Business news in brief

By The Associated Press

U.S. suggests penalties if Chinese EV production moves to Mexico

WASHINGTON | The Biden administration is suggesting the possibility that additional penalties could be put in place if the Chinese makers of electric vehicles try to move their production to Mexico to avoid newly announced import taxes.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday directed the office of the U.S. Trade Representative to impose a total tariff in excess of 102% on Chinese EVs, as well as directing new tariffs on other products including steel, aluminum, computer chips and solar cells.

But Chinese EV company BYD has previously indicated that it was looking at factory sites in Mexico for the Mexican market. That raises the possibility that Chinese companies could use Mexico as a backdoor into the U.S. market.

Boeing orders tumble as aircraft maker struggles to overcome latest crisis

Boeing orders tumbled in April and were outnumbered by canceled sales in another sign of the crisis gripping the troubled aircraft manufacturer.

Boeing said Tuesday that it received orders for seven planes last month, an unusually small number. That wasn’t enough to offset canceled sales covering 33 planes, 29 of which were related to the shutdown of Lynx Air, a Canadian discount airline that stopped flying in late February.

As expected, deliveries of new Boeing jetliners were weak, at 24 in April, pushing the U.S. company farther behind Airbus, its European rival.

Wholesale price increases accelerated

WASHINGTON | U.S. wholesale prices rose sharply last month, a sign that inflation pressures remain stubbornly high after three elevated readings in consumer prices to start the year.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index — which tracks price changes before they reach consumers — climbed 0.5% from March to April, after it dipped 0.1% the previous month. Measured year over year, producer prices rose by 2.2% in April, up from 1.8% in March and the biggest increase in a year.

A measure of underlying inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, also jumped 0.5% from March to April, and rose 2.4% compared with a year earlier.

—From AP reports