- British PM and European Commission Chief seek to reach an agreement
- China’s economy reports consumer deflation for the first time since 2009
- US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin offers new stimulus package of $916 billion
British PM and European Commission Chief Seek to Reach an Agreement
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Tuesday that securing a Brexit deal is “looking very, very difficult” as he prepares to go to Brussels this week to meet with Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
There are only three weeks left to resolve the problems in the trade agreement negotiations between the European Union and the UK.
British Prime Minister Johnson will meet at dinner with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels to discuss issues that negotiators have been unable to negotiate for months.
In a meeting with the bloc’s ministers, Michel Barnier, an EU official and two diplomats, told Reuters that trade relations are more likely to continue without an agreement on both sides at the end of the year. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that if there is no improvement, EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday will have to discuss emergency plans.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the two sides may have to agree to “not make an agreement’’.
The UK, which officially left the EU in January, was in a transition period where it remained in the EU single market and customs union since then. This period will expire exactly on December 31st.
In the absence of a deal that will cover approximately $ 1 trillion in trade until the end of the term, businesses will be hit hard by customs and quota practices.
Johnson told reporters that: ” I’ve got to tell you, it’s looking very, very difficult at the moment.”
“I’ve got to be honest with you, I think that the situation at the moment is very tricky. I think that our friends have just got to understand that the UK has left the European Union in order to be able to exercise democratic control over the way we do things,” he said.
“Then there’s also the issue of fisheries where we’re a long way apart still. But you know, hope springs eternal and I’ll do my best to sort it out if we can,” he added.
China’s Economy Reports Consumer Deflation for the First Time Since 2009
China’s consumer inflation entered negative territory in November for the first time since October 2009, official data showed on Wednesday.
For the first time in more than a decade in China, consumer prices have declined as pork supply compensates for last year’s swine disease.
The consumer price index fell 0.5 percent in November from the same period the previous year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The median expectation of economists who took part in the Bloomberg survey was that inflation would remain stable.
China’s official consumer price index (CPI) fell to minus 0.5 per cent in November from a year earlier, from 0.5 per cent growth in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was the lowest since it also reached minus 0.5 per cent in October 2009.
Food prices fell by 2 percent on a monthly basis in November, while pork prices fell 12.5 percent.
The decline in pork prices, which is the main item in the inflation basket, due to the softening of the dramatic price increase experienced last year, dragged inflation on a downward trend. China had a record level of pork imports due to the disease that reduced pork supply.
The Chinese Statistical Office reported that food prices and the relatively higher base effect of last year were the reasons for the weakening in inflation.
US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin offers New Stimulus Package of $916 billion
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reported in a statement posted to Twitter on Tuesday that he had spoken to Speaker Nancy Pelosi this evening. He stated that he offered a $ 916 billion support package to the Chairman of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to be implemented against the economic effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The proposal is separate from both a $908 billion framework put forward by a bipartisan group of centrist Senators and a much-smaller package put forward by McConnell last week.
In his statement, Mnuchin stated that he had a meeting with Pelosi in the evening regarding the support package for the economic effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Mnuchin stated that he offered a $ 916 billion support package on behalf of US President Donald Trump during the meeting, and noted that the offer was slightly larger than the $ 908 billion offer offered by Republican and Democratic senators last week.
Mnuchin said:
“This offer includes robust financial liability protections for resource, businesses, schools, and universities for state and local governments.”
“As part of this proposal, we will fund it using $140 billion from the Paycheck Protection Program and $429 billion in Treasury funds,” Mnuchin said, adding that he had spoken with the president, McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about the proposal. He did not however, claim that President Trump will be prepared to sign a bill based on this proposal.
