Tag: global

Categories
Politics

World Tax Deal Reached Amongst G7 Nations

Global Tax Deal Reached Among G7 Nations

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire praised the deal as ambitious and said his country would continue to push for a higher tax rate.

“This agreement will allow the digital giants to be taxed and, for the first time, to introduce a minimum tax rate for companies to combat tax dumping,” said Le Maire on Saturday. “In the course of the talks, France will seek the highest possible minimum tax rate in order to end the race to the bottom in certain countries.”

There are huge sums of money at stake. A report from the EU Tax Observatory earlier this month estimates that a minimum tax of 15 percent would bring in an additional 48 billion euros, or $ 58 billion per year. The Biden administration forecast in its budget last month that the new global minimum tax system could help bring the United States $ 500 billion in tax revenue over a decade.

The deal signaled a return to Comity in the Club of Wealthy Countries, which was shattered in recent years when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on American allies but has regained a foothold since Mr Biden took office. Last year, then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin broke off talks after negotiations on digital taxes stalled and President Donald J. Trump prepared retaliatory tariffs against countries that wanted to tax American tech companies.

Negotiations picked up speed again this year after Ms. Yellen made new proposals to successfully break the deadlock. She proposed a global minimum tax rate of at least 15 percent and suggested replacing European taxes on digital services with a new levy on the 100 largest companies in the world based on where a company sells its goods or services, independently whether there is also a physical presence in these countries.

Mr Le Maire said Mrs Yellen’s commitment was vital.

“Let’s be clear, we have someone who is easy to discuss, easy to compromise with, and easy to bridge some gaps between different nations,” he said.

Despite the breakthrough, such a far-reaching deal will not be easy to conclude, and the risk of trade war remains if countries keep their taxes on digital services. The Biden government said this month that it is ready to impose tariffs on approximately $ 2.1 billion worth of goods from Austria, the UK, India, Italy, Spain and Turkey in retaliation for its digital taxes. However, it keeps them on hold as the tax negotiations evolve.

Categories
Business

International Shortages Throughout Coronavirus Reveal Failings of Simply in Time Manufacturing

Global Shortages During Coronavirus Reveal Failings of Just in Time Manufacturing

In der Geschichte, wie die moderne Welt konstruiert wurde, sticht Toyota als Vordenker eines monumentalen Fortschritts in der industriellen Effizienz hervor. Der japanische Autohersteller war Vorreiter der sogenannten Just-In-Time-Fertigung, bei der Teile punktgenau an die Fabriken geliefert werden und so die Bevorratung minimiert wird.

Im letzten halben Jahrhundert hat dieser Ansatz die globale Wirtschaft in Branchen weit über die Automobilindustrie hinaus fasziniert. Von der Mode über die Lebensmittelverarbeitung bis hin zur Pharmaindustrie setzen Unternehmen auf Just In Time, um wendig zu bleiben und sich an sich ändernde Marktanforderungen anzupassen und gleichzeitig Kosten zu senken.

Die turbulenten Ereignisse des vergangenen Jahres haben jedoch die Vorzüge des Abbaus von Lagerbeständen in Frage gestellt und gleichzeitig die Besorgnis neu belebt, dass einige Branchen zu weit gegangen sind und sie anfällig für Störungen machen. Da die Pandemie den Fabrikbetrieb behindert und Chaos im weltweiten Versand gesät hat, wurden viele Volkswirtschaften auf der ganzen Welt von der Knappheit einer breiten Palette von Waren heimgesucht – von Elektronik über Bauholz bis hin zu Kleidung.

In einer Zeit außergewöhnlicher Umbrüche in der Weltwirtschaft kommt Just In Time zu spät.

„Es ist eine Art Amoklauf in der Lieferkette“, sagt Willy C. Shih, ein internationaler Handelsexperte an der Harvard Business School. „In einem Rennen um die niedrigsten Kosten habe ich mein Risiko konzentriert. Wir sind am logischen Abschluss von all dem.“

Die prominenteste Manifestation eines zu starken Vertrauens auf Just In Time findet sich in genau der Branche, die es erfunden hat: Autohersteller wurden durch einen Mangel an Computerchips gelähmt – lebenswichtige Autokomponenten, die hauptsächlich in Asien hergestellt werden. Ohne genügend Chips zur Hand mussten Autofabriken von Indien über die USA bis Brasilien die Fließbänder stilllegen.

Aber die Breite und das Fortbestehen der Knappheit zeigen, inwieweit die Just-in-Time-Idee das kommerzielle Leben dominiert. Dies erklärt, warum Nike und andere Bekleidungsmarken Schwierigkeiten haben, Einzelhandelsgeschäfte mit ihren Waren zu führen. Dies ist einer der Gründe, warum Bauunternehmen Schwierigkeiten beim Kauf von Farben und Dichtstoffen haben. Es trug wesentlich zu dem tragischen Mangel an persönlicher Schutzausrüstung zu Beginn der Pandemie bei, der das medizinische Personal an vorderster Front ohne angemessene Ausrüstung zurückließ.

Just In Time ist nicht weniger als eine Revolution in der Geschäftswelt. Indem sie ihre Lagerbestände gering halten, konnten große Einzelhändler mehr Platz für die Präsentation eines breiteren Warenangebots nutzen. Just In Time hat es Herstellern ermöglicht, ihre Waren individuell zu gestalten. Und die schlanke Produktion hat die Kosten erheblich gesenkt und es Unternehmen ermöglicht, schnell auf neue Produkte umzustellen.

Diese Tugenden haben einen Mehrwert für Unternehmen geschaffen, Innovationen vorangetrieben und den Handel gefördert, so dass Just In Time auch nach Abklingen der aktuellen Krise seine Kraft behält. Der Ansatz hat auch die Aktionäre bereichert, indem er Einsparungen erzielt, die Unternehmen in Form von Dividenden und Aktienrückkäufen ausgeschüttet haben.

Dennoch wirft die Knappheit die Frage auf, ob einige Unternehmen zu aggressiv bei der Erzielung von Einsparungen durch den Abbau von Lagerbeständen vorgegangen sind, wodurch sie auf unvermeidlich auftretende Probleme nicht vorbereitet sind.

„Es sind die Investitionen, die sie nicht tätigen“, sagte William Lazonick, Ökonom an der University of Massachusetts.

Intel, der amerikanische Chiphersteller, hat Pläne skizziert, 20 Milliarden US-Dollar für die Errichtung neuer Fabriken in Arizona auszugeben. Aber das sind weniger als die 26 Milliarden US-Dollar, die Intel 2018 und 2019 für Aktienrückkäufe ausgegeben hat – Geld, das das Unternehmen hätte verwenden können, um die Kapazität zu erweitern, sagte Lazonick.

Einige Experten gehen davon aus, dass die Krise die Arbeitsweise von Unternehmen verändern wird, was einige dazu veranlasst, mehr Lagerbestände zu lagern und Beziehungen zu zusätzlichen Lieferanten aufzubauen, um sich gegen Probleme abzusichern. Andere wiederum sind zweifelhaft und gehen davon aus, dass – wie nach vergangenen Krisen – das Streben nach Kosteneinsparungen wieder andere Erwägungen übertrumpfen wird.

Die Knappheit in der Weltwirtschaft ist auf Faktoren zurückzuführen, die über die mageren Lagerbestände hinausgehen. Die Ausbreitung von Covid-19 hat Hafenarbeiter und LKW-Fahrer ins Abseits gedrängt und das Entladen und Verteilen von Waren, die in Fabriken in Asien hergestellt werden und per Schiff nach Nordamerika und Europa gelangen, behindert.

Die Pandemie hat den Sägewerksbetrieb verlangsamt und zu einem Holzmangel geführt, der den Hausbau in den Vereinigten Staaten behindert hat.

Winterstürme, die petrochemische Anlagen im Golf von Mexiko lahmlegen, haben dazu geführt, dass Schlüsselprodukte knapp werden. Andrew Romano, der den Vertrieb bei einem Chemieunternehmen außerhalb von Philadelphia leitet, hat sich daran gewöhnt, seinen Kunden zu sagen, dass sie auf ihre Bestellungen warten müssen.

“Sie haben einen Zusammenfluss von Kräften”, sagte er. “Es kräuselt sich nur durch das Angebot.”

Der steile Anstieg der Nachfrage führte dazu, dass Tiernahrung knapp wurde und Grape-Nuss-Cerealien für eine Weile aus den amerikanischen Regalen verschwanden.

Einige Unternehmen waren solchen Kräften besonders ausgesetzt, da sie bereits zu Beginn der Krise schlank waren.

Und viele Unternehmen haben ihr Engagement für Just In Time mit der Abhängigkeit von Lieferanten in Niedriglohnländern wie China und Indien kombiniert, was jede Unterbrechung des weltweiten Versands zu einem unmittelbaren Problem macht. Das hat den Schaden noch verstärkt, wenn etwas schief geht – etwa als dieses Jahr ein riesiges Schiff im Suezkanal festgefahren ist und den Hauptkanal zwischen Europa und Asien gesperrt hat.

„Die Leute haben diese Art von Lean-Mentalität übernommen und sie dann auf Lieferketten angewendet, in der Annahme, dass sie einen kostengünstigen und zuverlässigen Versand haben würden“, sagte Shih, Handelsexperte der Harvard Business School. “Dann haben Sie einige Schocks für das System.”

Just In Time war selbst eine Anpassung an die Turbulenzen, als Japan mobilisierte, um sich von den Verwüstungen des Zweiten Weltkriegs zu erholen.

Dicht besiedelt und ohne natürliche Ressourcen versuchte Japan, Land zu erhalten und die Verschwendung zu begrenzen. Toyota verzichtete auf Lagerhaltung und choreografierte die Produktion mit Lieferanten, um sicherzustellen, dass die Teile bei Bedarf ankamen.

In den 1980er Jahren emulierten Unternehmen auf der ganzen Welt das Produktionssystem von Toyota. Managementexperten förderten Just In Time, um den Gewinn zu steigern.

Heute im Geschäft

Aktualisiert

1. Juni 2021, 12:59 Uhr ET

„Unternehmen, die erfolgreiche Lean-Programme durchführen, sparen nicht nur Geld im Lagerbetrieb, sondern genießen auch mehr Flexibilität“, erklärte eine McKinsey-Präsentation 2010 für die Pharmaindustrie. Es versprach Einsparungen von bis zu 50 Prozent bei der Lagerhaltung, wenn Kunden seinen „schlanken und gemeinen“ Ansatz für Lieferketten annahmen.

Solche Behauptungen haben sich ausgebreitet. Dennoch sagt einer der Autoren dieser Präsentation, Knut Alicke, ein McKinsey-Partner mit Sitz in Deutschland, jetzt, dass die Unternehmenswelt die Besonnenheit überstieg.

„Wir sind viel zu weit gegangen“, sagte Herr Alicke in einem Interview. „Die Art und Weise, wie Lagerbestände bewertet werden, wird sich nach der Krise ändern.“

Viele Unternehmen taten so, als ob Herstellung und Versand ohne Pannen wären, fügte Herr Alicke hinzu, während sie Schwierigkeiten in ihren Geschäftsplänen nicht berücksichtigten.

„Da drin gibt es keine Art von Störungsrisiko“, sagte er.

Experten sagen, dass Unterlassungen eine logische Reaktion des Managements auf die im Spiel befindlichen Anreize darstellen. Investoren belohnen Unternehmen, die ein Wachstum ihrer Kapitalrendite erzielen. Die Beschränkung von Waren in Lagerhäusern verbessert dieses Verhältnis.

„Soweit Sie die Bestände weiter reduzieren können, sehen Ihre Bücher gut aus“, sagt ManMohan S. Sodhi, Supply-Chain-Experte an der City, University of London Business School.

Von 1981 bis 2000 haben amerikanische Unternehmen laut einer Studie ihre Lagerbestände um durchschnittlich 2 Prozent pro Jahr reduziert. Diese Einsparungen trugen dazu bei, einen weiteren Trend zur Bereicherung der Aktionäre zu finanzieren – das Wachstum von Aktienrückkäufen.

In den zehn Jahren vor der Pandemie gaben amerikanische Unternehmen laut einer Studie der Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich mehr als 6 Billionen US-Dollar für den Kauf eigener Aktien aus und verdreifachten damit ihre Käufe in etwa. Unternehmen in Japan, Großbritannien, Frankreich, Kanada und China erhöhten ihre Rückkäufe um das Vierfache, obwohl ihre Käufe nur einen Bruchteil der amerikanischen Gegenstücke ausmachten.

Durch den Rückkauf von Aktien wird die Anzahl der im Umlauf befindlichen Aktien reduziert und deren Wert erhöht. Aber die Vorteile für Investoren und Führungskräfte, deren Gehaltspakete hohe Zuteilungen von Aktien beinhalten, gingen zu Lasten dessen, was das Unternehmen sonst mit seinem Geld getan hätte – Investitionen in die Kapazitätserweiterung oder die Bevorratung von Teilen.

Diese Kosten wurden während der ersten Welle der Pandemie auffällig, als große Volkswirtschaften, darunter die Vereinigten Staaten, feststellten, dass es ihnen an Kapazitäten für die schnelle Herstellung von Beatmungsgeräten mangelte.

„Wenn Sie ein Beatmungsgerät brauchen, brauchen Sie ein Beatmungsgerät“, sagte Herr Sodhi. „Man kann nicht sagen ‚Nun, mein Aktienkurs ist hoch.‘“

Als die Pandemie begann, kürzten die Autohersteller die Bestellungen für Chips in der Erwartung, dass die Nachfrage nach Autos sinken würde. Als sie merkten, dass sich die Nachfrage belebte, war es zu spät: Der Hochlauf der Computerchip-Produktion dauert Monate.

„Die Auswirkungen auf die Produktion werden schlimmer, bevor sie besser werden“, sagte Jim Farley, der Vorstandsvorsitzende von Ford Motor, das seit langem eine schlanke Fertigung vertritt, in einem Gespräch mit Aktienanalysten am 28. April. Das Unternehmen sagte, dass die Engpässe wahrscheinlich die Hälfte des Jahres entgleisen würden seine Produktion bis Juni.

Der am wenigsten von der Knappheit betroffene Autohersteller ist Toyota. Von Anfang an verließ sich Toyota auf Zulieferer, die sich in der Nähe seines Standorts in Japan befinden, was das Unternehmen weniger anfällig für weit entfernte Ereignisse machte.

In Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, wartet Herr Romano buchstäblich darauf, dass sein Schiff einläuft.

Er ist Vice President of Sales bei Van Horn, Metz & Company, die Chemikalien von Lieferanten auf der ganzen Welt einkauft und sie an Fabriken verkauft, die Farben, Tinte und andere Industrieprodukte herstellen.

In normalen Zeiten hinkt das Unternehmen vielleicht 1 Prozent der Bestellungen seiner Kunden hinterher. An einem Vormittag konnte das Unternehmen ein Zehntel seiner Bestellungen nicht abschließen, weil es auf Lieferungen wartete.

Das Unternehmen konnte sich nicht genug von einem spezialisierten Harz sichern, das es an Hersteller verkauft, die Baumaterialien herstellen. Dem amerikanischen Lieferanten des Harzes fehlte selbst ein Element, das er von einem petrochemischen Werk in China bezieht.

Einer der Stammkunden von Herrn Romano, ein Farbenhersteller, hielt sich mit der Bestellung von Chemikalien zurück, weil er nicht genügend Metalldosen finden konnte, die er für den Versand seines fertigen Produkts verwendet.

„Alles kaskadiert“, sagte Herr Romano. “Es ist nur ein Durcheinander.”

Es war keine Pandemie erforderlich, um die Risiken einer übermäßigen Abhängigkeit von Just In Time in Kombination mit globalen Lieferketten aufzudecken. Experten warnen seit Jahrzehnten vor den Folgen.

1999 erschütterte ein Erdbeben Taiwan und stellte die Herstellung von Computerchips ein. Das Erdbeben und der Tsunami, die Japan im Jahr 2011 erschütterten, schlossen Fabriken und behinderten den Versand, was zu einem Mangel an Autoteilen und Computerchips führte. Überschwemmungen in Thailand im selben Jahr dezimierten die Produktion von Computerfestplatten.

Jede Katastrophe führte zu Diskussionen, dass Unternehmen ihre Lagerbestände stärken und ihre Lieferanten diversifizieren müssten.

Jedes Mal machten multinationale Unternehmen weiter.

Dieselben Berater, die die Vorteile schlanker Lagerbestände gefördert haben, evangelisieren jetzt über die Resilienz der Lieferkette – das Schlagwort der Stunde.

Die einfache Erweiterung von Lagerhäusern kann nicht die Lösung sein, sagte Richard Lebovitz, Präsident von LeanDNA, einem Supply-Chain-Berater mit Sitz in Austin, Texas. Produktlinien werden zunehmend individualisiert.

„Es wird immer schwieriger, vorherzusagen, welche Bestände Sie führen sollten“, sagte er.

Letztendlich werden die Unternehmen wahrscheinlich aus dem einfachen Grund, dass sie Gewinne erzielt haben, ihre Einführung von Lean weiter vorantreiben.

„Die eigentliche Frage lautet: ‚Werden wir aufhören, niedrige Kosten als alleiniges Kriterium für die Beurteilung der Geschäftstätigkeit zu verfolgen?’“, sagte Shih von der Harvard Business School. „Da bin ich skeptisch. Die Verbraucher werden nicht für Widerstandsfähigkeit bezahlen, wenn sie sich nicht in einer Krise befinden.“

Categories
Business

O.E.C.D. Raises International Progress Forecast Sharply, Citing Vaccines

O.E.C.D. Raises Global Growth Forecast Sharply, Citing Vaccines

The global economy is expected to recover from the coronavirus pandemic faster than expected this year, as vaccinations in advanced economies and an enormous fiscal stimulus package in the United States unleash pent-up business activity and job creation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Monday.

But the pace of the recovery still hinges on vaccination programs and the ability of governments to beat back new variants of the virus, raising fresh risks even as economic activity starts to rev back up in most parts of the world, the organization said in its latest economic outlook.

The organization sharply raised its forecast for global growth to 5.8 percent in 2021, up from a 4.2 percent projection in December. It said the pace of expansion would cool to 4.5 percent in 2022 as government support programs unwind.

A government stimulus-led upturn in the United States, where President Biden is betting on a $2 trillion infrastructure package to end the effects of the pandemic faster, has helped improve the global outlook, the group said. China continues to experience the world’s strongest rebound, also lifting the global outlook.

In Europe, which has been lagging the United States in a recovery, an acceleration of vaccination programs has allowed governments to begin lifting restrictions on activities, speeding up what had been a slow economic reopening.

The opposite is true for many emerging-market economies that are suffering from slow distribution of vaccines, new outbreaks of Covid-19 and economically limiting containment measures, dampening prospects for a quick recovery.

India, which has suffered a deadly resurgence of the virus, is likely to face economic struggles as a result and a slower return to prepandemic growth levels until the impact of the virus fades, the organization said.

It estimated the economy in the United States would grow 6.9 percent in 2021; in China, 8.5 percent; in the euro area, 4.3 percent; in Britain, 7.2 percent; in Argentina, 6.1 percent; and in India, 9.9 percent.

“Our latest projections provide hope that in many countries, people hit hard by the pandemic may soon be able to return to work and start living a normal life again,” Laurence Boone, the organization’s chief economist, said during a news briefing.

“But we are at a critical stage of the recovery. Vaccination production and distribution have to accelerate globally and be backed by effective public health strategies,” she said.

Categories
Politics

Jamie Dimon is skeptical of Biden’s minimal international company tax price

Jamie Dimon is skeptical of Biden's minimum global corporate tax rate

JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon testifies during a US House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 19, 2012, about JPMorgan Chase’s trading loss.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup chief Jane Fraser on Thursday expressed concerns over President Joe Biden’s effort to hike the amount of taxes businesses pay on foreign profits and a concurrent goal to set a global minimum corporate tax rate.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Dimon argued that a plan to raise the U.S. tax rate on foreign profits to 21% could, over time, push firms to move business overseas. Dimon thinks that shift could accelerate if allies renege on their promises to impose a similar global minimum tax rate.

“America would be the only country, I think, in the world that would have what we call a global tax rate,” he said, referring to the proposed 21% rate on U.S. companies’ foreign income.

“There’s no question in my mind that, at the margin … that will drive capital and, eventually, brains and R&D and investment overseas,” he said. “And that would be a mistake for America.”

Fraser, Citigroup’s new CEO, concurred, adding that “it’s very hard to get other countries to sign on to an equivalent program despite some optimism.”

“I think that will be extremely difficult,” she continued. “And, therefore, it could put the U.S. in a position of being less competitive around the world.”

The commentary from two of the nation’s top bankers came as the Biden administration continued to seek international support for a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%.

CNBC Politics

Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:

The Treasury Department, which has taken the lead in trying to persuade Germany, France and others to back the plan, contends that a universal floor on corporate tax rates would allow governments to more effectively generate tax revenue.

Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department wished to comment on the record.

The current system, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, incentives countries to offer lower effective corporate rates over time in a “race to the bottom” to lure corporations across geographies.

But Dimon and others have expressed doubts over any chance of long-term success in persuading U.S. peers to adhere to a global minimum at 15% or any other level, especially when it may be more lucrative for governments to cheat the system by offering backdoor incentives or flouting the agreement entirely.

A JPMorgan spokesperson explained that the concern is that the U.S. would adopt a relatively high tax on foreign income, at 21%, only for foreign partners to shirk their own tax promises. That scenario could put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage and encourage the offshoring of factories, profits and workers.

The Treasury Department has reiterated that the 15% proposal should be thought of as a sort-of floor and that subsequent talks could eventually push it higher. That, in theory, could work to reduce a tax disadvantage.

That the White House is keen to coax others into a global minimum tax isn’t necessarily a surprise given the amount of spending it wants to see to achieve its agenda priorities.

Its American Jobs Plan, an infrastructure-focused proposal, would funnel $2.3 trillion over a decade into traditional infrastructure as well as toward scientific innovation, pay for home health aides and the construction of 500,000 electric-vehicle charging stations.

The GOP countered with its own version Thursday, a more modest $928 billion proposal with a greater emphasis on “hard” infrastructure like roads, bridges and public transit.

The White House also hopes to enact the American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion piece of legislation aimed at funding for social programs like paid family leave, free early childhood education and free community college. 

Biden’s economic team says its Made In America tax plan would help cover the costs of both bills. Broadly, that tax plan seeks fortify the IRS and crack down on tax evasion, raise the amount the wealthiest households pay on capital gains, and hike the rate U.S. businesses pay on domestic profits to 28%.

President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts reduced the U.S. corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. 

The bank CEOs appeared on Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

One testy exchange from that hearing came between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Dimon. Warren accused JPMorgan Chase, and the other consumer banks, of not doing enough to communicate to its customers about relaxation of certain overdraft fee rules during the coronavirus outbreak.

Dimon countered that the bank had accommodated customers who had made qualifying overdraft fee waiver requests and that the bank would not be refunding billions it collected in such fees in 2020.

Categories
Business

Artwork Basel Hong Kong and Eurovision convey the worldwide arts scene again

Art Basel Hong Kong and Eurovision bring the global arts scene back

With two major cultural events last weekend, the international art scene signaled that it does not intend to have Covid cancel another year.

Held May 19-23, Art Basel Hong Kong marked the return of one of the most revered art fairs in the world. The show followed Frieze New York, which happened earlier this month and was the first major art fair in New York since the pandemic began.

After a one-year hiatus, the extremely popular Eurovision Song Contest also returned to Europe. The competition took place May 18-22 and, according to the show’s organizers, was watched by nearly 200 million viewers, including a live audience of 3,500 people.

After large gatherings around the globe were canceled for more than a year, both events mark a significant step forward on the path to normalcy after the pandemic and highlight the different methods Asia and Europe are using to achieve this goal.

Art Basel Hong Kong becomes “hybrid”

With its first show in more than a year, Art Basel returned to the world stage after canceling its three annual shows last year – Hong Kong in March, its flagship show in Basel, Switzerland in June, and Miami Beach (Florida) in December.

All three events are back this year with the first Art Basel Hong Kong, which will present a “hybrid” format that allows participants to appear virtually or in person.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2021, which was relocated from March to May, made its debut in a “hybrid” trade fair format.

Mighuel Candela | SOPA pictures | LightRocket | Getty Images

Private collectors from more than 30 countries and territories took part in “virtual tours” of the fair, which was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. More than 100 galleries participated, with many joining through satellite booths that allowed gallery owners to interact with attendees without traveling to Hong Kong.

“After we had designed our booth plan for the fair, the gallery delivered all of the artwork to Hong Kong to be installed by the Art Basel team, as in previous years,” said Valerie Carberry, partner at Gray. Chicago, New York. “Since we couldn’t travel to Hong Kong to attend the fair ourselves, Art Basel appointed us a booth assistant who took care of the booth in our place.”

The gallery planned video meetings ahead of the show to prepare the assistant, who, according to Carberry, “was incredibly professional … we felt well represented”.

Face masks were created as new canvases at Art Basel Hong Kong 2021.

Anthony Kwan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

The participants were also able to view their collections via online viewing rooms that Art Basel launched last year. Online rooms of the canceled exhibition in Hong Kong in 2020 showed works from more than 230 galleries and, according to Art Basel, attracted around 250,000 visitors.

“We all wanted to be there in person, of course, but the ability to share real-time information with customers at your booth was as close as ever to an in-person pandemic art fair,” said Carberry.

“We all felt a bit ‘jet lagged’ after we did not travel, but it was worth telling our Hong Kong customers how much we value their business and the support of our program.”

The Eurovision Song Contest is back

The cancellation of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, or Eurovision for short, may have resulted in this year’s competition reaching its largest audience since 2016.

In the singing competition that began in 1956, musical acts from predominantly European countries compete against each other, with 26 reaching the grand finals. The country that produces the winning act hosts the next competition.

This year, the Italian rock group Maneskin won the main prize and made sure that the competition will take place in Italy in 2022.

Italian rock group Maneskin won Eurovision in 2021, which relied on social distancing and testing to keep participants healthy before the show.

Soeren Stache | Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty Images

The show was largely a face-to-face event with most of the attendees performing live from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Australian Montaigne performed over a taped shot due to their inability to travel to Europe. This was a first in the show’s 65-year history.

Participants wore masks and followed social distancing mandates. According to Eurovision, the participants were subjected to regular Covid tests and isolated in their hotel rooms unless they were exercising.

The show also limited the number of live viewers present. Still, the 3,500 people who watched in person were enough to make Eurovision one of the largest live entertainment events in Europe since the beginning of the pandemic in 2021.

The annual competition, which casts a spell over Europe but is largely unknown to American audiences, is slated to launch in the US next year on NBC. According to the Eurovision website, artists from 50 states, five US territories and Washington, DC will compete in the “American Song Contest” for the title of the best original song.

What’s coming?

With the exception of Art Dubai, which began in late March 2021, most of the major international art exhibitions that were originally supposed to take place before May have been canceled. These include Frieze Los Angeles and Dutch Tefaf Maastricht, both of which were postponed before being canceled.

The Art Basel fairs in Basel and Miami Beach are back in the books, although the Switzerland show has been postponed from June to September in order to “visit as broad an international audience as possible,” according to the fair’s website.

Another top international art fair, Frieze London, is slated to return in October.

It is expected that these fairs will be very personally attended. According to Marc Spiegler, the global director of Art Basel, the digital components of Art Basel will be retained.

“We have developed a variety of techniques and tactics for people to access a gallery’s programming digitally,” he told the New York Times. “The pandemic has enabled us to do a better job for the collectors who cannot attend.”

The next Eurovision competition is planned for May 2022. Although details have not been confirmed, online speculation about dates and locations has begun.

Hong Kong is also pushing high-profile plans that align with the city’s conservative approach to curbing Covid. In line with its nickname as the “Art Capital of Asia”, the city will host a number of art festivals and exhibitions, including the contemporary art exhibition “Ink City” and the French May Arts Fest with around 80 events across the city in June.

This year, a new visual arts museum is due to open in Hong Kong’s new “T” -shaped M + building.

PETER PARKS | AFP | Getty Images

The Hong Kong Ballet will play Romeo + Juliet next month after the show was canceled last summer.

The new M + building in Hong Kong will house one of the largest museums for contemporary visual culture in the world. The “T-shaped” museum has an area of ​​65,000 square meters, including 33 galleries, three cinemas, a research center, restaurants, a tea and coffee bar, a members’ lounge and a roof garden with a view of Victoria Harbor.

The museum is slated to open this year.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

Categories
Politics

White Home sees world minimal company tax as key to broader multilateral strategy

Biden to propose capital gains tax hike to fund education, child care: reports

U.S. President Joe Biden will address jobs and the economy at the White House in Washington on April 7, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The White House stressed Friday that its efforts to introduce a global minimum corporate tax are a top priority for President Joe Biden and are more than just a topic of conversation for economists around the world.

Daleep Singh, who serves as both Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC that efforts to get allies to adopt a minimum tax are motivated by both economic and national security factors.

“It’s not just a tax issue. It’s about: How do we fund initiatives that we believe are central to our domestic renewal?” he said.

Singh stated that the Association for Economic Co-operation and Development behind the minimum tax would allow all members to compete just for their ability to promote innovation and the ingenuity of their respective workforce.

The U.S. Treasury Department has taken the lead in convincing today’s nations to introduce a global minimum tax. The department announced its 15% target on Thursday and said it was encouraged by early conversations with foreign officials over the past week.

A global minimum tax would also allow governments to better generate revenue for domestic projects that the Biden government believes are important to national security, Singh said.

“Our national security strategy is based on the renewal of the country. The kind of challenges I described earlier – the inequality we are witnessing, the tremendous importance of dealing with an existential climate crisis, people leaving the world of work – the government must play a more active role in addressing these challenges. “

CNBC policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

The Treasury Department quickly realized that the 15% proposition below which some had forecast should be viewed as some kind of floor and that subsequent discussions could ultimately drive it up.

As Head of Department, Secretary Janet Yellen has repeatedly stressed the importance of stopping an international “race to the bottom” on global corporate tax rates. If a coalition of countries approves the 15% rate, it could help governments increase revenues and prevent certain jurisdictions from monopolizing the market for inclusion.

Countries with lower enterprise rates like Ireland and its 12.5% ​​rate have historically expressed doubts about efforts to garner support for a unified approach. Even some defectors of the plan could jeopardize the initiative by setting lower rates and effectively inviting companies to move there.

According to a study by the Tax Foundation 2020, the average top enterprise rate among OECD countries is 23.5%.

However, advocates of a global minimum argue that some countries routinely attract companies with much more relaxed tax regimes through various tax breaks and incentives.

When asked how the government intends to persuade low-tax countries to agree to Washington’s plans, Singh and his colleagues stressed the importance of a level playing field for tax policy.

“We are very clear: companies have been competing on the basis of [countries’] Tax rates. This is a destructive race to the bottom that makes everyone worse off. Especially employees who generate an ever larger share of our tax revenue, “he said.

“Our proposal is therefore to agree on a minimum tax rate for companies around the world. Then we will compete for our ability to innovate, the dynamism of our workforce and our technological edge,” added Singh.

That may be why the Biden government opted for a flexible benchmark: low enough not to scare skeptical countries, but open to change in the future.

The tax rate “corresponds to the minimum tax for highly profitable companies proposed by the Biden Administration, so 15% is where Biden believes the lowest corporate tax rate when all deductions are fully factored in,” said Raymond James analyst, Ed Mills in CNBC an email Thursday evening.

“This is lower than President Obama’s proposed 19% and recognizes that even 15% will be a tough task,” he added.

The Biden administration is in the midst of fierce negotiations at home, particularly over two massive laws that would fundamentally change parts of the US economy.

The infrastructural American employment plan would invest several hundred billion dollars in rebuilding hard infrastructure, but also in financing scientific innovations, paying for household help and building around 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles.

Its parallel proposal, the American Families Plan, provides $ 1.8 trillion to fund social programs that include paid family vacations and a free community college.

The White House hopes to fund much of that expense through its Made In America tax plan, a major overhaul of the tax code designed to expand the IRS to combat tax evasion and end the reinforced base for valuation of inherited capital Profits and introduction of the global minimum tax.

The Biden team has also proposed raising the U.S. corporate rate to between 25% and 28%. He wants households making more than $ 1 million a year to pay more for capital gains and close the interest income gap.

Categories
Business

U.S. Backs International Minimal Tax of at Least 15% to Curb Revenue Shifting Abroad

U.S. Backs Global Minimum Tax of at Least 15% to Curb Profit Shifting Overseas

The Biden government proposed a global tax on multinational corporations of at least 15 percent in the latest round of international tax negotiations, Treasury officials said Thursday, as the US tries to reach a deal with countries fearing an interest rate hike Discourages investment.

The rate was a sub-expectation from the United States, and the Treasury Department hailed its positive reception among other countries as a breakthrough in the negotiations. The fate of the talks is closely tied to the Biden administration’s plans to revise corporate tax law in the United States, and the White House is pushing for an international deal this summer and passing laws later this year.

President Biden has proposed raising the corporate tax rate in the US from 21 percent to 28 percent, which is higher than in many other countries. A global minimum tax agreement would better enable the United States to make the increase without penalizing American companies or encouraging them to relocate overseas.

The Treasury Department held meetings this week with a group of negotiators from 24 countries on what is known as the global minimum tax that would apply to multinational companies regardless of where they are headquartered.

“The Treasury Department underlined that 15 percent is a lower limit and that discussions should continue to be ambitious and increase that rate,” the Treasury Department said in a statement after the meetings.

The global minimum tax negotiations are part of a wider global struggle to tax technology companies. They come because the Biden government is trying to put provisions in tax legislation that incentivize the relocation of jobs overseas. Talks dragged on for more than two years, slowed by the discontent of the Trump administration and the onslaught of the pandemic.

As part of its American employment plan, the von Biden administration asked for a tax known as global low intangible tax income (GILTI) to be doubled to 21 percent, which would narrow the gap between corporate payments for overseas profits and payments for profits earned Income in the United States. Under the plan, the tax would be calculated on a country basis, which would result in more overseas income being subject to tax than under the current system.

If the global minimum tax rate of 15 percent is adopted, there will still be a gap between that rate and the US domestic rate proposed by the Biden administration. Tax officials have argued that the new gap would be smaller than the current one and therefore would not affect the competitiveness of American businesses. A large delta between the global minimum tax and what US companies have to do with their overseas income gives companies based outside the US an advantage.

American corporations have closely watched the various moving parts of the negotiation. Large corporations have generally been wary of the Biden government’s tax plans.

This week Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told the US Chamber of Commerce that they would benefit from the Biden administration’s proposals.

In business today

Updated

May 20, 2021 at 4:26 p.m. ET

“We are confident that the investments and tax proposals contained as a package in the employment plan will improve the net profitability of our companies and improve their global competitiveness,” she said.

Immediately after her presentation, Suzanne Clark, the Chamber’s managing director, said that she disagreed.

Conclusion of an agreement on the global minimum tax will not be easy, even if an agreement is in principle close.

Finance ministers from France and Germany announced last month that they were ready to support 21 percent. However, countries have to change their laws to formally implement the agreement, and enforcement of the agreement becomes complicated. Ireland, which is not a member of the steering committee negotiating the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, has a corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent and has expressed reservations about such an arrangement. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was also skeptical this week.

Manal Corwin, a former Treasury Department official in the Obama administration who now heads KPMG’s national tax practice in Washington, said other countries felt that the United States was imposed on a minimum global tax of 21 percent, which the United States said Tax would be the same as the rate proposed by the Biden government on the foreign income of US companies. The fact that the US is ready to negotiate at a lower rate is important, she said.

“In order to get a deal, it was important for the US to clarify that they didn’t necessarily say 21 percent or nothing,” Ms. Corwin said.

Still, she added, the 15 percent floor may be too high for some countries to accept and too low for some members of Congress in the United States to approve.

Rohit Kumar, head of PwC’s Washington office for national tax services, said Ireland and other countries’ response to the proposal will be crucial as a tax deal reached through the negotiations would be far from ironic.

“Are countries actually changing and enacting national law? Or is it just a political agreement where everyone says, “This is nice, but we don’t?” Said Mr. Kumar, a former top aide to Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. “As US lawmakers are considering these proposals, this is billions of dollars question.”

Tax officials said they never insisted on the 21 percent rate, but that they believed other countries would be receptive to the idea of ​​adopting a rate higher than 15 percent, depending on the fate of the changes to the US tax system that were introduced in To be considered.

Ms. Yellen has warned that a global “race to the bottom” has devoured government revenues and has taken a more cooperative approach to the negotiations than the Trump-appointed administration.

She is expected to continue talks on global tax reform with her international counterparts at the Group of 7 Finance Ministers meeting next month.

Categories
Business

World motion wanted for potential Covid waves

Global action needed for potential Covid waves

Life in the United States may return to some form of normal – but “the danger lies ahead” if the world does not unite to tackle the pandemic elsewhere like India. said Myron Brilliant of the US Chamber of Commerce.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States last week said fully vaccinated people are no longer required to wear face masks in many settings, both indoors and outdoors.

Some retailers and restaurants have adopted these guidelines to facilitate mask mandates for customers who are fully vaccinated.

But we need to be alarmed by what we are seeing in India and the potential for other waves. We are concerned about Southeast Asia, South Asia.

Myron Brilliant

US Chamber of Commerce

“We have seen progress here in the US, we have the pandemic under control, we are seeing economic recovery in critical sectors, including manufacturing,” said Brilliant, executive vice president and head of international affairs for the chamber.

“But we need to be alarmed about what we are seeing in India and the potential for other waves. We are concerned about Southeast Asia, South Asia,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Tuesday.

Increase in Asia

In countries like India, Nepal and Malaysia the number of Covid-19 cases has increased in the last few weeks.

India in particular has struggled with an increase in deaths and infections in recent weeks. In a few days, more than 400,000 cases were confirmed daily.

A mix of masked and unmasked individuals enjoyed The Strand of Hermosa Beach, California, a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed guidelines for vaccinated individuals.

Jay L. Clendenin | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

“What is happening there is devastating,” said Brilliant, noting that millions of people in India are employed by US companies.

“Certainly we are not out of the woods here. The danger lies ahead if we do not address this pandemic and address the challenges in countries around the world, including India,” he said.

Worldwide cooperation

While parts of the world like the United States and China may experience economic growth, Brilliant said it “doesn’t matter” unless the global community works together to tackle new waves of Covid elsewhere.

“This virus is not behind us,” he said, referring to the cases in India.

The United States cannot act alone. We cannot get out of this pandemic alone …

Myron Brilliant

US Chamber of Commerce

“If we don’t get it under control, these countries will face not only the health crisis but the economic crisis as well,” he said.

It is important that the countries react in a coordinated manner, he said.

“The United States cannot act alone. We cannot get out of this pandemic on our own, we cannot see an economic recovery if we want to sell to 95% of the market outside the United States – we have to work together to get this pandemic under control “said Brilliant.

Categories
Business

Patent waivers and influence on world vaccine provide shortages

Patent waivers and impact on global vaccine supply shortages

Losing intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines will not help address global supply bottlenecks, the co-founder of a Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company told CNBC.

The demand for patent waivers is “political theater” and does not inherently allow others to make safe and effective vaccines that are already very difficult to make, said Jake Becraft, CEO and co-founder of Strand Therapeutics.

His company doesn’t make Covid-19 vaccines, but is developing a platform to develop programmable messenger RNA drugs that can trigger the body’s immune response to fight disease.

“We have to commit ourselves to what we already manufacture and scale this worldwide as much as possible,” Becraft said Monday in CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia”.

Lack of vaccine

Due to the global shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, some countries have searched for supplies to launch their vaccination programs. Indeed, India – the world’s largest vaccine maker – is facing domestic shortages in the midst of a devastating second wave.

Health experts, rights groups and international medical charities have argued that there is an urgent need to abandon intellectual property rights in order to address the global vaccine shortage and avoid prolonging the health crisis. It is because many countries, especially in Asia, are affected by new waves of infections due to mutated Covid variants.

However, vaccine makers argue that such a move could disrupt the flow of raw materials and result in less investment by smaller biotech innovators in health research.

Last year India and South Africa submitted a joint proposal to The World Trade Organization waives intellectual property rights in Covid vaccines.

Known as Trips Waiver – or trade-related intellectual property rights – the plan has been blocked by some high-income countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada and the European Union. France, for example, argued that the way to step up global vaccination is for vaccine-producing nations to increase their exports.

While the United States initially blocked the proposal, the Biden government said earlier this month it supports the waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19.

Increase in the supply chain

Becraft said the vaccines have to be made in very controlled, high-tech facilities and that the technology required doesn’t exist around the world. This means that despite a patent waiver, some countries do not have the expertise to manufacture their own vaccines.

Instead, Becraft suggested incentivizing pharmaceutical companies like Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech to roll out the technology to manufacturing facilities around the world.

“If we want vaccines that are safe and effective, we need to encourage these companies to actually build manufacturing capacities around the world,” he said.

“We have to go to Moderna, we have to go to BioNTech and say, ‘What do you need to transfer your technology to these developing countries?'” Becraft said.

When vaccines aren’t available to everyone around the world, there’s always a risk of a variant of Covid that makes vaccines ineffective, he added. “All of our progress up to this point will be in vain.”

Nisha Biswal, president of the US-India Business Council, agreed that waiving a patent will not resolve the issue of increasing vaccine supply to the rest of the world.

With a patent waiver, it would take months or years for the technology, raw materials and production capacity to meet the required standard So that countries can manufacture their own vaccines, she told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Monday.

Instead, the focus should be on helping countries that already make vaccines increase their production.

“Many of these (vaccine) manufacturers are already in discussions with India and Indian companies about how they can try to make some of these products in India,” said Biswal. “This is probably a faster and more efficient way than talking about no trips.”

Strand Therapeutics’ Becraft added that longer term, world governments need more funding and infrastructure support to provide pharmaceutical companies with manufacturing facilities around the world.

Last week BioNTech announced that it would set up a manufacturing facility in Singapore to manufacture its mRNA-based vaccines.

– CNBC’s Silvia Amaro contributed to the coverage.

Categories
Business

WHO classifies triple-mutant Covid variant from India as world well being danger

WHO classifies triple-mutant Covid variant from India as global health risk

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will attend a press conference at WHO headquarters on July 3, 2020, organized by the United Nations’ Association of Geneva Correspondents (ACANU) in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus was organized in Geneva.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

A World Health Organization official said Monday that the highly contagious triple mutant variant of Covid widespread in India is being classified as a “worrying variant,” suggesting it has become a global health threat.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for Covid-19, said the agency would provide more details in its weekly status report on pandemic Tuesday, but added that the variant known as B.1.617 was found in preliminary studies to do more Spread more easily than the original virus and there is some evidence that it can evade vaccines.

“And as such, we classify this as a variant of the concern on a global scale,” she said during a press conference. “Although some preliminary studies show increased transferability, we need a lot more information about this virus variant in that line in all sublines. Therefore, we need to do more sequencing and targeted sequencing.”

A Covon-19 coronavirus patient rests in a banquet room temporarily converted into a Covid care center in New Delhi on May 10, 2021.

Arun Sankar | AFP | Getty Images

The WHO announced last week that it is closely tracking at least 10 coronavirus variants worldwide, including the B.1.617. The variant was previously called the “variant of interest” because more study was needed to fully understand its meaning, Van Kerkhove said.

“For everyone in the home, this means that any circulating SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect and spread you, and anything to do with that is worrying,” she said on Monday. “So, all of us at home, no matter where we live, no matter what virus is circulating, we need to make sure we take all necessary measures to keep us from getting sick.”

A variant can be classified as “worrying” according to the WHO if it is found to be more contagious, more deadly and more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

The international organization has already identified three other variants with the classification: B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in Great Britain and is currently the most widespread variant in the USA; B. 1.351, detected for the first time in South Africa, and the P.1 variant, detected for the first time in Brazil.

B.1.617 has three sub-lines, said Van Kerkhove, which are described in Tuesday’s management report.

Some believe the variant is behind the recent wave of infections in India.

The country averages 3,879 Covid deaths per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, although media reports suggest the official number is underestimated. Over the past seven days, an average of 391,000 new cases per day have been reported – an increase of about 4% from a week, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

The variant has since expanded to other countries, including the United States.

– CNBC’s Rich Mendez contributed to this report.