take steps to give phone companies permission to block unwanted robocalls.
-
The Department of Homeland Security said it was suspending all commercial passenger and cargo flights between the U.S. and Venezuela, citing safety concerns stemming from political instability in the South American nation.
-
The Trump administration has been working behind the scenes for months on a strategy to force greater price disclosure across much of the $3.5 trillion health-care industry.
-
Georgetown University said it would expel two students implicated in the college-admissions scandal—hours after one of the students sued the school for allegedly depriving him of due process.
-
The White House declined to endorse an international pledge to counter the spread of terrorist content online. The accord incorporates commitments to act from governments and tech giants such as Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
|
|
|
“I see the biggest risks coming from trade policy uncertainty and slower growth abroad, particularly in China, the euro area, and the United Kingdom.”
|
—Kansas City Fed President Esther George
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said it would stop accepting donations from members of the Sackler family. PHOTO: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said it would stop accepting donations from members of the Sackler family associated with drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, the latest institution to halt gifts amid scrutiny of the drug company’s role in the opioid epidemic. The museum, which has a wing named after the Sacklers and accepted the family’s donations for more than 50 years, unveiled the move as part of an updated gift acceptance policy.
Meanwhile, companies in the pharmaceutical supply chain are facing some 2,000 lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, leading some investors to wager that potential settlements from that litigation will drag down shares.
|
|
|
|
Nestle’s birds nest logo on a flag outside the company’s headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. PHOTO: MICHELE LIMINA/BLOOMBERG NEWS
|
|
|
Nestlé SA has entered exclusive talks to sell its skin-health business to private-equity firm EQT and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for 0.2 billion Swiss francs ($10.1 billion), its latest move to reshape its sprawling portfolio and revive sluggish growth.
The Swiss consumer goods giant said in September it was exploring options for the unit as part of a broader effort by Chief Executive Mark Schneider to reinvigorate Nestlé’s portfolio and focus more on coffee, pet care and consumer health.
|
|
|
|
Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting testified before the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday. PHOTO: JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
|
|
|
-
A top banking regulator told lawmakers that his agency plans to keep close tabs on Wells Fargo & Co. and will vet its next chief executive. Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said he remains disappointed with Wells Fargo over consumer abuses and management problems that have plagued the bank for years.
-
Gannett Co. is poised to retain control of its entire board in a proxy fight with a hedge-fund-backed rival that made a hostile bid for the USA Today owner, according to people familiar with the matter. Based on the shareholder votes that have been cast so far, Gannett’s eight nominees have received significantly more support than the three put forward by Digital First Media, the people said.
|
|
|
|
Stanley Black & Decker expects to open a Texas plant by late next year that will make 10 million Craftsman wrenches and ratchets and 50 million sockets annually. PHOTO: SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
-
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. plans to move production of Craftsman wrenches from China back to the U.S., the latest manufacturer looking to use automation to increase domestic output as tariffs raise the cost of imports from overseas.
-
President Trump will make a fresh bid Thursday to remake U.S. immigration policy, proposing an expansion of skills-based visas offset by restrictions on family members’ immigration—a proposal likely to ignite a dispute over issues that divide political parties and the country.
-
Information-technology managers driving automation across a range of business divisions are finally focusing on their own departments—often the last to be upgraded with new workplace technology.
-
Jewelry chain Pandora A/S plans to make further cuts to head count and other costs as the Danish company advances its turnaround effort.
|
|
|
|