President Donald Trump is hailing a revised North American trade deal as if nothing existed before it. But fundamental change happened under the deal's predecessor, the North American Free Trade agreement -- the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement brings incremental change, with a few significant advances for the auto industry, and is largely aimed at preserving economic stability in North America.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators are holding high-level talks aimed at settling a six-month trade war that has weakened both sides, shaken financial markets and clouded the outlook for the global economy. Yet the odds seem stacked against any substantive resolution this week to the standoff between the world's two biggest economies.

Preliminary data from the federal government shows U.S. lobster exports to China held steady during the year despite tariffs imposed during trade hostilities between the two countries. China is one of the biggest buyers of American lobster, which is hauled to the shore mostly in the New England states and Canada.

The Trump administration wants to tax $11.2 billion worth of EU goods — from airplanes to Gouda cheese — in a move that some experts say marks another attempt by the administration to use tariffs to reshape global trade in its favor. The import duties would be imposed if the World Trade Organization rules in favor of the U.S. this summer in a case over subsidies that the Europeans gave plane maker Airbus. The Trump administration argues that the ruling would give it the legal right to make up for losses U.S. manufacturer Boeing incurred.

The European Union and Japan have inaugurated a landmark deal they say will boost trade between the two economic powers and sends the message that international agreements still have a purpose in an age of increasing protectionism. The agreement that comes into effect Friday will scrap nearly all tariffs on products both sides trade in.

A Texas-based company is facing criticism for naming a beer after the location of nuclear tests that resulted in the contamination of a Pacific island chain, a report said. Manhattan Project Beer Company is under scrutiny by Marshall Islanders who were exposed to high levels of radiation by U.S. government research from 1946 to 1958. The government and residents of the Republic of the Marshall Islands have objected to the company's beer named Bikini Atoll, an area of the island chain that remains uninhabitable.

Well before President Donald Trump began slapping tariffs on steel, aluminum and other imported goods, there was a deal with South Africa that gave U.S. chicken producers duty-free access to a market that had effectively been shut to them for years. But that trade deal, worth tens of millions of dollars to American businesses, now is being threatened by Trump's metal tariffs.

Starbucks says it will offer delivery from 2,000 U.S. stores by next summer through a partnership with Uber Eats. It isn't yet saying which stores will offer it. In China, delivery will be offered from 2,000 stores in 30 cities by the end of this year, up from 150 stores at the end of September. Starbucks began working with its Chinese delivery partner, Ele.me, three months ago.

Tesla joins global automakers including General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Corp. that are pouring billions of dollars into manufacturing electric vehicles in China.

Even though unemployment is low, the economy is growing and U.S. auto sales are near historic highs, General Motors is cutting thousands of jobs in a major restructuring aimed at generating cash to spend on innovation. At five factories, around 3,300 blue-collar workers could lose jobs in the U.S. and another 2,600 in Canada, but some U.S. workers could transfer to truck or SUV factories that are increasing production. The cuts mark GM's first major downsizing since shedding thousands of jobs in the Great Recession. The reductions could amount to as much as 8 percent of GM's global workforce of 180,000 employees.