US and China strike 'phase one' deal, agreement possiblein 2020

The US and China reached a dealtowards the end of 2019 to de-escalate their trade war after 20 months ofnegotiations and tariff escalations that hampered global growth. China will buy$40 billion of US agricultural goods annually, tighten protection for USintellectual property and ban the forced transfer of technology from UScompanies. China agreed against devaluation of its currency and put in measuresto improve access to its market for US financial services groups…

US growth expected to slow to 1.8% in 2020

US gross domestic product (GDP)growth will reduce from 2.9 per cent in 2018 to 2.3 per cent in 2019 and 1.8per cent in 2020, according to a survey from the National Association forBusiness Economics (NABE) released recently. A panel of 53 forecasters in theNABE Outlook Survey believes the US economy will continue to expand in 2020,but GDP growth will slow. US economic growth expanded at an annual rate of 2.1per cent in the third quarter in 2019, slightly up from the 2 per centin the second quarter and marked a deceleration from the 3.1 per cent in thefirst quarter.

Growing trend of 'responsible retail'

Most US consumers fond of physical stores

For every US retailer closing stores, 5 are opening

US ends negotiations on $100 bn deal with Turkey

US cotton industry sets sustainability goals

US may decide to boost tariffs on EU goods

Retail imports surged in Nov ahead of Dec tariffs

Global e-commerce boosts US

The 889 US-based retailers inInternet Retailer's rankings of North America's Top 1,000 retailers by websales in 2018 sold $147.3 billion to consumers in other countries. While Amazonaccounted for 44 per cent of the sales, other US retailers sold $82.5 billioninternationally via e-commerce, and $64.9 billion when excluding sales toCanada and Mexico. But, only half of US-based Top 1,000 retailers shipped toconsumers outside of North America, Internet Retailer data showed. US brandsand merchants sell in three ways: by operating country-specific sites outsideof the US, selling via online marketplaces, and shipping orders to consumerswho order from US retail websites.

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