Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday strongly defended a prospective Russia-Germany natural gas pipeline as economically feasible and voiced hope that European Union nations will be able to resist U.S. pressure to thwart the project.

U.S. officials have warned that Washington could impose sanctions on the undersea Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The U.S. and some EU nations oppose it, warning it would increase Europe’s energy dependence on Russia. The U.S. is also interested in selling more of its liquefied natural gas in Europe.

Speaking Wednesday after talks with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in St. Petersburg, Putin noted that Bulgaria caved in to pressure and dumped the Russian South Stream pipeline.

He added that he hopes that “Europe as a whole won’t look like Bulgaria and won’t demonstrate its weakness and inability to protect its interests.”

“Russia always has been and will remain the most reliable supplier,” Putin said, adding that the Russian gas supplied via pipelines is significantly cheaper than U.S. liquefied gas. “Supplies come directly from Yamal in Siberia. There are no transit risks.”

It would be “silly and wasteful” if Europe opts for a more expensive option, hurting its consumers and its global competitiveness, Putin charged.

Ukraine, which has served as the main transit route for Russian gas supplies to Europe, has strongly opposed the Russian pipeline, fearing that it would leave its pipeline empty. The two ex-Soviet neighbors have been locked in a bitter tug-of-war after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

Kurz spoke in support of Nord Stream 2 but also emphasized the importance to continue supplies via Ukraine.

“It’s very important that Ukraine’s interests as a key transit country be upheld,” he said.

Putin has previously pledged to consider the continuation of gas supplies via Ukraine if it settles a commercial dispute with Russia over previous gas supplies.
…

Seven-year-old Ryan drew millions of views reviewing toys on YouTube. Now, he’s become a toy himself.

Walmart is selling action figures in his likeness, putty with his face on the packaging and other toys under the Ryan’s World brand. It’s a bet that kids, who are spending more time tapping tablets, will recognize Ryan from YouTube and want the toys he’s hawking.

The new line may also help Walmart lure former Toys R Us shoppers, as many chains make a play for those customers ahead of the holiday shopping season.

The first-grader, who’s been making YouTube videos for three years, has become a major influencer in the toy industry. The clips typically show him unboxing a toy, playing with it and then waving goodbye to viewers. His most watched video, in which Ryan hunts for large plastic eggs, has more than 1.5 billion views.

Toys featured in the videos can see a spike in sales, says Jim Silver, editor of toy review site TTPM.com. “Ryan is a celebrity,” he said. “Kids watch his videos. He’s entertaining.”

So much so that toymakers have paid Ryan and his parents to feature their products. Forbes magazine estimated that the Ryan ToysReview YouTube channel brought in $11 million last year, but his parents, Shion and Loann, declined to confirm that number or give any financial details about Ryan’s deals. They also do not give their last name or say where they live for privacy and safety reasons.

Ryan’s path from reviewer to tiny toy mogul started last year when his parents signed with Pocket.watch, a two-year-old company that works with several YouTube personalities to get their names on clothing, books and other products. Ryan is the first with a product line because of his large audience, Pocket.watch says.

Last month, Walmart started selling Ryan’s World bright-colored slime for $4, 5-inch Ryan action figures for $9 and french fry-shaped squishy toys for $18. The retailer is the exclusive seller of some of the line, including T-shirts and stuffed animals.

Whether kids will want them “all comes down to the toy,” says Silver, adding that hits are made on the playground, where youngsters show off their toys and tell others about it.

What Ryan does have is a built-in audience. A video of him searching the aisles of Walmart for Ryan’s World toys has nearly 10 million views in a month, and his YouTube page has more than 16 million subscribers. Anne Marie Kehoe, who oversees Walmart’s toy department, says a couple of thousand people showed up to a recent appearance at an Arkansas store just to see a kid “jumping around and acting crazy.”

Ryan, in a phone interview, says a lot of those people wanted his picture. He then left the phone call to play.

His parents, who stayed on the line, say Ryan spends about 90 minutes a week recording YouTube videos. They say he helped with the creation of some of the toys, like when he asked for an evil twin version of himself for a figurine.

“I’m always amazed at the point of view Ryan has,” said his dad, Shion.

Chris Williams, Pocket.watch’s founder and CEO, sees Ryan as a franchise, like how “Nickelodeon looks at SpongeBob.”

But unlike a cartoon sponge, Ryan will grow up. Williams says he expects the products to evolve with Ryan’s taste. And Ryan’s parents agree, saying they’re prepared to follow his interests as he gets older, like to video games.

“We can change,” Shion said.
…

Кабінет міністрів України на засіданні 3 жовтня схвалив стартову ціну продажу близько 78% акцій енергогенеруючої компанії ПАТ «Центренерго» у п’ять мільярдів 984 мільйонів гривень.

Прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман доручив Фонду держмайна доопрацювати розпорядження з профільними міністерствами протягом найближчих трьох днів.

У травні Кабінет міністрів України затвердив перелік підприємств великої приватизації на 2018 рік. До нього включили 26 об’єктів, серед них і «Центренерго».

Радником для приватизації «Центренерго» є польський філіал компанії Ernst & Young. Графік підготовки до передачі підприємства у приватну власність Кабмін схвалив у вересні.
…

China’s hopes of negotiating a free trade pact with Canada or Mexico were dealt a sharp setback by a provision deep in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that aims to forbid such deals with “non-market” countries, trade experts said on Tuesday.

The provision specifies that if one of the current North American Free Trade Agreement partners enters a free trade deal with a “non-market” country such as China, the others can quit in six months and form their own bilateral trade pact.

The clause, which has stirred controversy in Canada, fits in with U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to isolate China economically and prevent Chinese companies from using Canada or Mexico as a “back door” to ship products tariff-free to the United States.

The United States and China are locked in a spiraling trade war that has seen them level increasingly severe rounds of tariffs on each other’s imports.

Under the clause, the countries in the updated NAFTA, renamed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), must notify the others three months before entering into such negotiations.

Derek Scissors, a China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said the provision gave the Trump administration an effective veto over any China trade deal by Canada or Mexico.

If repeated in other U.S. negotiations with the European Union and Japan, it could help isolate Beijing in the global trading system.

“For both Canada and Mexico, we have a reason to think an FTA with China is a possibility. It’s not imminent, but this is a very elegant way of dealing with that,” Scissors said.

“There’s no China deal that’s worth losing a ratified USMCA,” Scissors added.

After months of bashing its Western allies on trade, the Trump administration is now trying to recruit them to join the United States in pressuring China to shift its trade, subsidy and intellectual property practices to a more-market driven focus.

Beijing has demanded that the World Trade Organization recognize it as a “market economy” since its WTO accession agreement expired in December 2016, a move that would severely limit Western trade defenses against cheap Chinese goods.

But the United States and European Union are challenging the declaration, arguing that Chinese state subsidies fueling excess industrial capacity, the exclusion of foreign competitors and other practices are signs it is still a non-market economy.

Canadian Sovereignty Questioned

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, seeking to diversify Canada’s export base, held exploratory talks with China on trade in 2016, but a launch of formal negotiations has failed to materialize.

Tracey Ramsey, a legislator for Canada’s left-leaning New Democrats, said in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the clause was “astonishing” and a “severe restriction on Canadian independence.”

“Part of Canada’s concessions in this deal was to include language that holds Canada hostage to the Americans if we decide to trade with another country,” Ramsey said. “Why did the Liberal (Party) give the go-ahead for the U.S. to pull us into their trade wars?”

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau downplayed the provision, arguing it was not significantly different from NAFTA’s clause that allows any member to leave the pact in six months’ time for any reason.

“It is largely the same. It recognizes though that the non-market economy is of significant importance as we move forward. But I don’t think it’s going to make a material difference in our activities,” Morneau told a business audience.

Mexico’s business community sided with the Trump administration in endorsing the pact.

“We are associating ourselves with countries that promote market freedom and that promote free trade in the world, free trade under equal circumstances,” said Juan Pablo Castañon, head of the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), which represented Mexico’s private sector during the NAFTA trade talks.
…

Mexico and Canada on Tuesday urged their governments to resolve a tariff dispute with the United States before signing a new trilateral trade deal that was unveiled this week.

In late May, the Trump administration announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports, prompting quick retaliation from top trading partners including Canada and Mexico.

Late on Sunday, the United States and Canada reached a deal to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), complementing an accord the Trump administration brokered with Mexico, the third member of NAFTA, in late August.

Mexican steel producers association Canacero welcomed the new trade pact, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), but said it viewed “with concern” the ongoing steel dispute and the “serious situation” it created for the industry.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs would remain in place for Canada and Mexico until they “can do something different like quotas, perhaps.”

In a statement, Canacero said it supported efforts to find a solution to the impasse before the leaders of Mexico, the United States and Canada signed USMCA, which officials say could happen at a G20 summit at the end of November.

If no solution can be found, Mexico should put tariffs on U.S. steel to level the playing field, Canacero said.

Mexico has already slapped tariffs on U.S. pork, bourbon, motor boats and other products. Canada has levied tariffs on a range of U.S. imports, including steel and aluminum.

Joseph Galimberti, president of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, said he expected Canada’s government to continue to support the industry after the USMCA breakthrough.

“There is clearly an opportunity to constructively engage the United States between the achievement of a deal in principle and the ratification or signature of that deal,” he said.

Canada is the top exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States. The United Steelworkers of Canada adopted a less conciliatory tone after the new trade deal was announced, calling it a “sell-out” for Canadian workers.

Mexican officials have said they hope the steel and aluminum dispute can be resolved before USMCA is signed.

Since the tariff row broke out, Mexican steel exports to the United States had fallen 30 percent on average, Canacero said.
…

Palu, the Indonesian city devastated by an earthquake, tsunamis and mudslides, has strived to transform itself into a major trading hub, but the city’s buildings and other infrastructure were no match for the triple whammy that has left more than 1,200 people dead. 

The disasters that struck late Friday left the city’s port in ruins, its lone gantry crane atilt in the water. Its airport terminal was a sea of shattered glass and broken ceiling panels. A seven-story, 4-year-old hotel lay flat on its side. Its biggest bridge disintegrated, its picturesque yellow arches mangled in the mud. 

Ringed by coconut, coffee and cocoa farms, over the past two decades Palu has acquired modern shopping malls, hotels and other amenities to suit its ambitions. Poverty has fallen from nearly a third of its 380,000 residents to under one in 10, local officials say. 

A national blueprint calls for developing Palu as part of the “Sulawesi Economic Corridors” — a plan to attract investment and build up trade and commerce in a region that has remained somewhat isolated since the days of the ancient spice trade.  

Given how seismically active the area is — the Palu-Koro fault runs right through the city — it’s been a race against the odds. Historical records show the area has been hit by tsunamis — triggered by powerfully destructive earthquakes — at least seven times in the past two centuries. 

It’s unclear what standards were required, or enforced, in the construction of Palu’s modern buildings.

It’s an issue for all of Indonesia, an archipelago that sits square on the Pacific Ring of Fire. 

Teddy Boen, an expert on earthquake-resistant engineering who has consulted with foreign governments and international organizations, has been researching the problem for a half-century.

“From 50 years ago until today, there is similar damage. Somebody is not doing their job,” he said in a phone interview. “The codes are complete. The manuals are complete. The political will is not there.” 

The collapse of a mezzanine floor inside the Jakarta Stock Exchange in January that injured dozens of people underscores the extent of the problem, even in Indonesia’s capital.

After a tsunami in 2004 killed 230,000 people in Indonesia and elsewhere across Asia, it became apparent that in many communities, sturdy mosques and other strong buildings dating back to colonial times were the only structures still standing while newer structures often crumbled. 

In Palu, the Arkam Babu Rahman “floating mosque” on the city’s waterfront was pushed off-kilter by Friday’s tsunamis, while its worship halls remained intact. But a bigger, 20-year-old structure topped by a heavy dome was gutted as the debris-laden water swept through. 

Few of the buildings in Palu’s suburbs of Petobo, Biromaru and Bala Roa could withstand the sideways mudslide that engulfed those communities in expanses of oozing quicksand.  

Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the soil there had liquefied and that authorities believed hundreds of people may have been buried in the mud. In Bala Roa, the ground violently heaved up and then sank in places, trapping many people under their wrecked homes. 

Traditional homes with thatched or tin roofs cannot withstand tsunamis or storm surges from typhoons but pose much less of a risk of severe damage even if they do collapse in an earthquake. Many homes built recently are hybrids, combining traditional styles with unreinforced masonry and tile roofs too heavy for the structures when they are shaken by quakes. 

The rush to rebuild after a disaster involves cutting corners, rather than fortifying buildings to prevent future calamities.

“Now, they say, build back better, build back better, but they do the same thing again,” Boen said. “The earthquake comes, they made the same mistakes and people get killed again.”
…

Експорт товарів із України за перші сім місяців 2018 року зріс на 12,7% порівняно з аналогічним періодом минулого року, повідомило Міністерство економічного розвитку і торгівлі України.

За підрахунками міністерства, обсяг експорту склав 26,9 мільярда доларів. Найбільше Україна експортувала продукцію аграрно-промислового комплексу й харчової промисловості (9,8 мільярда доларів, що на 0,6% менше порівняно з 2017-м роком).

Найбільший ріст експорту продемонстрував металургійний комплекс (30,1%, 7,2 мільярда доларів).

Згідно з повідомленням, найбільшим торговельним партнером України залишається Європейський союз. Експорт українських товарів до ЄС зріс на 18,7% і становив близько 11,3 мільярда доларів. Окрім Євросоюзу, Україна найбільше продавала своїх товарів за перші до Росії (8% від загального обсягу експорту), Туреччини (5,8%), Індії (5,2%), Китаю (4,2%) та Єгипту (4,1%).
…

As trade tensions between Beijing and Washington worsen, a debate is intensifying in China over the role private and state-owned enterprises play in the economy. The debate has even stoked fears that the communist-led government is preparing to nationalize private industries, analysts say.

Under Xi Jinping’s leadership and especially over the past year, after he scrapped rules on term limits for the president, allowing him to potentially carry on as China’s ruler for life, the communist party has begun re-asserting its dominance over all segments of society, including business.

Party on top

In June, the party announced it was mandating all listed companies set up party organizations for their employees. Over the past two weeks, as tensions with Washington have ratcheted up, there have been articles posted online suggesting it was time private enterprises step aside and that China should move toward a large scale centralized private-public mixed economy.

“The private economy has accomplished its mission to help the public economy develop and it should gradually step aside,” said Wu Xiaoping, a veteran financier, in one article.

Despite a backlash, even from state media, the fact that the article was not immediately taken down was a sign the government was testing the waters to see the public’s response, said said Frank Xie, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina Aiken.

“In China when there is something that the government doesn’t want people to hear, it won’t survive, as soon as it surfaces on the internet, on Wechat, it will be deleted and removed, right away” Xie said. “And yet this thing, the call by this guy stayed there for so long.”

A more recent comment from the Qiu Xiaoping, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Personnel and Social Affairs, was also met with a backlash. In recent remarks, Qiu said private enterprises need to be more democratic, allow for more participation in management and help strengthen the leadership of the party.

Private assurances

Chinese officials have given assurances that private companies would be looked after. During a visit to the northeastern province of Liaoning late last week, President Xi urged private companies to be confident.

He also pledged that the party would unswervingly develop, support, guide and protect the private sector. Whether Xi’s remarks meant getting more involved in private companies’ affairs was unclear.

Clearly, the private sector is deeply concerned.

“Against the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war there are concerns that the Chinese economy will contract and that Chinese leaders may sacrifice private enterprises to prop up state-owned enterprises,” said Lu Suiqi, an associate professor of economics at Peking University.

Lu said that despite assurances, the commanding role that state-owned enterprises enjoy is unlikely to change.

State-owned enterprises have long enjoyed a monopoly over key lucrative industries in China. They’ve also long been a hotbed for corruption. And yet, despite their access to 70 percent of the country’s financial resources, they account for around 30 percent of the economy.

Private enterprises receive less access to capital and yet account for 80 percent of employment as well as contributing to 60 percent of the economic growth.

But while many in and outside of China see SOEs dragging China’s economy down and as an obstacle to free trade — state owned enterprises are a key part of Washington’s trade complaints — the party is likely to continue its effort to expand the size of state-controlled enterprises.

“Whether it is nationalizing private enterprises or making state owned enterprises bigger, it is all about expanding control,” said Darson Chiu, a research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. From China’s point of view, “expanding the size of SOEs, will make it easier to promote a planned economy and manage risks.”

That is the opposite of what President Donald Trump is asking China to do and if Beijing does press forward, the two will be on a collision course, said Frank Xie.

“It’s only going to encourage Trump to move to the next step, with another $267 billion in tariffs,” Xie said.

Survive

But serious risks are what China is facing, and it is not just the trade war. China’s stock market is at its lowest point in nearly four years and industrial growth has slowed for four consecutive months.

The Chinese economy is facing a range of problems, including massive government and corporate debt combined with tightening liquidity.

Just last week, the head of China’s biggest real estate firm Vanke created a stir online when he announced at a regular meeting that the company’s main goal is to “survive.”

Speaking at an internal meeting, where red banners with the same words “survive” were hung, Vanke Chairman Yu Liang said China is currently at a turning point and no industry will be spared the from negative economic impacts.
…

Amazon is boosting its minimum wage for all U.S. workers to $15 per hour starting next month.

The company said Tuesday that the wage hike will benefit more than 350,000 workers, which includes full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal positions. It includes Whole Foods employees. Amazon’s hourly operations and customer service employees, some who already make $15 per hour, will also see a wage increase, the Seattle-based company said.

Amazon has more than 575,000 employees globally.

Pay for workers at Amazon can vary by location. Its starting pay is $10 an hour at a warehouse in Austin, Texas, and $13.50 an hour in Robbinsville, New Jersey. The median pay for an Amazon employee last year was $28,446, according to government filings, which includes full-time, part-time and temporary workers.

Amazon said its public policy team will start pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

“We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country,” Jay Carney, senior vice president of Amazon global corporate affairs, said in a statement.

 
…

Ліквідація Національної акціонерної компанії «Нафтогаз України» неможлива, доки російська державна компанія «Газпром» не виплатить Україні 2,6 мільярда доларів боргу за рішенням Стокгольмського арбітражу, заявив на одному з телеканалів прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман.

«Ми ще жодного долара від Росії не отримали. Зараз йде юридична робота щодо арешту активів… Абсолютно очевидно, що ліквідація ліквідує і сам борг, тому цього не можна робити за жодних умов, якщо не стоїть мета пробачити росіянам 2,6 мільярда доларів», – сказав Гройсман.

На цю ж тему: Тимошенко пообіцяла після виборів ліквідувати «Нафтогаз»

Минулого тижня лідер партії «Батьківщина» Юлія Тимошенко пообіцяла ліквідувати «Нафтогаз» у разі своєї перемоги на президентських виборах. Пізніше вона уточнила, що «Нафтогаз» буде ліквідовано лише після виплати Росією боргу за рішенням Стокгольмського арбітражу.

«Нафтогаз» як найбільший імпортер купує останніми роками природний газ у країнах Європи; при цьому фізично може йтися і про газ із Росії, закуплений європейськими країнами. Попередніми роками ціна цього газу була нижчою, ніж потенційна ціна газу за російсько-українськими газовими контрактами, які уклала Тимошенко, на той час прем’єр-міністр України, 2009 року. Останніми місяцями, з урахуванням рішень Стокгольмського арбітражу, газ із Росії був би для України дешевшим, ніж із Європи, але російський газовий монополіст «Газпром» відмовляється виконувати рішення арбітражу й поновити продаж газу Україні.

Саме компанії «Нафтогаз України», відповідно до згаданих рішень Стокгольмського арбітражу, російський «Газпром» винен близько 2,6 мільярда доларів плюс відсотки за цим боргом.

Юлію Тимошенко вважають одним із провідних претендентів на майбутніх президентських виборах. Останнім часом вона виступає з різкою критикою на адресу чинного президента Петра Порошенка – на думку багатьох оглядачів, саме вони будуть головними суперниками на виборах. Тимошенко заперечує звинувачення в тому, що вона є, по суті, проросійським політиком.
…

Від 2 жовтня в Україні дорожчають алкогольні напої – від 5% до 20% у зв’язку з підвищенням урядом мінімальних оптово-відпускних і роздрібних цін.

Найдешевша півлітрова пляшка горілки коштуватиме 89 гривень 40 копійок. Сухе вино – від 42 гривень за пляшку. Коньяк, залежно від кількості зірок, зросте в ціні на 30-50 гривень, на 12% – віскі, джин і ром.

Другий етап підвищення цін на алкоголь відбудеться з 1 січня 2019 року, коли на 9% зростуть акцизи.

Кабінет міністрів України вирішив підвищити мінімальні оптово-відпускні та роздрібні ціни на алкогольні напої 5 вересня, ухваливши на своєму засіданні відповідну постанову.

Згідно з пояснювальною запискою до документа, попереднього разу мінімальні ціни на алкогольну продукцію були затверджені у вересні 2017 року.

Зазначається, що підвищення мінімальних цін на алкоголь пов’язане зі зростанням цін на складові, компоненти виробництва, зокрема, цін на спирт, тару, комплектуючі.

Минулого року необхідність підвищення цін на алкоголь в уряді обґрунтовували зростанням ставок акцизного збору та прагненням захистити споживачів від контрафактної та сурогатної продукції.
…

Зранку 2 жовтня ціни на нафту продовжують зростати і станом на 9:10 за Києвом становлять 85 доларів 6 центів за барель еталонного сорту Brent. Аналітики вважають запровадження з листопада санкцій США проти Ірану головною причиною того, що від серпня ціна зросла на 20%.

Серед фахівців усе більше тих, хто вважає, що котирування можуть сягнути і 100 доларів за барель, так, зокрема, вважають аналітики банку HSBC, пише 2 жовтня інформагенція Reuters.

Минулого тижня міністр енергетики США Рік Перрі заявив, що його країна не розглядає постачання нафти зі стратегічних резервів, щоб запобігти зростанню цін у листопаді, коли наберуть чинності санкції проти нафтового сектору Ірану.

Аналітики припускали, що адміністрація президента Дональда Трампа могла б використати резерви, щоб приборкати зростання цін на сировину перед призначеними на 6 листопада виборами до Конгресу, під час яких владна партія намагатиметься утримати контроль над обома палатами американського парламенту.
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Auto parts output in Mexico will jump about 10 percent over the next three years as automakers scramble to adhere to stricter content rules laid out in a new North American trade deal, a top industry executive said on Monday.

The United States and Canada reached an agreement on Sunday after weeks of tense bilateral talks to update the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexico and the United States first brokered a bilateral accord in late August.

The new trilateral deal, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), will raise the minimum North American content threshold for cars needed to qualify for duty-free market access to 75 percent from 62.5 percent.

“Carmakers, especially Asian and European carmakers, will have to invest more in tools, in North American components to comply with the new content rules,” Oscar Albin, head of Mexican auto parts industry association INA, said in an interview.

The so-called rules of origin dictate what percentage of a car needs to be built in North America in order to avoid tariffs in the trade deal.

General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Germany’s Volkswagen AG, Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. all build autos in Mexico.

“The American carmakers already have a very well-established footprint in the United States and Mexico” and will more easily adhere to the stricter content rules, Albin told Reuters.

The new rules should boost auto parts production from about $90 billion annually at present to “around $100 billion” over the next three years, he added. In the course of that period, the sector should add about 80,000 new jobs, Albin said.

Stocks in auto parts firms were lifted by the deal.

Shares in Nemak, the auto parts unit of Mexican industrial conglomerate Alfa, closed up by more than 8.5 percent. Stock in Mexican auto parts maker Rassini rose by more than 4.5 percent.

“The United States and Canada will also grow since the three countries will benefit (from the new agreement),” said Albin.

The deal set a five-year transition period once the accord enters into force to meet the new content requirements.

That looked like a tough deadline, Albin said.

“I think (time) is a bit short because any adjustment or change of the supply (chain) for cars already being assembled is practically impossible,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump had put creating more manufacturing jobs at the heart of his desire to rework NAFTA.
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