Media

6 Most Important Things in Business Today

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: September 18, 2018 5:01 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 5:46 pm

President Trump put tariffs on another $200 billion of China imports. According to Reuters:

China said on Tuesday it has no choice but to retaliate against new U.S. trade tariffs, risking even stronger action from President Donald Trump in an escalation of the trade war between the world’s largest economies.

Beijing’s statement came hours after Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of imports from China, and threatened duties on about $267 billion more if China hit back on the latest U.S. action. ‘

SpaceX announced the first passenger it will take to the moon. According to The Wall Street Journal:

SpaceX’s first paying passenger will be Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who is to blast off from earth in 2023, circle the moon and return, the company’s founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, said at an event Monday evening, where the space tourist also made brief remarks.

Audi plans to build cars to challenge Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA). According to USAToday:

The upmarket electric-car floodgates are starting to open.

Audi on Monday threw an elaborate bay-side party just north of San Francisco to unveil the e-tron, a $75,000 SUV that arrives fast on the heels of Jaguar’s $70,000 I-PACE.

Together the two new vehicles represent the first real challenge to Tesla, which has stood virtually alone in the premium electric vehicle market with its Model S ($100,000) but which now is facing production lags with its entry-level Model 3 and hits to the reputation of its volatile CEO Elon Musk

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will avoid some tariffs. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. dodged stinging duties on its smartwatches and wireless earbuds after the U.S. excluded those gadgets from tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, though the tech giant still faces retaliatory measures being weighed by China that could strike iPhone production there.

The trade tensions are rattling companies in a range of industries, but Apple’s heavy dependence on the U.S. and China makes it especially vulnerable as the world’s two largest powers escalate their economic feud. Because Apple assembles almost all of its gadgets in China, its watches, AirPods and other devices are vulnerable to the Trump administration’s plans to widen the scope of tariffs on Chinese imports—a risk Apple warned about earlier this month.

“Space junk” is becoming a larger problem. According to CNBC:

Space debris has become a huge problem. Their accumulation in Earth’s orbit has become a hindrance and can endanger future missions to the moon or Mars, according to the chief of a company that’s trying to solve the issue.

A surge in aggressive space ventures in recent years has seen a build-up of space junk, and they are set to grow exponentially, Nobu Okada, founder and CEO of Astroscale, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China.

Saudi Arabia will invest in a rival to Tesla. According to CNNMoney:

Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest more than $1 billion in Lucid, a potential Tesla competitor.

Lucid is planning a new high-performance electric car. It said the investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund announced Monday will allow it to finish engineering on its first car, the Lucid Air, as well as build a factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, and begin to sell the car by 2020.