Economy

US-China tariff break to expire soon

Tomorrow, the tariff break between the US and China expires. According to CNBC, Donald Trump has given no indication that he will extend it. This is despite optimistic tones from the Chinese side after the meeting in Stockholm in July.

Experts the channel has spoken to believe that a summit between Xi Jinping and Trump could take place in Beijing in the coming months.

– It would mean a more stable US-China relationship. But by no means a more friendly one, says Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer.

China's growth
China's youth pay – to pretend to work

The sluggish Chinese economy and labor market mean that more and more Chinese youth are paying companies to let them pretend to work there. This is reported by the BBC.

30-year-old Shui Zhou pays the equivalent of 40 kronor a day to go to the office and pretend to work at the company Pretend To Work Company in the city of Dongguan. There he has five “colleagues” who do the same thing.

– I am very happy. It is like we are working together as a group, says Zhou.

Christian Yao, a lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Management in New Zealand, is an expert on the Chinese economy. He believes that the phenomenon is now quite common in China these days and can be found in many cities.

– Due to the changing economy and the imbalance between education and the labor market, young people need places like this to think about the next step or take temporary jobs during a transitional period, he says. 

The Norwegian Petroleum Fund sells assets in Israel

The Norwegian Petroleum Fund is reducing the number of Israeli companies in its portfolio. Norges Bank, which manages the savings in the fund, writes this in a press release.

At the end of the first half of the year, the fund had a total of 61 Israeli companies. Of these, 11 are not part of the Ministry of Finance’s reference index. Now the Oil Fund will take back all Israeli investments that have previously been managed by external managers.

– These measures are being taken in a very special conflict situation. The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis, says the bank's CEO Nicolai Tangen.

Norges Bank has recently been criticized for its investments in Israeli defense companies. Last week, the country's Finance Minister Stoltenberg demanded that the fund's investments in Israel be reviewed

The berry pickers
The blueberries are rotting - lack of pickers threatens the industry

Despite the forests being full of blueberries and cloudberries, this year's harvest is at risk of rotting away. Only 89 of 2,400 Thai berry pickers have received a work permit - which has led to an acute shortage of labor, sky-high prices and notices. This is reported by SvD Näringsliv.

– In a normal year, around 7–8 percent of the forest's berries are picked. This year it might be 1–2 percent, says Fredrik Reinholdsson, CEO of berry buyer and exporter Olle Svensson.

The background is stricter regulations after previous abuses with low wages, cramped accommodation and overwork. Despite new requirements for direct employment with collective agreements, the Migration Board remains restrictive.

The Swedish Food Industry Association believes that the decisions threaten the entire industry.