Builder.ai filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. after creditors seized most of the cash in the British startup’s bank accounts, Bloomberg News reported. The company published a list of creditors in a chapter 7 case in a Delaware bankruptcy court, Builder.ai said in a filing dated June 2.
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President Donald Trump signed a directive on Tuesday formally raising steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% from 25%, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced, Bloomberg News reported. Trump said last Friday the higher charge will take effect on June 4, but Leavitt did not elaborate on the timing. The move raises trade tensions at a time when the US is locked in negotiations with numerous trading partners over his so-called “reciprocal” duties before a July 9 deadline.
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The Trump administration wants countries to provide their best offer on trade negotiations by Wednesday as officials seek to accelerate talks with multiple partners ahead of a self-imposed deadline in just five weeks, according to a draft letter to negotiating partners seen by Reuters.
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Azul said it received interim court approvals related to the company’s chapter 11 petitions filed in the U.S., WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The court granted approval for the Brazilian airline operator to access $250 million of its $1.6 billion debtor-in-possession financing after a first-day hearing.
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Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced to two years in prison by a judge in a New York court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty in 2018 for his involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving Malaysia's sovereign fund 1MDB, Reuters reported. Leissner's conduct was "brazen and audacious," judge Margo Brodie said during sentencing. While his cooperation with the government was taken into account, it did not make up for the harm caused by the corruption at the highest levels in several countries, the judge said.
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President Donald Trump's trade war has cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs, according to a Reuters analysis of corporate disclosures, a toll that is expected to rise as ongoing uncertainty over tariffs paralyzes decision making at some of the world's largest companies, Reuters reported. Across the United States, Asia and Europe, companies including Apple, Ford, Porsche and Sony have pulled or slashed their profit forecasts, and an overwhelming majority say that the erratic nature of Trump's trade policies has made it impossible to accurately estimate costs.
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A U.S. trade court blocked most of President Donald Trump's tariffs in a sweeping ruling on Wednesday that found the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trading partners, Reuters reported. The Court of International Trade said the U.S. Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries that is not overridden by the president's emergency powers to safeguard the U.S. economy.
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After stepping back this month from an escalating and dangerous war of tariffs, the United States and China are now threatening to undermine their uneasy truce, the New York Times reported. On May 12, the countries announced after weekend meetings in Geneva that they would suspend most of their recently imposed tariffs. Since then, however, both governments have shown that they are still prepared to wield controls over critical exports as weapons against one another, with moves that are potentially even more damaging to trade and global supply chains.
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President Donald Trump on Friday said that he is “recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union” after complaining that trade negotiations have stalled, CNBC.com reported. The steep new import duties would start on June 1, Trump wrote on Truth Social. The EU “has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote of the 27-nation bloc.
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South Korea will prepare support measures for agricultural and food exporters, while closely monitoring the impact of U.S. tariffs on the sector, the finance ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The United States is the biggest export market for the sector, with more growth potential expected from a boom in demand for South Korean foods, the ministry said in a statement after a meeting to review government responses to U.S. tariffs. South Korean officials travelled to Washington, D.C.
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