The daily business briefing: August 26, 2019

Disney to open stores inside 25 Targets.

(Image credit: Presley Ann/Getty Images for Disney)

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1. Trump says China wants to restart trade negotiations
2. Disney to open stores inside Target locations
3. Trump says U.S., France close to compromise on digital tax
4. Dutch agency says 100 companies moving over from U.K. due to Brexit
5. Angel Has Fallen leads weekend box office

published 26 August 2019

1. Trump says China wants to restart trade negotiations

President Trump said Monday that China had expressed willingness to resume trade negotiations. "China called last night our top trade people and said, 'Let's get back to the table,' so we'll be getting back to the table, and I think they want to do something," Trump said on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France. China's top negotiator said earlier Monday that Beijing was ready to resolve the trade war through "calm negotiations." U.S. stock futures had been down following mixed messages on China from Trump during the G-7 meeting. First he said he had "second thoughts" about his tariffs on Chinese imports, then the White House said he meant he questioned whether the tariffs should be higher. After Trump raised the possibility of a deal, U.S. stock index futures turned solidly positive.

Disney and Target announced on Sunday they are partnering to open permanent Disney stores inside select Target locations, with 25 launching on Oct. 4. By October 2020, the plan is to open 40 more of the stores-within-stores. The designated Disney areas will cover about 750 square feet adjacent to children's clothing and toy sections, with at least 450 items, including apparel, games, and some collectible merchandise featuring such Disney franchises as Mickey Mouse, Frozen, and Marvel. The first Disney stores will open in several major cities, including Philadelphia, Chicago, and Denver.

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President Trump said Monday that the U.S. is close to a deal with France over its digital tax. France in July passed the three-percent tax on companies with $830 million or more in annual revenue from "digital activities." The levy hits about 30 tech giants, including Facebook, Amazon, and Google. Trump said late last week before heading to the weekend Group of Seven summit in France that the tax unfairly targets "great American companies." "If they do that ... we'll be taxing their wine like they've never seen before," Trump said on Friday. European Union chief Donald Tusk said during the summit that the E.U. would "respond in kind" to any U.S. retaliation against France.

Nearly 100 companies have moved at least part of their operations from the U.K. to the Netherlands so they can stay inside the European Union after Britain leaves the trading bloc, the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency said Monday. "The ongoing growing uncertainty in the United Kingdom, and the increasingly clearer possibility of a no deal, is causing major economic unrest for these companies," said Jeroen Nijland, NFIA commissioner. "That is why more and more companies are orienting themselves in the Netherlands as a potential new base in the European market." The NFIA said 325 more companies are mulling such moves. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took office last month vowing to lead the U.K. out of the E.U. by the end of October, with or without a deal on Brexit terms.

Angel Has Fallen led the domestic box office over the weekend with a $21.3 million debut, according to studio estimates released Sunday. The Lionsgate film's opening total beat expectations and came in similar to the previous installment, 2016's London Has Fallen. In the new film, Gerard Butler's Secret Service agent character is wrongly accused of trying to assassinate the U.S. president, played by Morgan Freeman. Angel Has Fallen has received strong audience reviews. Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw opened in China and lifted its worldwide total to $588.9 million. Disney "live-action" animated film The Lion King remained in the top four domestically as its worldwide total surpassed $1.5 billion, ranking it No. 9 of all time without adjusting for inflation.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.