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ATLANTA (AP) — Before the oppressive summer heat descends on Atlanta, therapist Brittanee Sims usually gets her thick, curly hair braided at a salon to preserve her healthy mane. But it’s more expensive this year. So she’ll only pay for her teenage daughter and son to get their summer hairdos. Not having braided hair “creates more of a hassle for everything,” said Sims, who counts herself among the tens of millions of women who regularly spend on the Black hair care industry. Now, she said, she has to “go home and figure out what I’m gonna do to my hair...

Import prices ticked up slightly in April, driven by higher costs for nonfuel goods even as fuel prices continued to slide, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Import Price Index rose 0.1 percent in April, following a 0.4 percent decline in March. Over the past year, import prices were up just 0.1 percent. But excluding fuel, prices for imported goods rose 0.4 percent in April and were up 1.2 percent from a year earlier, suggesting continued resilience in U.S. demand for foreign goods despite the implementation of new tariffs in early April. The Trump...

The total tariff shall be: 1. 25%, on aircraft grade aluminum alloys and automotive grade ferrous metal, 2. on national security products [we could and should make], a. initially 0%, and then increasing by 2% at the start of every IRS quarter month after 2025 to 20%, on I. industrial level components, II. any drug for lawful retail sale & consumer use, III. drug, chemical and plastic industrial inputs, other than refinery hydrocarbons and those for making fertilizer, VI. semiconductors, V. solar cells and panels, VI. basic rare earth element products other than ore, 3. 0%, on a. other raw...

Washington -- America’s craft brewers already have enough problems. Hard seltzers and cocktails are muscling into beer sales. Millennials and Gen Z don’t drink as much as their elders. Brewpubs still haven’t fully recovered from the shock of COVID-19 five years ago. Now there’s a new threat: President Donald Trump’s tariffs, including levies of 25 per cent on imported steel and aluminum and on goods from Canada and Mexico. “It’s going to cost the industry a substantial amount of money,” said Matt Cole, brewmaster at Ohio-based Fat Head’s Brewery. Trump’ trade war “will be crippling for our industry if this...

Shares sagged Thursday in Asia, apart from China, after President Donald Trump announced he will slap 25per cent tariffs on imported cars. Trump said he was raising duties on auto imports to encourage more manufacturing in the US, but the impact will be complicated since US automakers and even foreign manufacturers with factories in the U.S. Source many of their components from around the world. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1per cent to 37,662.36. Toyota Motor Corp stock dove 3.2per cent, while Honda Motor Co stock dipped 2.8per cent. Nissan was down 2.6per cent. Mazda Motor Corp shares dropped 6.5per...

Washington -- President-elect Donald Trump wants to travel to China after he takes office as part of his effort to deepen relations with Beijing, and also has talked to advisors about visit to India, a media report said Saturday. Trump, who arrived at the Dulles International Airport aboard a special plane along with First Lady Melania and son Barron, had during his election campaign threatened to impose additional tariffs on China. “President-elect Donald Trump has told advisors he wants to travel to China after he takes office, according to people familiar with the discussions, seeking to deepen a relationship with...

Travelers can be taxed at the airport for bringing two portable computing devices into MexicoWhether traveling for business or pleasure, most feel the need to remain tethered to the digital world in some capacity. Some travelers are discovering the hard way that Mexican customs agents in Cancun will tax them at the airport for bringing multiple electronic devices into the country. While tourists feel like they are suddenly being extorted, the law has always been on the books but just selectively enforced. Mexico’s law only allows one portable computing device to be brought into the country tax-free. The levy can...

In 2022, global military budgets hit $2.2 trillion, an eighth consecutive year of increase.Part of those budgets were used for the procurement of arms, but which countries are major weapons suppliers, and how do they influence the global arms trade?In the chart below, Visual Capitalist's Bhabna Banerjee and Marcus Lu highlight the top 10 countries with the biggest share of global arms exports using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).Which Country Exports the Most Weapons?The U.S. is the biggest weapons exporter, accounting for 40% of the total volume of international arms transfers between 2018–2022. Nearly one-fifth of...

American CEOs should be allowed to import all the foreign workers they say they “need,” Nikki Haley told supporters at a New Hampshire campaign stop. “So for too long, Republican and Democrat presidents dealt with immigration based on a [annual] quota,” she told the roomful of supporters:

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will allow businesses to import another 35,000 foreign H-2B visa workers for working and middle-class jobs even as 11.7 million Americans remain jobless. On Thursday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that the agency would allow businesses to import 35,000 more foreign H-2B visa workers to fill non-agricultural jobs in construction, hospitality, and landscaping from April 1 to September 30.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced Saturday he would be backing a bill banning Russian oil imports. The senator said he would co-sponsor the Ban Russian Energy Imports Act after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded in a virtual meeting with Congress Saturday for the U.S. to stop buying Russian oil. The bipartisan bill was previously introduced by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a senior member of that committee. “The United States cannot continue to purchase millions of barrels of oil while Putin wages an unprovoked and...

On 20 August 2021, the U.S. Department of State released a fact sheet announcing Russian firearms and ammunition importation will be banned for a minimum of 12 months starting 7 September 2021. From state.gov: New sanctions imposed today under the CBW Act include:Restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms. New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial.The ban is listed as a sanction pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, over the...

The Biden administration is considering a plan to import the bulk of the materials needed to build electric vehicles and the batteries that power them instead of mining them domestically — a nod to environmental groups that make up a key part of the Democratic constituency, according to a report. The plan under consideration would entail buying the materials from overseas markets and allow US manufacturers to assemble them into batteries or electric vehicles in an effort to create American jobs but still remain in the good graces of environmental groups, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

U.S. regulators and state officials are finding a significant number of imported N95-style masks fall short of certification standards, complicating the response to the coronavirus crisis and potentially putting some front-line workers at greater risk. Recent tests by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that about 60 percent of 67 different types of imported masks tested allowed in more tiny particles in at least one sample than U.S. standards normally permit. One mask that Niosh tested, sold in packaging bearing unauthorized Food and Drug Administration logos, filtered out as little as 35 percent of particles. Another, marked...

Animal Farm: They Are Culling the Herd -- Time to Wake Up *Video at link*

If there’s a silver lining to the novel coronavirus, it’s that our dependence on China for medication and medical devices has been brought to the fore (at least to those paying attention). Our dependence on China for these vital supplies is insane for all the obvious reasons, none-the-least of which is how quickly we could be brought to our knees. We must act now to break this dependence and start manufacturing medication here at home. India, which manufactures most of the world’s generic drugs, is already taking steps to reduce their reliance on ingredients from China (here). This point...

In partnership with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recently proposed that certain pharmaceuticals should be cleared for import from Canada. Although the proposal seeks to lower prices for consumers, it poses critical unintended risks to both American businesses and patients. The logic behind the proposal is simple. If ‘big pharma’ companies charge American patients high costs while offering their products for lower prices abroad, why not break down trade barriers and increase price competition? While the goal is admirable, the policy would unleash a slew of dangerous side effects.In Canada, the...

Trump is working on a proposal that would allow the U.S. to import drugs from Canada, HHS Secretary Alex Azar says.“Working on a plan on how we can import drugs safely and effectively from Canada so the American people get the benefit of the deals that pharma themselves are striking with other countries,” he says.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut import tariffs on textile products and metals, including steel products, to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, effective Nov. 1, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

Freepers are the best and know everything! I need some prescription meds that my insurance co. will not pay for. My doctor suggested getting from Mexico or Canada! I searched and found too many Canada Pharmacies on the net, great prices. But I don't know whether to trust any of them. I hate to risk $100+ to find out. Would appreciate any tips if you have ordered RX from Canada.