Japan’s Fast Retailing Co. plans to dramatically increase its number of Uniqlo stores in China and to expand into India and Brazil. Uniqlo aims to add over 900 stores in China during the next decade. Unlike other fast-fashion retailers such as Zara and H & M which focus on selling trendy items, Uniqlo focuses on… Read more »

The World Trade Organization’s dispute-settlement panel ruled in favor of the United States in a trade dispute involving tire imports from China. In September 2009, President Barack Obama imposed tariffs of up to 35% on Chinese tires using a special safeguard mechanism. A special safeguard mechanism is a contingency restriction negotiated as part of a… Read more »

Iceland has reached a tentative agreement with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to recover the losses the two nations incurred as a result of the collapse of Iceland’s banking sector in 2008. Iceland’s three largest banks were nationalized by the Icelandic government as a result of their deteriorating liquidity caused by the global capital… Read more »

The United States and South Korea reached a compromise agreement for the terms of a free-trade agreement originally negotiated back in 2007. President Barack Obama had hoped to reach a compromise agreement in time for the G-20 summit meetings in South Korea last month but the two sides were unable to strike a deal until… Read more »

At an investor conference earlier this week, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz stated that Starbucks will triple the number of locations it has in China. Starbucks currently has 406 stores in China and plans to have more than 1,500 by 2015. This expansion would make China the firm’s largest market outside of the United States. In… Read more »

The finance ministers from the euro-zone countries met in Brussels today in an emergency meeting to approve the proposed financial bailout for Ireland and to discuss plans for dealing with future euro-zone financing crises. A joint loan from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been approved by the finance ministers… Read more »

After days of resisting rising international pressure, on Sunday Ireland officially applied for an IMF and EU bailout worth tens of billions of euros. The terms of the package are still being negotiated, but the bailout package would be used to address the nation’s ailing banking industry and rising public debt. Ireland had been hesitant… Read more »

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, reported its third-quarter profit rose 9.3 percent from a year earlier to $3.44 billion for the quarter ending October 31. Despite weak U.S. sales, the company raised its full-year profit outlook as the retailer expects continued gains from its robust international sales. U.S. domestic namesake stores saw same-store sales fall… Read more »

The Group of 20 industrial and developing nations met this week in Seoul, South Korea for the G-20 annual summit. The G-20’s efforts to coordinate economic and trade policies were complicated by the fact that some members are running large current account deficits, while others are running sizeable current account surpluses. Some nations are worried… Read more »

The United States imposes export controls on dual-use technology items. The term dual-use technology refers to items which can be used for both military and commercial applications. Dual-use technology is a concern for items which could be used for peaceful or for military purposes, such as building nuclear or biochemical weapons. The United States bars… Read more »