10 The EconomistOctober 12th 2019
The world this week Business
The oecdadvanced proposals
to ditch the current rules cov-
ering international corporate
tax, “which date back to the
1920s and are no longer suffi-
cient” in a globalised world,
and create a system that ac-
knowledges the “digitalisa-
tion” of the world economy.
The plan would end decades of
practice by allowing a country
to tax a company that does
“significant business” within
its borders, even if it has no
base there. The oecdwants to
create a multilateral frame-
work to override the patchwork
of unilateral laws. The new
system would apply not only to
tech companies such as Apple
and Facebook, which have
been criticised for avoiding tax
in countries like Britain and
France, but also luxury-goods
firms, carmakers and other
highly globalised industries.Hong Kong’s stock exchange
dropped its £32bn ($39bn)
unsolicited bid for the London
Stock Exchange. The lsehad
rejected the offer, reiterating
its commitment to buy
Refinitiv, a financial-data
provider. The British bourse
has said it sees Shanghai as the
gateway to Chinese markets,
and has forged closer links
with investors there.Trying to put the era of Carlos
Ghosn behind it, Nissanap-
pointed Makoto Uchida as its
new chief executive, replacing
the ousted Hiroto Saikawa,
who was Mr Ghosn’s protégé.
Mr Uchida will head a new
three-man leadership team at
the Japanese carmaker, which
is slashing production in the
face of falling sales.bpannounced that Bob Dudley
is to retire as chief executive
early next year and be replaced
by Bernard Looney, who heads
its upstream business. Mr
Dudley took the helm at bpin
2010, soon after the Deepwater
Horizon disaster, steering the
company through a flood of
legal claims that ate into its
profits. Before that he had
headed tnk-bp, the company’s
joint venture in Russia, which
eventually fell foul of the
authorities.A juryinPhiladelphiaordered
Johnson& Johnsontopay
$8bninpunitivedamagestoa
manwhoclaimshischildhood
useofRisperdal,ananti-
psychoticdrug,causedhimto
growbreasts.Thecompany,
whichfacesmorethan13,
lawsuitsoverRisperdal,saidit
wouldappealagainstthever-
dict,whichit describedas
“excessiveandunfounded”.America’sunemployment
ratedroppedtoa 50-yearlow,
of3.5%.A broadermeasureof
under-utilisationinthelabour
market fellto6.9%,itslowest
since2000.The dark ages
Millions of people in northern
Californiahad their electricity
cut off by Pacific Gas & Elec-
tric, as the utility endeavoured
to prevent wildfires ignited by
its power lines. pg&efiled for
bankruptcy protection inJanuary amid claims that its
equipment had sparked deadly
infernos. The blackout could
last for days and affects Silicon
Valley and the Bay Area, though
not San Francisco. Southern
California Edison said it was
considering similar action,
which would affect the Los
Angeles area.America lost its top spot to
Singapore in the World
Economic Forum’s annual
competitiveness index. Hong
Kong, the Netherlands and
Switzerland made up the rest
of the top five. Britain was
ninth in the 141-country survey.At a signing ceremony at the
White House, America and
Japan sealed their new trade
deal. The Trump administra-
tion sought the accord after
pulling out of a transpacific
agreement, which covers 11
countries. This bilateral pact is
more limited in scope, mostly
covering agricultural goods
and avoiding thorny issues,
such as car exports. Still, the
deal does lower tariffs, a
change from the tit-for-tat
penalties levied in America’s
dispute with China. Ahead of
another increase in tariffs on
$250bn-worth of Chinese
goods, Chinese officials trav-
elled to Washington for a
further round of trade talks.Ahead of the talks, America
increased the pressure on
China by adding more Chinese
companies to its trade
blacklist, including startups
working in artificial intelli-
gence. One of them, Megvii,
which develops facial-recogni-
tion technology, had recently
filed for an ipoin Hong Kong.
America says the firms are
“implicated in the imple-
mentation of China’s
campaign of repression”
against Muslims in Xinjiang.Meanwhile, Applepulled an
app from the iPhone that en-
abled protesters in Hong Kong
to map police movements after
it was heavily criticised in
Chinese state media.A slice of life
News that PizzaExpressmight
fold unless it can restructure
its debt prompted campaigns
on Twitter to save the 54-year-
old restaurant group. Founded
in London, the chain helped
pioneer casual dining in Brit-
ain, concentrating its branches
in upper-crust areas. It has
gone through several private-
equity owners. In response to
the outpouring of affection,
the pizza firm tweeted that “it
feels good to be kneaded” and
reassured investors that it was
“still making dough”.United StatesSource: Bureau of Labour StatisticsUnemployment rate, %1969 80 90 2000 10 19024681012