Tag: U.S. businesses

Businesses, farmers brace for new phase in Trump trade war

The Hill logoU.S. businesses and farmers are begging President Trump for relief from his escalating trade war with China as tensions between the world’s two largest economies reach new heights.

Trump’s plan to impose a 10 percent tariff on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods, and China’s decision to suspend U.S. agricultural imports, sets the stage for potential economic and political blowback for the president.

Advocates for businesses and industries caught in the crosshairs of the yearlong U.S.-China trade war are bracing for damage, warning Trump’s new tariffs could force them to hike prices or lay off workers during this year’s holiday shopping season.

View the complete August 8 article by Sylvan Lane and Alex Gangitano on The Hill website here.

Companies Say Trump Is Hurting Business by Limiting Legal Immigration

The following article by Nelson D. Schwartz and Steve Lohr was posted on the New York Times website September 2, 2018:

Rob Hurst, manager of Edgartown Commons on Martha’s Vineyard, had to scrub bathrooms this summer because 5 Jamaican workers who’d long worked at the hotel couldn’t get visas. Credit: Elizabeth Cecil, The New York Times

The Trump administration is using the country’s vast and nearly opaque immigration bureaucracy to constrict the flow of foreign workers into the United States by throwing up new roadblocks to limit legal arrivals.

The government is denying more work visas, asking applicants to provide additional information and delaying approvals more frequently than just a year earlier. Hospitals, hotels, technology companies and other businesses say they are now struggling to fill jobs with the foreign workers they need.

With foreign hires missing, the employees who remain are being forced to pick up the slack. Seasonal industries like hotels and landscaping are having to turn down customers or provide fewer services. Corporate executives worry about the long-term impact of losing talented engineers and programmers to countries like Canada that are laying out the welcome mat for skilled foreigners.

View the complete article here.