Business

CNN reports: The Trump transition team is floating the possibility of an early executive action to impose tariffs on foreign imports, according to multiple sources. Such a move would deliver on President-elect Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign theme. But it’s causing alarm among business interests and the pro-trade Republican establishment. The Trump transition team didn’t immediately respond to a request …

The Guardian reports: Northern Ireland’s attorney general cannot refer back to the supreme court the case of a local bakery fined for refusing to bake a gay-themed cake. John Larkin QC’s legal bid to get the supreme court to review court rulings against Ashers Bakery was deemed to have come in too late, Northern Ireland’s lord chief justice said on …

The Washingtonian reports: Before the Trump International Hotel opened, Donald Trump liked to brag that the business he and his family built inside the Old Post Office would be “one of the great hotels of the world.” But according to a year-end list of new luxury hotels from a travel group that specializes in high-end accommodations, it’s one of the …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday and signaled a faster pace of increases in 2017 as the Trump administration takes over with promises to boost growth through tax cuts, spending and deregulation. The rate increase, regarded as a virtual certainty by financial markets in the wake of a string of generally …

The Hill reports: President-elect Donald Trump will be in breach of contract with the General Services Administration (GSA) over his Washington, D.C. hotel when he takes office, according to a letter sent to the agency by Democratic lawmakers. The letter was sent to the GSA by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.). …

CNBC reports: President-elect Donald Trump has an opportunity to establish “American leadership through innovation,” Bill Gates told CNBC on Tuesday. “A lot of his message has been about … where he sees things not as good as he’d like,” the billionaire Microsoft co-founder said on “Squawk Box.” “But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and …

Five million views since yesterday. US Weekly reports: Taking grab-and-go to the next level. Amazon just opened a state-of-the art grocery store called Amazon Go in downtown Seattle that lets customers shop without ever waiting in line or going through a checkout process. In a video introducing the concept Monday, December 5, the e-commerce company refers to it as “just-walk-out …

From the oh-so-very anti-LGBT LifeSiteNews: For the first time ever, Walmart has scored a “perfect” 100 percent ranking on a leading homosexual lobby group’s “corporate scorecard,” meaning that to keep its score the retail giant will now cover transsexual employees’ “sex reassignment surgeries” as part of its healthcare coverage. The decidedly anti-social-conservative “Corporate Equality Index” (CEI) is produced by Human …

There will never be an end to the grifting. Via Politico: The U.S. Secret Service is the hot, new “amenity” in the Trump Tower, where desperate brokers are trying to lure well-heeled clients into the building on Fifth Avenue that has served as President-elect Donald Trump’s home as well as his campaign and transition headquarters. Less than a week after …

Roll Call reports: Donald Trump on Sunday morning tweeted that he intends to slash business taxes and regulations, but the early rising president-elect again warned companies that move all or parts of their operations offshore will face “retribution or consequence.” In a series of tweets that kicked off at 6:41 a.m., Trump said he will impose “a tax on our …

Via Mediaite: “While this announcement is good news for many, we recognize it is not good news for everyone,” says a letter sent by Carrier to its employees in the wake of the deal set up by Donald Trump that will prevent them from outsourcing some 800 jobs to Mexico. About 1300 Indiana-based jobs are still heading south of the …

The New York Times reports: Walmart announced on Friday that it had settled a lawsuit that accused the company of discriminating against gay and lesbian employees when it denied health insurance benefits to same-sex spouses. Under the deal, Walmart will set aside $7.5 million, mostly to compensate employees affected by the denial of spousal benefits during the three years before …

Yahoo Finance reports: In a stunning development, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just revealed that the US unmployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 4.6% in November. This is the lowest level since August 2007. Economists were expecting the rate to be unchanged from October at 4.9%. During the month, US companies added 178,000 non farm payrolls, which was a tad lighter …

Ho hum, yet another boycott. Yesterday Levi Strauss CEO Chip Bergh posted this message on LinkedIn: The debate in the U.S. over gun safety and gun rights is as complex as it is divisive. As a former army officer, a father and business leader, I’ve heard the arguments from all sides. And, as CEO of a 163-year-old company whose products …

Bloomberg reports: Kellogg Co. is pulling its ads from the website Breitbart News, the right-wing news organization whose former chairman Steve Bannon was tapped as a top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump. Brands that advertise on Breitbart have drawn flak in recent weeks, with activists saying the website espouses racist and anti-Semitic views. A screen shot showing an advertisement for …

USA! USA! The Daily Mail reports: Donald Trump has pledged to bring long-lost American manufacturing jobs back from China. But he may be too late – even for products that bear his family name. A Chinese company that makes shoes for his daughter’s fashion line is moving production to Africa, where labor is much cheaper. The billionaire tycoon has frequently …

Via Mediaite: In his on-the-record chat with The New York Times, Donald Trump dismissed concerns about any potential conflicts between his duty as president and his business interests, saying that it was impossible for the president to even have conflicts of interest to begin with. Trump continued, saying that the law doesn’t require him to set up a trust and …

Raw Story reports: Donald Trump’s promises to “drain the swamp” of Washington corruption are becoming more of a punchline for his detractors as more information about his conflicts of interest piles up. Appearing on CNN Tuesday, Democratic strategist and former Clinton White House aide Keith Boykin ripped Trump for his multiple shady dealings in the two weeks since he’s been …

From the editorial board of the New York Post: Of all the issues facing the president-elect and his brain trust, the question of how to avoid conflicts of interest with his global business may be the thorniest. It’s already raising real questions — over diplomats who opted to stay at a Trump hotel to maybe score points, and the Indian …

Law Newz reports: Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University, raised serious legal concerns about Donald Trump and his ongoing interest in Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., especially after a report in The Washington Post that said foreign diplomats felt pressure to stay there. He’s not the only legal expert to raise constitutional questions. The Trump Organization …