US automakers will face easier federal rules in the race with China to develop self-driving cars
U.S. automakers developing self-driving cars will be allowed more exemptions from certain federal safety rules for testing purposes to help them compete against Chinese rivals, the Transportation Department said Thursday.
The department also said it will streamline crash reporting requirements involving self-driving features and will move toward national rules for the technology to replace a patchwork of state regulations.
'This Administration understands that we're in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn't be higher,' said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement. 'As part of DOT's innovation agenda, our new framework will slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard that spurs innovation and prioritizes safety.'
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Fashion United
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French Senate to vote on regulating fast fashion
The French Senate is due to vote Tuesday on a bill to regulate the fast fashion industry, by sanctioning companies and banning advertisements. The bill is targeted at Chinese-founded e-commerce giant Shein, which has a reputation for selling lower quality clothes at a very low price. Easy to order and replace, fast fashion items are exported to France on a large scale, causing pollution and saturating markets. Adopted by the lower house National Assembly in March 2024, the bill will be voted on by the Senate later on Tuesday and is expected to pass, with backing from the government and widespread support in the chamber. The vote is not the final legislative hurdle: a joint committee of senators and lower house deputies is expected to meet from September to produce a joint text, prior to the final adoption of the law. The text plans to "reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry", said Anne-Cecile Violland, the centre-right member of parliament who proposed the bill. Fast fashion is a growing market in France and between 2010 and 2023, the value of advertised products grew from 2.3 billion euros to 3.2 billion euros. Around 48 clothing items per person are released into the French market each year, and 35 are thrown away every second in the country, according to the state environmental agency Ademe. Fast fashion poses a "triple threat", said the minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher. "It promotes overconsumption, causes ecological disaster and threatens our businesses," she said. Slamming an "invasion" of products that "do not last", the minister expressed hope it would help change things in Europe. Once adopted in France, the European Commission will be notified to ensure it complies with European law according to Pannier-Runacher. Targeting fast fashion The Senate, dominated by the right, modified the bill to target "ultra" fast fashion companies, such as Asian websites Shein ou Temu. The Senate's amendments plan to leave out French and European brands that may be affected by the bill, such as Zara, H&M and Kiabi. The fashion giants will still be obliged to notify their customers about the environmental impact of their products, according to the new bill. "I have no intention of making French brands that contribute to our country's economic vitality pay a single euro," said rapporteur Sylvie Valente Le Hir, member of the right-wing The Republicans party. The bill will impose stricter sanctions on fast fashion companies by scoring their "environmental communication". This "eco-score" will affect all fast fashion companies, Pannier-Runacher said. Those with the lowest scores will be taxed by the government up to 5 euros per product in 2025 and up to 10 euros by 2030. This tax cannot go beyond 50 percent of the price of the original product. Advertisement ban The bill would impose sanctions on influencers who promote such products and ban fast fashion advertisements. The regulation of the fast fashion industry will only succeed with a "collective effort", and not by targeting "a single actor," Shein spokesperson Quentin Ruffat told RTL radio on Monday. According to Ruffat, the law will add "a tax of 10 euros per sold item of clothing by 2030" and "impact the purchasing power" of French people. Environmental organisations are also worried that the law may be misinterpreted. Debates may amount to an interesting framework which still lacks substance, according to Green Senator Jacques Fernique. On Monday, the Textiles Industry Union (UIT) recognised the bill as "a first step" and hoped for its "rapid adoption ... even if the text does not entirely fit our expectations".(AFP)
NBC News
2 hours ago
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How rare earth minerals could give China the upper hand in U.S. trade talks
'China doesn't just mine rare earth materials. They refine them and manufacture the magnets as well. So in fact, the closer you get to the final industrial use, the more dominant China becomes,' Andersson said. Demand for rare earths has only increased as the automobile and electronics industries advanced in recent decades and began their clean energy transitions. That has given China 'real leverage, not just economically, but geopolitically too,' Andersson said. 'They can influence global prices, supply availability, and really even the pace of green tech development.' How China is using that leverage China has long signaled its willingness to leverage its dominance in rare earths and the broader group of critical minerals, temporarily banning rare earths exports to Japan in 2010 over a territorial dispute. Since 2023, it has also imposed export curbs on gallium, germanium, antimony, graphite, and tungsten, which are critical minerals but not rare earths. Also in 2023, Beijing banned the export of technology to extract and separate rare earths. Export restrictions are not uncommon and countries around the world often impose them on products and materials they consider key for national security. The U.S., for example, has levied curbs on the export of its semiconductors to China in an attempt to slow Beijing's artificial intelligence advancements. China has also introduced a licensing system requiring exporters to provide documents proving that the end products will not be used for military purposes, which can be difficult. 'This whole mechanism is such that it gives China visibility into where the minerals are going, who's using them and for what,' said John Seaman, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations. 'It allows China to sort of map the supply chain and map the usage, and therefore also map the vulnerabilities of countries.' Experts also say that in the long term, the situation could give Chinese manufacturers an edge. 'The alternative is then to basically rely on Chinese-made technology. So you're not going to get your rare earth magnet, but you're going to get a Chinese wind turbine,' Seaman said.
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3 hours ago
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Citing trade wars, the World Bank sharply downgrades global economic growth forecast to 2.3%
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's trade wars are expected to slash economic growth this year in the United States and around the world, the World Bank forecast Tuesday. Citing 'a substantial rise in trade barriers'' but without mentioning Trump by name, the 189-country lender predicted that the U.S. economy — the world's largest — would grow half as fast (1.4%) this year as it did in 2024 (2.8%). That marked a downgrade from the 2.3% U.S. growth it had forecast back for 2025 back in January. The bank also lopped 0.4 percentage points off its forecast for global growth this year. It now expects the world economy to expand just 2.3% in 2025, down from 2.8% in 2024. In a forward to the latest version of the twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill wrote that the global economy has missed its chance for the 'soft landing'' — slowing enough to tame inflation without generating serious pain — it appeared headed for just six months ago. 'The world economy today is once more running into turbulence,' Gill wrote. 'Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep.'' America's economic prospects have been clouded by Trump's erratic and aggressive trade policies, including 10% taxes — tariffs — on imports from almost every country in the world. These levies drive up costs in the U.S. and invite retaliation from other countries. The Chinese economy is forecast to see growth slow from 5% in 2024 to 4.5% this year and 4% next. The world's second-largest economy has been hobbled by the tariffs that Trump has imposed on its exports, by the collapse of its real estate market and by an aging workforce. The World Bank expects the 20 European countries that share the euro currency to collectively grow just 0.7% this year, down from an already lackluster 0.9% in 2024. Trump's tariffs are expected to hurt European exports. And the unpredictable way he rolls them out — announcing them, suspending them, coming up with new ones — has created uncertainty that discourages business investment. India is once again expected to the be world's fastest-growing major economy, expanding at a 6.3% clip this year. But that's down from 6.5% in 2024 and from the 6.7% the bank had forecast for 2025 in January. In Japan, economic growth is expected to accelerate this year — but only from 0.2% in 2024 to a sluggish 0.7% this year, well short of the 1.2% the World Bank had forecast in January. The World Bank seeks to reduce poverty and boost living standards by providing grants and low-rate loans to poor economies. downgraded its forecast for the U.S. and global economies.
