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The Week in Business: Efforts to Support the Russian Economy

    Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin said last week that he would demand that “unfriendly countries” pay for Russian gas in rubles. The move was intended to force countries like the United States and Britain to prop up the Russian currency, which crashed after sanctions against the Russian central bank effectively froze hundreds of billions of dollars in assets. People, in turn, rushed to exchange their rubles for dollars or euros. Officials in Europe and experts in the United States have already rejected the idea of ​​paying in rubles. In another attempt to mitigate the economic downturn, the Russian stock market reopened to limited trading on Thursday after a month-long shutdown. The MOEX index rose 4.4 percent, but this upward trend was likely the result of government measures to prevent a sell-off.

    Foreshadowing the central bank’s more aggressive approach to inflation, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome H. Powell last week spoke urgently about the Fed’s willingness to take additional measures to reduce demand and boost inflation. curb record inflation. His comments followed the Fed’s decision to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, the first of several hikes the Fed now forecasts for 2022. “If we conclude that it is appropriate for the federal funds to act more aggressively by more than 25 basis points at a meeting or meetings, we will do so,” Mr. Powell said on Monday. high, officials on Wednesday announced measures to help people cope with rising prices, including plans to cut taxes on petrol and diesel and allocate more money to support low-income households.

    The Biden administration took two steps to roll back tariffs imposed by President Donald J. Trump that sought to restrict trade with Britain and China. On Tuesday, the government announced an end to Trump-era tariffs on British steel and aluminum. In return, Britain agreed to lift tariffs on a number of American products, including whiskey and jeans. The agreement took away some of the remaining transatlantic trade tensions that were bubbling up under Trump. The next day, the office of the United States Trade Representative said it would allow some Chinese products to bypass tariffs imposed during a trade war between Mr Trump and Beijing.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a commentary period for a sweeping rule that would require state companies to report their environmental impact to shareholders and the federal government. The public can respond for 30 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register or until May 20, whichever comes first. The rule aims to inform shareholders about the risks climate change could pose to bottom line businesses, including whether consumers could lose interest in products or services that contribute to global warming. Proponents of the measure say it will hold companies accountable for how they affect the climate and give investors more leverage to encourage companies to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. But the proposed rule is already meeting opposition from some corporate trade groups and the prospect of potential legal challenges.

    Union drives continue to crisscross Starbucks branches across the country, with workers in Seattle, the franchise’s hometown, and Mesa, Ariz., voting last week to join a union. The stores are the seventh and eighth branches to vote for unions. Since December, more than 100 Starbucks stores have registered for union elections. Amazon has tried to fend off unions in two of its own elections: Staten Island workers still cast their votes, and the vote ended Friday in Bessemer, Ala. A union victory at both locations would be a first for Amazon’s operations in the United States. Special attention is paid to Bessemer, where the union lost an election last year and Amazon was hit by complaints from the National Labor Relations Board for its activities during the union effort. This time, Amazon largely relied on mandatory meetings designed to discourage workers from supporting the union.

    Last month’s jobs report showed a sharp rise, with US employers adding 678,000 jobs in February. The March report is also expected to be strong, although how much will depend on demand elasticity, which has to do with whether factors such as changing prices affect consumer behavior. The Labor Department’s March report will not have recorded any effects from the Fed’s rate hike, which was announced mid-month. But the steps of the central bank going forward will be a major caveat as a possible recession looms.

    Germany announced plans to drastically reduce its reliance on Russian energy. Uber and New York City taxis entered into a partnership. The European Union passed sweeping legislation to regulate the largest tech companies. And billionaire MacKenzie Scott has donated $12 billion to 1,257 groups since 2020.