Day: April 18, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at making it harder for companies to hire temporary foreign workers.

The order, called “Buy American — Hire American,” will take initial steps to reform the H1-B visa program.

H1-Bs allow employers — mostly high-tech firms — to hire skilled foreign workers to work in the U.S. for three years. There are 85,000 slots available each year, 65,000 for applicants with bachelor’s degrees and 20,000 for those with master’s degrees or higher.

“We are going to use a tool you all know very well. It’s called the sledgehammer,” Trump said Tuesday during a speech at Snap-on Tools, a company in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The administration will require companies to demonstrate that the visas are going only to the most highly skilled workers in their fields.

“They [H1-Bs] should be given to the most skilled and highest-paid applicants and not be used to replace Americans,” Trump said.

WATCH: H1-B Visas Let US Firms Hire Foreigners for Specialized Jobs

Open to abuse

The administration says the visas, which can be renewed once, have contributed to a slide in American wages; 80 percent of H1-B visa holders are paid less than the median wage in their fields.

Howard University political science professor Ron Hira said the Trump administration is right: “The laws are loose, and so what happens is it’s become a way for employers to bring in cheaper, indentured workers as opposed to filling those skills gaps. As a result, the program is oversubscribed, and it’s actually undercutting Americans.”

When the application season opened for H1-Bs this month, federal offices were quickly flooded. As in recent years, there were so many applications that the U.S. government stopped accepting them within a week. Visa winners will be chosen by a computer-generated lottery.

Hira also said the intent of the program is good in serving as a guest worker program for when there are shortages of American workers. What got in the way? Politics.

Companies are making so much money, he said, that they are able to influence Congress to prevent changes in the H1-B program. And it’s all legal.

Fixing H1-Bs

Hira said that if the sledgehammer seemed to be velvet-coated, that’s because the executive order is not really intended to change policy so much as to guide policy changes. Federal agencies will have to implement it.

“The idea behind the executive order is to make it merit-based, that the really highly skilled people get preference over the cheap labor that goes on,” Hira said.

Overwhelmingly, India has been the biggest recipient of H1-B visas. The Department of Homeland Security reports that 71 percent of H1-Bs went to Indians in 2015. China was a distant second with 10 percent of the visas.

India’s success is attributed to its huge outsourcing firms that submit thousands of applications every year, increasing their chances of winning the visa lottery.  

Outsourcing firms, which supply services to other companies, are controversial because they are not subject to a federal requirement that they not displace American workers if they pay the H1-Bs at least $60,000 a year.

Hira said the new policy might help high-tech American companies at the expense of the outsourcing firms that abuse the system.

But “expect the Indian government to lobby against the changes,” he predicted.

The executive order also called on all federal agencies to buy American. It established a 220-day review on waivers and exemptions to government “Buy American” rules.

VOA’s Mil Arcega contributed to this report.
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Not a US citizen? Got skills? Need work? This might be the visa for you.
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China announced Tuesday that 28 countries will send their heads of government to an international conference on the One Belt, One Road (or OBOR) program to be held next month in Beijing. However, only six G-20 countries are on the list, and government heads in most of the developed world will not attend.

Italy is the only major western country sending its head of government to the conference on the development plan, despite China’s effort to give it an international flavor.

Four influential personalities will attend the event at the highest level. Those are Russian President Vladimir Putin; Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni; Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will inaugurate the conference.

“This is an economic initiative and it deals with economic cooperation, so we do not want it to be politicized,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in reply to a question about whether the Western world was not showing much interest because it had doubts about China’s motives.

France and Germany have major elections around the time of the Belt and Road Forum, to be held May 14-15. However, they have agreed to send senior officials.

“This is an economic cooperation forum, an international cooperation platform that everyone is paying attention to, supports and hopes to participate in,” Wang said. He said representatives of 110 countries, which include those that are not on the OBOR route, would attend.

A problem of plenty?

China has also signed documents with 56 countries to enlarge support for the program. It has allocated an initial amount of $40 billion for a Silk Road Fund to implement OBOR.

“The contours of OBOR are vast, and its ever-expanding nature has created plenty of discrepancies,” Jonathan Hillman, director of the Reconnecting Asia project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told VOA. “For example, some infrastructure projects announced years earlier are now covered under the OBOR banner.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May was widely expected to attend as part of her efforts to strengthen Britain’s business and diplomatic links with China in the post-Brexit era. Instead, she is sending British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in her place.

For China, OBOR is an important model to expand political influence while enhancing its infrastructure construction business and exporting its industrial overcapacity. Beijing is also projecting the program as a “win-win solution” to the problem of inadequate infrastructure in developing countries, and economic slowdown in the developed ones.

Guest list

Most of the presidents and prime ministers attending the forum are from countries that have received or expect to obtain financial support from China. They include Greece, Belarus, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Ethiopia. Russia depends heavily on business deals, including a 30-year gas supply contract that it has entered with China.

China has done well in persuading most of the countries linked to the South China Sea dispute, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines, to send their leaders. Seven of the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations are sending the heads of their governments.

China did not distinguish between developed and developing countries, and regarded all as equal members of the international community, Wang said, as one of the goals of the Belt and Road program was to promote equitable development between rich and poor nations.

Recoining a name

Wang dropped the word “one” from the original name of the program, One Belt, One Road. Observers said China is trying to avoid the impression that it wants to control the increasingly international program, and make it a consultative process.

On the other hand, several countries in China’s neighborhood — including Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore — have not yet agreed to send their heads of government. Three of China’s colleagues on BRICS — Brazil, India and South Africa — are not sending their heads of governments, according to the list released by the Chinese foreign minister. The other two members of BRICS are Russia and China.

“Unsustainable debt is a real concern for certain countries,” Hillman said, referring to concerns that expensive infrastructure projects under OBOR can push economically weak countries deeper into debt.
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On April 6, Ivanka Trump’s company won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. That night, the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, sat next to the president of China and his wife for a steak and Dover sole dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

The scenario underscores how difficult it is for Trump, who has tried to distance herself from the brand that bears her name, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House.

As the first daughter crafts a political career from her West Wing office, her brand is flourishing, despite boycotts and several stores limiting her merchandise. U.S. imports, almost all of them from China, shot up an estimated 166 percent last year, while sales hit record levels in 2017. The brand, which Trump still owns, says distribution is growing. It has launched new activewear and affordable jewelry lines and is working to expand its global intellectual property footprint. In addition to winning the approvals from China, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC applied for at least nine new trademarks in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. after the election.

‘Put business on hold,’ some say

The commercial currents of the Trump White House are unprecedented in modern American politics, ethics lawyers say. They have created an unfamiliar landscape riven with ethical pitfalls, and forced consumers and retailers to wrestle with the unlikely passions now inspired by Ivanka Trump’s mid-market collection of ruffled blouses, shifts and wedges.

Using the prestige of government service to build a brand is not illegal. But criminal conflict of interest law prohibits federal officials, like Trump and her husband, from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouse. Some argue that the more her business broadens its scope, the more it threatens to encroach on the ability of two trusted advisers to deliver credible counsel to the president on core issues like trade, intellectual property, and the value of the Chinese currency.

“Put the business on hold and stop trying to get trademarks while you’re in government,” advised Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush.

To address ethical concerns, Trump has shifted the brand’s assets to a family-run trust valued at more than $50 million and pledged to recuse herself from issues that present conflicts.

“Ivanka will not weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues, or the commercial terms of agreements,” her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in a statement. “She has retained authority to direct the trustees to terminate agreements that she determines create a conflict of interest or the appearance of one.”

In a recent interview with CBS News, Trump argued that her business would be doing even better if she hadn’t moved to Washington and placed restrictions on her team to ensure that “any growth is done with extreme caution.”

China ties

China, however, remains a nagging concern. “Ivanka has so many China ties and conflicts, yet she and Jared appear deeply involved in China contacts and policy. I would never have allowed it,” said Norman Eisen, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under Barack Obama. “For their own sake, and the country’s, Ivanka and Jared should consider stepping away from China matters.”

Instead, the first daughter and her husband have emerged as prominent interlocutors with China, where they have both had significant business ties. Last year, Kushner pursued hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate investments from Anbang Insurance Group, a financial conglomerate with close ties to the Chinese state. After media reports about the deal, talks were called off.

Publicly, Ivanka Trump has taken a gracious, charming approach toward Beijing. During the Mar-a-Lago meetings, her daughter, 5-year-old Arabella, stood in a gilded room and sang a traditional Chinese song, in Mandarin, for China’s president, Xi Jinping. The video, which was lavishly praised by Chinese state media, played over 2.2 million times on China’s popular news portal qq.com.

The week of the summit, 3.4 tons of Ivanka Trump handbags, wallets and blouses arrived in the U.S. from Hong Kong and Shanghai. U.S. imports of her merchandise grew an estimated 40 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Panjiva Inc., which maintains and analyzes global shipping records.

Painter, the former Bush administration lawyer, recommended full recusal from issues related to trade with China. That is likely to be difficult because trade is so deeply embedded in the U.S.-China relationship and has been linked with other matters, like North Korea.

“The danger is that with any discussion with the Chinese, one party or the other may try to bring up trade,” he said. “That’s a slippery slope that may require her or Jared to step out of the room.”

Gorelick, Ivanka Trump’s attorney, said that Trump and her husband would steer clear of specific areas that could impact her business, or be seen as conflicts of interest, but are under no legal obligation to step back from huge swaths of policy, like trade with China.

Under the rules, Trump would recuse herself from conversations about duties on clothing imported from China, Gorelick said, but not broad foreign policy.

“In between, you have to assess it case-by-case,” she said.

Trademark questions

Trademarks can be signs of corporate ambition, though many countries — such as China, where trademark squatting is rampant — also allow for defensive filings to prevent copycats from using a brand.

Trademarks pose ethical, and possibly legal, implications for government employees because they are granted by foreign states and confer the monopoly right to sell branded product in a particular country — an entitlement that can be enormously valuable. Intellectual property lawyers say trademarks are also a crucial prerequisite for cutting licensing deals, which form the basis of both Ivanka Trump’s and Donald Trump’s global business strategy.

Today, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has 16 registered trademarks in China and 32 pending applications, along with a total of four marks granted preliminary approval since the inauguration, according to China’s Trademark Office. Altogether, they cover a wide range of goods and services, including cosmetics, jewelry, leather handbags, luggage, clothes, shoes, retail, spa and beauty services. There is no sign the recent approvals were particularly swift. China’s Trademark Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Globally, the company has more than 180 pending and registered trademarks in countries including Canada, India, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.S. and Europe, public records show. In December, the company applied for five trademarks, covering handbags and wallets in Puerto Rico, and lingerie and other clothes in the U.S. After the inauguration, the company filed four more applications, for branded clothing and shoes in the Philippines, and perfume and other items in Canada.

Trump did not sign off on the new trademark applications, her brand said in a statement, adding that they are “not necessarily an indication that the brand is planning to launch a category or a store in a specific territory.”

Growing sales

Whatever the future plans, right now sales are growing — helped, some argue, by the glow of Ivanka Trump’s political rise.

The G-III Apparel Group Ltd., which makes Ivanka Trump clothes, said net sales for the collection increased by $17.9 million during the year that ended Jan. 31.

The brand itself claims revenues rose 21 percent last year, with early February seeing some of the “best performance ever,” according to a statement by Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand.  Because it is privately held, the brand does not have to declare its earnings or where revenues come from. The actual corporate structure of Trump’s retail business remains opaque. Kushner’s financial disclosure form lists two dozen corporate entities that appear directly related to his wife’s brand. Trump herself has yet to file a disclosure.

Data from Lyst, a massive fashion e-commerce platform, indicates some of this growth coincided with specific political events.

The number of Ivanka Trump items sold through Lyst was 46 percent higher the month her father was elected president than in November 2015. Sales spiked 771 percent in February over the same month last year, after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway exhorted Fox viewers to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” Conway was later reprimanded. The bounce appears somewhat sustained. March sales on Lyst were up 262 percent over the same period last year.

“You can’t separate Ivanka from her role in life and from her business,” said Allen Adamson, founder of Brand Simple Consulting. “Her celebrity status is now not only being fueled by her wealth and her family connection, but by her huge role in the White House. All that buzz is hardwired to her products.” That, he added, is a competitive advantage other brands just can’t match — though it does come with risk.

Things could easily cut the other way for the first daughter. Ashley King, 28 of Calabasas, California, bought Ivanka Trump black flats and a cardigan several years ago. But King, who voted for Hillary Clinton, said she believes Trump’s role in the White House represents a conflict of interest.

“This is bothering me more and more,” she said. As for the Ivanka Trump items in her closet, she said, “I will be donating them.”
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The International Monetary Fund says the global economic outlook is “brightening,” but warns that “protectionism” and geopolitical tensions could hurt economic growth.

The IMF published the report Tuesday, ahead of this week’s gathering of top economic officials from around the world for meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.

The IMF’s Maurice Obstfeld told journalists that global growth will probably accelerate from a 3.1 percent annual rate in 2016 to 3.6 percent in 2018. He says commodity prices have “firmed” since early last year, but at a relatively low level. That leaves commodity exporters in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America with challenges. He also says bad weather and civil unrest mean several low-income nations face mass starvation. 

In the report, economists say there are many “downside risks” including political pressure to restrict trade, which they argue will hurt rather than help growth. The report’s authors say slow and unequal income growth, meager growth in productivity, the financial crisis, and other problems have generated political support for “zero-sum” approaches to trade. Obstfeld says nations that pull out of the multilateral trading system could suffer a “self-inflicted wound.”

The IMF says in many cases, wages have not kept up with rising productivity, and labor’s share of national incomes has dropped. These experts urge policymakers to do more to ensure that the gains from growth and trade are shared more widely. What will help, they suggest, are tax changes, investments in skills, and efforts to make it easier for workers to move to find new opportunities.
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The Trump administration says it is time for tougher enforcement of rules governing the hiring of certain foreign workers in the United States, and to review laws requiring U.S. government agencies to use American-made products.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order regarding “Buy American/Hire American” rules on Tuesday as he visits a tool-making manufacturer in the midwestern state of Wisconsin.

In a briefing for journalists, senior administration officials said lax enforcement and numerous legal loopholes mean American workers and companies lose jobs and business to foreign competition, which hurts the U.S. economy.

Trump is signing the order even though he built a global business empire before running for the White House in which he regularly outsourced the manufacture of dozens of consumer products to overseas locations. Trump-branded products, including ties, suits, dress shirts, furniture, bedding, vodka, home goods and accessories for his luxury hotels, have all been manufactured outside the United States, although some of his goods are made in the U.S.

In all, the Trump products have been made in 12 countries, including China, Mexico, India, Germany and other nations around the globe.

As president, Trump has held onto ownership of his vast real estate and business holdings, despite complaints from ethics experts who say he should divest himself of any financial interests to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Trump has turned over management of his business empire to his two adult sons, Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump, and says he will have no contact with them about their business decisions.

Under the order Trump is signing, government agencies are being directed to review their procurement practices and require that exceptions to the “buy American” rules be approved by the heads of those agencies.

Officials also said government procurement portions of existing trade agreements will be reviewed to see if U.S. companies get the same chance to sell products to the governments of U.S. trading partners that foreign firms get in Washington.

Another review is aimed at rules governing visas issued to foreigners with certain skills, called the “H-1B.” The visa program is supposed to bring workers with skills that are scarce in the United States into the country; but, Trump administration officials say they are concerned that companies are hiring foreigners who do the same work as Americans at lower wages.

Government agencies are being directed to conduct “top to bottom” reviews of these rules and laws, and report problems and recommendations that may bring about changes.

 
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Retail sales were weaker than expected in both March and February, after government data showed the worst two-month performance for the retail sector in two years. US Census data suggest the weakness was the result of lower fuel prices and reduced auto profits. But retail experts say the industry itself is changing, driven by technological and demographic change.
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