Brazil Argentina, Mexico firms give undertaking to CBSA
The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), based on Special Import Measures Act (SIMA) has provided exporters from Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico one more chance to revise their prices before it implements the dumping duties on sucker rods levied against some of the exporters from this country on December 30, 2019.
The CBSA said in a statement that under the SIMA rules, they provided exporters with a chance to give a written undertaking to revise their prices downwards moving forward and retroactively to eliminate the dumping duties that are charged on their products.
CBSA said three exporters, namely, Metalmecanica SA of Argentina, Confab industrial SA of Brazil and Tubos de Acero de Mexico SA of Mexico have submitted an initial undertaking proposal on January 15 2020. On February 28 2020, all three firms re-submitted the undertaking after revoking all previous undertakings to SIMA.
Tesla breaks ground for German factory
Tesla will break ground to build its first Giga Factory in Europe, near Berlin, Germany. The 300 hectares plot will house the new Tesla facility which is expected to cost around $45.6mn. Budget approval from Tesla’s board is pending. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief aims to produce 500,000 cars of Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan by 2021 from this facility.
US construction spending rises
Total construction spending in the US in January 2020 increased by 6.8pc to $1,369.2bn from $1,282.5bn in January 2019. It was higher by 1.8pc from December 2019’s 1,345.5bn. Private construction spending in January 2020 rose by 1.5pc to $1,022.7bn from $1,007.6bn in December 2019. Residential construction spending increased by 2.1pc to $554.8bn compared to $543.6bn in December 2019, while non-residential construction was flat at $468bn in January 2020 from the previous month. Spending on public construction was 2.6pc higher in January 2020 at $346.5bn from $337.8bn in the previous month while educational construction rose by 0.7pc at $81.5bn compared to $80.9bn in December 2019. Highway construction increased by 5.4pc to $103.9bn in January 2020 from $98.6bn in December 2019.