London/Wellington | Reuters — Britain and New Zealand have reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal designed to reduce tariffs, improve services trade, and take London one step closer to membership in a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern sealed the deal in a Zoom call on Wednesday […] Read more

Britain, New Zealand strike free trade deal

CN CEO to retire as investor pressure weighs
Shareholder TCI has replacement in mind
Reuters — Canadian National Railway (CN) said on Tuesday its CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest will retire at the end of January, following investor demands for his exit after the railroad operator’s failed bid for Kansas City Southern. TCI Fund Management, which owns five per cent of Canadian National, in August pitched former Jim Vena — a […] Read more

More acres seen needed worldwide to meet mounting crops demand
U.S. acres may have already hit ceiling: AgResource chief
Geneva | Reuters — Farmers need more space to grow crops to meet mounting demand for food and renewable fuel at a time of slowing growth in yields, consultancy AgResource said on Tuesday. A renewable fuel push under U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate agenda is set to trigger a boom in soyoil use, reinforcing a […] Read more

Deere’s U.S. workers on strike after rejecting deal
Reuters — Thousands of Deere and Co. workers began a strike on Thursday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) said, days after overwhelmingly rejecting a six-year labour contract that was agreed on with the tractor maker. Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW union reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation […] Read more

Canada concerned about supply chain issues, watching ports ‘closely’
Reuters –– Canada is concerned about the challenges facing global supply chains and is watching the country’s ports very closely, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Thursday. Freeland, speaking to reporters in Washington after meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, said she was broadly optimistic about the strength of Canada’s economic recovery […] Read more

CNH to temporarily shut several plants in Europe
Eight-day shutdown due to supply disruptions
Reuters — Italian-American vehicle maker CNH Industrial said Wednesday it will temporarily shut several of its European agricultural, commercial vehicle and powertrain manufacturing facilities due to the disruptions of procurement of components, including semiconductors. The maker of farm machinery, Iveco commercial vehicles, construction equipment and powertrains plans to shut the concerned plants for eight working […] Read more

Deere’s U.S. workers set to strike as UAW fails to reach deal
Reuters — Thousands of Deere and Co. workers were set to go on strike, days after overwhelmingly rejecting a six-year labour contract that was agreed on by United Auto Workers negotiators and the tractor maker. Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation on […] Read more

Son of India government minister arrested, accused of killing farmers
Junior home minister's son was 'not co-operating' in probe
Lucknow | Reuters — Ashish Mishra, son of junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni, has been arrested on accusations he ran over and killed four protesting farmers last week, a senior police official said. The farmers, killed on Oct. 3 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, were part of India’s longest-running agricultural protest, opposing […] Read more

Police reopen Ambassador Bridge
Bridge reopened following search for explosives
Updated, Oct. 4 — Toronto | Reuters –– Canadian police reopened a major road bridge between Canada and the U.S. after largely shutting it down for hours on Monday to search for possible explosives in a vehicle, resulting in long delays for truckers at the busiest international crossing in North America. The Canada Border Services […] Read more

GM says chip situation improving
All of automaker's pickup truck plants operating
Reuters — Top U.S. automaker General Motors said on Friday the semiconductor chip shortage that has hit production at automakers worldwide was abating, while reporting its first quarterly sales fall in a year. “As we look to the fourth quarter, a steady flow of vehicles held at plants will continue to be released to dealers,” […] Read more