Chinese 2016 auto sales surge at fastest in 3 years
Mystery of Treasury nod’s name
AUTO sales in China, the world’s biggest car market, surged at their fastest in three years in 2016, an industry group showed yesterday, jumping 14 percent after authorities slashed a purchase tax. The world’s secondlargest economy is crucial to global auto manufacturers, but the market took a hit from slowing economic growth in 2015. However a total of 28.03 million cars were sold last year, up 13.7 percent annually, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.
STEVEN T Mnuchin plans to divest himself of his financial interests in 43 companies, hedge funds and investment funds and resign from numerous board positions as he tries to disentangle himself from potential conflicts of interest before his confirmation as the next US Treasury secretary.
But Mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs executive, intends to retain control of one of his oldest companies – one named after himself.
In an ethics statement and a 42page financial disclosure form filed on Wednesday with the Office of Government Ethics, Mnuchin said without elaboration that he would retain his “unpaid position” as president of Steven T Mnuchin Inc, a company that he said is used to manage some of his investments.
The financial disclosure statement did not say what investments the company manages, nor did it ascribe a value to any of those investments. But Mnuchin said he would “not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter” that could have a “direct and predictable effect on the financial interests” of the littleknown entity.
His disclosure does little to unwrap the mystery of just what the company does and manages. Several weeks ago, a spokesman for Mnuchin said in an interview with the New York Times that the namesake entity “held small legacy Goldman Sachs investments” and that it “hasn’t made any new investments since 2002”.
The form does confirm that Mnuchin, 53, is a very wealthy man.
The combined minimum value of the assets and investments listed on his disclosure form – including a stake in a 1978 Willem de Kooning oil painting (“Untitled III”) worth $14.7 million – is a minimum of $166 million. Mnuchin also reported a minimum of $52.7 million in income last year from his business activities. ( The figures are reported in ranges.)
Among the investments and funds he intends to divest himself of are interests in his lucrative movie production businesses and a number of real estate investment funds. They also include investments in several hedge funds, including one managed by John Paulson. President-elect Donald Trump has reported having money, as of May 2016, with Paulson, who was a donor and is an economic adviser to Trump.
Mnuchin’s confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled. Four other hearings have been delayed by Republicans amid concerns by Democrats about having enough time to fully review background information on the nominees.
Julia Lawless, a spokeswoman for the Senate Finance Committee, said the office would review the documents submitted by Mnuchin. “Finance Committee hearings are announced seven days in advance, and we will announce the details as soon as soon as they become available,” she said.
Norman L Eisen, a former special counsel for ethics and government reform under President Barack Obama, said the Treasury secretary nominee’s retention of Steven T Mnuchin Inc “raises some obvious ethics concerns” that should be discussed at his hearing.
“That is what these hearings are for,” Eisen said. “Can the nominee, and will he, recuse fully from this entity and anything related to it, including the investments it holds?”
A spokesman for Mnuchin did not respond to requests for comment.