Tag Archives: USA

Regjeringen: Diskuterte handelskonflikt og biltoll med Ross

Næringsminister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen møtte den amerikanske handelsministeren, Wilbur Ross, torsdag 14. november. De diskuterte den pågående handelskrigen, og biltollen som amerikanske myndigheter har varslet at de vurderer å innføre.

– Mitt budskap i møtet med Ross var at norske bedrifter er med å skape jobber og verdier på begge sider av Atlanteren gjennom aktivitet, etableringer og investeringer i USA. For at dette samarbeidet skal vokse, er vi avhengig av god markedsadgang og rettferdige konkurransevilkår for norske bedrifter. Mitt inntrykk er at USA setter pris på Norge som handelspartner og alliert, sier Røe Isaksen.

Blant temaene som kom opp i møtet var en mulig toll på biler og bildeler på 20-25 prosent, som amerikanske myndigheter tidligere har sagt at de vurderer.

Les hele saken HER.

Regjeringen: Første høring i Norges WTO-sak mot USA om stål og aluminium

Et tvisteløsningspanel i WTO starter i dag første høringsmøte i stål- og aluminiumssaken mot USA.

Norge innledet i juni 2018 tvistesak mot USA om tilleggstoll på visse stål- og aluminiumsprodukter i Verdens handelsorganisasjon (WTO). Vi mener tilleggstollen er i strid med WTO-regelverket.

WTOs tvisteløsningsorgan opprettet i november 2018 et panel som skal vurdere saken, og i dag starter panelets første høringsmøte med partene. Det er satt av to dager til høringen. I tillegg til Norge, har seks andre medklagere i disse dager høring i sin tvistesak mot USA om de samme tiltakene. Norges høring er den tredje i rekken av disse syv tvistesakene.

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WEF: USA 2nd, Norway 17th in the Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 2019 Rankings

This year’s Global Competitiveness Report is the latest edition of the series launched in 1979 that provides an annual assessment of the drivers of productivity and long-term economic growth. With a score of 84.8 (+1.3), Singapore is the world’s most competitive economy in 2019, overtaking the United States, which falls to second place. Hong Kong SAR (3rd), Netherlands (4th) and Switzerland (5th) round up the top five.

Building on four decades of experience in benchmarking competitiveness, the index maps the competitiveness landscape of 141 economies through 103 indicators organized into 12 themes. Each indicator, using a scale from 0 to 100, shows how close an economy is to the ideal state or “frontier” of competitiveness. The pillars, which cover broad socio-economic elements are: institutions, infrastructure, ICT adoption, macroeconomic stability, health, skills, product market, labour market, the financial system, market size, business dynamism and innovation capability.

Find out more and download the entire report HERE.

US News: Norway Named World’s Top Performing Country in Clean Energy Innovation

The top performing country in the world in the field of contributions to global clean energy innovation is Norway, followed closely by Finland and Japan, according to a recent report published by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The United States ranked No. 4 in the ITIF report. Other countries in the top 10: FranceCanadaGermanySouth Korea, the United Kingdom and Denmark.

Read entire article HERE.

Bloomberg: Norway’s Fund Wants to Add Up to $100 Billion in U.S. Stocks

Norway’s wealth fund proposed overhauling its global holdings, calling for a shift away from Europe in a move that would allow it to boost its U.S. stock investments by as much $100 billion and take a larger chunk of the biggest technology companies.

In a letter sent to the Finance Ministry released on Tuesday, the $1 trillion fund recommended that its investments “be adjusted further towards float-adjusted market weights by increasing the weight of equities in North America and reducing the weight of equities in European developed markets.”

The response comes after the ministry last year asked the fund to review the geographical weighting that had been in place since 2012. The ministry on Tuesday said it would present its response in the “spring of 2020” and that any changes would be implemented gradually.

Read entire article HERE.

E24: DNB Markets tror USA øker Kina-toll til 25 prosent

Amerikanske myndigheter kunngjorde tirsdag at en del importvarer verdt rundt 160 milliarder dollar fra Kina blir unntatt ytterligere toll frem til 15. desember.

DNB Markets venter imidlertid fortsatt en videre eskalering av tollen.

Valutastrateg Magne Østnor påpeker i en oppdatering at utsettelsen er et tydelig tegn på at Donald Trump er under press, selv om han har hevdet at økte tollsatser kun rammer kineserne.

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E24: Equinors milliardkjøp i Mexicogolfen er gjennomført

Equinor opplyste i mai at de har utøvd en fortrinnsrett til å kjøpe ytterligere 22,45 prosent av oljefeltet Caesar Tonga i den amerikanske delen av Mexicogolfen.

Andelen er kjøpt av Shell for 965 millioner dollar (8,7 milliarder kroner med dagens kurs).

Nå melder Equinor at avtalen har blitt godkjent av det amerikanske myndighetsorganet Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, og at kjøpet er gjennomført.

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World Oil: ExxonMobil to invest up to $100 million on lower-emissions R&D with U.S. national labs

IRVING — ExxonMobil has said it will invest up to $100 million over 10 years to research and develop advanced lower-emissions technologies with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. 

The agreement – among the largest between the department’s laboratories and the private sector – will support research and collaboration into ways to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors.

“We’re focusing on advancing fundamental science to develop breakthrough solutions that can make a difference on a global basis in emissions reduction,” said Darren W. Woods, chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil. “We’re doing that with our in-house scientists and with corporate partners, through relationships with 80 universities and now with the intellectual and computing capacity of the renowned national labs.”

Gallup 2019 Report: Rating World Leaders

Do you approve or disapprove of the job performance of the leadership of the United States? Discover how the world views US leadership versus the leadership of Germany, China and Russia.

Results are based on face-to-face and telephone interviews with approximately 1,000 adults, aged 15 and older, in each country or area. Between March and December 2018, residents were asked to rate US, German and Russian leadership in 133 countries or areas, and residents in 134 countries or areas were asked to rate the leadership of China.

Download the report HERE.

World Oil: DNV GL extends the capability of failure investigations with new Houston facility

HOUSTON — DNV GL has opened a failure analysis facility in Houston, Texas which will provide failure analyses that support the industry in conducting effective and efficient root cause analyses. The aim is to prevent and learn from failures and continue to improve safety, reliability and up-time.

The facility will carry out the crucial initial steps of a failure investigation, which could include visual inspection, non-destructive testing [NDT], disassembly, cutting of components, etc. The facility will interact seamlessly with DNV GL’s large and very experienced team of experts in Columbus, OH who are able to carry out further analyses, which may include metallography, fractography (scanning electron microscopy), mechanical testing, chemical analysis, etc. as well as draw on experience from several 1,000 failure analyses carried out in DNV GL’s network of failure labs in the US, Norway, Singapore, The Netherlands and the UK.

Read entire article HERE.