Business Briefing
U.S., Russia steel goods face duties
China imposed duties on imports of U.S. and Russian flat-rolled electrical steel following anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.
China imposed anti-dumping duties in a final ruling on U.S. products of 7.8% to 64.8%, the Ministry of Commerce said. The anti-subsidy duties on U.S. products are 11.7% to 44.6%, while those on Russian products are 6.3% to 25%, it said.
The final ruling will hurt exports from steelmakers and further strain trade relations with the U.S. The Asian nation began its investigation after the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese tires in September.
Obama calls for yuan adjustment
President Obama urged China to move toward a “more market-oriented exchange rate,” and President Hu Jintao told him the country wouldn’t yield to “external pressure” in deciding when to adjust the yuan.
Any currency revaluation by China must be “based on its own economic and social-development needs,” China’s official Xinhua news agency cited Hu as saying at a meeting with Obama in Washington.
COURTS
Trump wins back casino company
Donald Trump and his partners won control of bankrupt casino company Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. when a judge ruled that their bid was better for creditors than a competing offer by activist investor Carl Icahn.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Judith H. Wizmur sided with a group of bondholders who are owed $1.2 billion. Their proposal would reduce Trump Entertainment’s debt by $1.4 billion and give the celebrity billionaire as much as 10% of the three-casino company he once ran.
AUTOS
GM board adds UCLA professor
General Motors Co. named Cynthia Telles to its board.
Telles, 57, is on the medical school faculty at UCLA and is director of UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic. The addition gives the automaker 13 board members.
Honda to recall 1,850 Acuras
Honda Motor Co. will recall 1,850 Acura brand ZDX cars because front passenger-side airbags may fail to deploy.
Some 2010 models lack the laser-cut scoring under the dashboard to let the airbags inflate properly, Honda said.
The flaw was uncovered during a quality-control check in the manufacturing process, and no incidents have been reported, the company said.
COMPENSATION
Abercrombie to limit plane use
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. says it will limit Chief Executive Mike Jeffries’ personal use of the company aircraft but will pay him $4 million because of the change.
If Jeffries’ use of the aircraft exceeds $200,000 during a fiscal year he must now reimburse the company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Jeffries would have to pay some of his $4 million back if he leaves the company without “good reason,” as specified by his employment contract.
Jeffries’ use of the company’s aircraft for personal use was valued at $1.1 million in 2009 and $776,723 in 2008.
-- times wire reports
