Uber appoints new UK board members and says its turning to 'good governance'

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The ride-hailing firm says its looking for a 'new approach' to working with cities
Uber has appointed a former British Gas executive to its UK board in a move it says is proof that it is willing to change.
Susan Hooper, former managing director at the energy giant, will join Uber’s UK board as a non-executive director.
Ms Hooper also sits on the boards of the Department for Exiting the European Union, Wizz Air and Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group.
Read more UK productivity growth hit a 10-year high in the second half of 2017 Roger Parry, chairman of market research firm YouGov, will also join the ride-hailing firm’s UK board.
Both Mr Parry and Ms Hooper are expected to sit on the first board meeting later in April.
Uber’s UK chairwoman Laurel Powers-Freeling said the appointments showed Uber’s “willingness to address past issues and follow the path of good governance that two individuals of their calibre have decided to work with us.”
Tom Elvidge, Uber's UK general..

White House Defends Trade Policies as Trump Aims New Threat at China

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Supported by Politics White House Defends Trade Policies as Trump Aims New Threat at China Photo Workers at an aluminium plant in Huaibei, China last year. The price of aluminum per pound has been falling since February, a decline that started before the tariffs were imposed. Credit STR, via Agence France-Presse – Getty Images WASHINGTON — President Trump continued to defend his pugnacious approach to trade policy on Friday, just hours after he doubled down on a White House plan to punish China by threatening to levy tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports.
Mr. Trump, who has already imposed sweeping steel and aluminum tariffs on China and other nations, boasted in a tweet that the new metals tariffs had not hurt American consumers as his critics predicted.
Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%. People are surprised, I’m not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018 The p..

Brexit trade deal: US lays out 'wish list' and it does not look good for the UK

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Donald Trump's administration wants to scrap a host of EU rules on food safety, chemicals, animal welfare and the environment
The US has laid out its annual trade “wishlist” and it will not make easy reading for David Davis and Liam Fox’s team of negotiators.
The 500-page tome from the US Trade Representative published this week firmly espouses the virtues of free trade and bringing down tariff and non-tariff barriers, just as Donald Trump proposed slapping a further $100bn (£71.5bn) of import levies on Chinese goods.
This openness might sound good for “Global Britain” as it seeks trade partnerships beyond the EU post-Brexit but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Read more China vows to fight 'at any cost' as Trump threatens $100bn tariffs The first concern stressed by the USTR is the “increasingly critical nature of standards-related measures (including testing, labeling and certification requirements) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures to US tr..

US falls short of expectations adding only 103,000 jobs in March

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The unemployment rate stayed flat in March, while job additions widely missed the mark
The US added 103,000 new jobs in March, according to the latest non-farm payroll figures.
Ahead of the data release, Wall Street was looking for growth of about 185,000 and a decline in the unemployment rate to 4 per cent from 4.1 per cent. Unemployement held at 4.1 per cent, the numbers showed.
In February, the US added 313,000 jobs, smashing through expectations of 200,000.
The pound rose sharply against the dollar following the announcement.
Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets, said the jobs number was a “big miss”.
“The market reaction is adverse and gold has moved higher on the back of this. Today’s data is not something which Trump will be tweeting about,” he added.
However, Kully Samra, UK managing director at investment group Charles Schwab, said: “This is a healthy jobs report, reinforcing the view that the US economy shows few signs of slowing down. Risks to growth a..

Britain's sugar tax is a sweet idea

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Free market think tanks and the food industry may grouse, but similar measures have reaped benefits when they've been tried overseas and they don't 'clobber the poor'
Welcome to the first day of the sugar tax, a sweet idea despite the bitter taste its opponents have been trying to leave.
An example of the latter came from the Institute of Economic Affairs. “The sugar levy is a cynical revenue raising device that will clobber people on low incomes,” it growled. “The British public are being treated like children.” If you think you can hear cheering in the background it's probably from the food and retail industries.
It always rather amuses me when Thatcherite think tanks try and portray themselves as defenders of the poor, but does the IEA have a point? Particularly when it contends that while the consumption of sugary drinks has been falling, obesity has not?
Read more Sugar tax: the soft drinks that slashed their sugar ahead of the levy How meal deals..

DealBook Briefing: How Hot Could the U.S.-China Trade Fight Get?

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Supported by DealBook Briefing: How Hot Could the U.S.-China Trade Fight Get? Photo Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times Good Friday morning. The U.S.-China trade fight is getting hotter (with Beijing’s commerce ministry expected to hold a briefing this morning). Some links require subscriptions.
Consider the ante raisedWas tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods not enough? President Trump appears to think so, announcing that he’s considering tariffs on $100 billion more because of Beijing’s “unfair retaliation.” A bluff? Even his advisers aren’t sure.
Expect the White House to keep negotiating with China, especially since U.S. tariffs wouldn’t bite until after a two-month comment period. But China has reasons to think it could win a trade war.
More companies, like Cargill, are getting jumpy. Some fear the tensions could kill Qualcomm’s bid for NXP Semiconductor. Jacob Frenkel, the chairman of JPMorgan Chase’s international business, is worried, too: He said the hostilitie..

Selfridges to stop selling carbonated drinks in single-use plastic bottles

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The retailer banned single-use water bottles almost two years ago
Department store Selfridges is removing all single-use plastic bottles containing carbonated drinks from its stores after stopping sales of disposable plastic water bottles.
The retailer has not sold single-use water bottles for almost two years and said it wanted to further encourage customers to end their use of throwaway plastic and switch to alternatives such as aluminium cans and glass.
It hopes the move, which takes effect this week and will stop the sale of the equivalent of six tonnes of plastic, will encourage other companies to remove the bottles from their offices and retail outlets.
Read more Decline in plastic bags on seabed shows tackling waste is working Selfridges Group deputy chairwoman Alannah Weston said: “We are seeing a huge shift in people's attitudes to single-use plastic water bottles, and now, carbonated drinks.
“We still have a long way to go but we can encourage environmentally con..