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June 22 (Reuters) – Three solar panel makers asked U.S. trade officials to investigate cell imports from South Korea, saying producers including Hanwha’s Qcells are using them to evade longstanding U.S. tariffs on Chinese products, according to a petition seen by Reuters.

The petition was filed with the Department of Commerce on June 18 on behalf of Canadian Solar, SEG and Heliene, which all operate solar panel factories in the United States.

The group, calling itself American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience, is seeking an anti-circumvention probe into solar cell imports from South Korea. Cells are the building blocks of modules, or panels, that convert sunlight into electricity.

Under U.S. trade law, tariffs can be extended to goods routed through third countries when processing there is minor.

In the petition, the group accuses Qcells of shifting production to Korea from China to avoid U.S. tariffs.

An attorney for the group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Qcells has two solar factories in the U.S. state of Georgia and has a goal to manufacture all the key components that go into a silicon-based solar panel on U.S. soil.

Qcells, which has invested billions into its U.S. manufacturing operations, has been a driving force behind recent U.S. trade petitions targeting solar imports from countries in Southeast Asia. Some of those imports supplied factories owned by Canadian Solar, SEG and Heliene.

“Qcells has led the effort to reshore solar manufacturing in the United States, and we have a decade-long record of supporting strong trade enforcement, not evading it,” Qcells spokesperson Marta Stoepker said in an emailed statement. “We’ve reviewed this filing and are confident the evidence will show its claims are without merit.”

(Reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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By Jonathan Stempel

June 22 (Reuters) – Gas station operators including BP, Circle K, Marathon Petroleum, 7-Eleven, Walmart and Albertsons were sued on Monday by California drivers who accused them of using artificial intelligence to boost prices at the pump.

According to a proposed class action, the defendants violated California’s main antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, by using an AI-based tool that uses data from competing gas stations to “coordinate high prices and wring more money from the pockets of consumers.”

The lawsuit in the Sacramento, California federal court said the scheme violated Assembly Bill 325, a California law that took effect on January 1 and was intended to crack down on algorithmic price fixing.

Drivers said gas prices have risen as much as 30 cents a gallon in areas where high percentages of stations use the AI tool, which comes from a company called Kalibrate.

Each penny costs California drivers an extra $134 million per year, boosting gasoline prices to “astronomical” levels sometimes reaching $7 a gallon, the complaint said.

“While families struggle to afford the commute to work, defendants have conspired to put an end to competition, joining an AI-powered trust to ensure that no matter where a driver turns, the price for gasoline is artificially high,” the complaint said.

The defendants operate more than 1,700 gas stations in California, according to the complaint. Kalibrate is also a defendant. The defendants either did not immediately respond to requests for comment or declined to comment.

Californians pay the nation’s highest gas prices, averaging $5.58 per gallon for regular, according to AAA. The national average is $3.93.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for drivers who paid too much for gasoline.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is set to pass a bipartisan housing bill on Monday that aims to bring down prices and increase supply in one of the most sweeping efforts in recent decades to reduce federal regulations and increase local control.

The bill has been the focus of intense House-Senate negotiations in recent weeks as lawmakers in both parties try to address housing costs in an election year. The final version of the legislation bans corporate investors from buying single family homes but doesn’t include a Senate provision that would have required investors to sell newly constructed homes within seven years.

The measure was the result of years of work to “lower costs, expand housing supply, cut red tape, protect taxpayers, and help more Americans achieve the dream of homeownership,” said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., who worked with Democrats to get the bill passed.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Banking panel, told The Associated Press that she believes the bill is significant “because it acknowledges that the federal government has a role to play in lowering housing prices and because for the first time ever, private equity will be blocked from buying up single family homes and trying to turn housing into one more Wall Street investment.”

Senate passage of the bill shapes up as a rare bipartisan legislative achievement when much of Republicans’ agenda has stalled. The House is expected to give final approval later this week and send the bill to President Donald Trump, who has signaled his support.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who helped negotiate the legislation, said it was a “huge step toward finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crises in this country.”

Republicans and Democrats have embraced the bill as a way to show they are addressing the nation’s affordability crisis, driven in part by rising home prices due to a shortage of affordable housing. The U.S. housing market has been in a slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes have been hovering close to a 4-million annual pace going back to 2023 — well short of the 5.2-million annual pace that’s historically been the norm. Sales slowed last year to a 30-year low and have remained sluggish so far this year, declining in January and February versus a year earlier.

The Economic Report of the President in April found a shortage of 10 million homes, while a report this month from the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University found sales of existing homes were at three-decade lows and inventories were rising due to high home buying costs. “Cost burdens for both renters and owners continue to climb, while assistance remains profoundly underfunded,” the report said.

While the median U.S. monthly rent has been declining for nearly three years, it was still 17.2% higher in May than it was before the pandemic, according to data from Realtor.com.

To increase the supply of housing, the bill would streamline environmental reviews and speed up the construction process.

It would offer funding to local governments that build more housing, including Community Development Block Grant money to places exceeding the median rate of homebuilding. It would also provide money for communities to turn abandoned infrastructure into housing, and offers a framework for communities that want to reform outdated zoning regulations, which often limit larger housing developments.

The legislation would allow banks to invest more in affordable housing and raise limits on the number of public housing units that can receive private financing through Section 8 funding to rehabilitate properties. And it would remove outdated requirements and expand federal financing to make manufactured homes more affordable.

“Manufactured housing produces some of the most cost-effective housing in America, but access to financing has been tightly restricted,” Warren said. “This creates the opportunity for more manufactured housing and, at the same time, creates a structure for people living in manufactured housing communities to organize and protect their investment in their homes.”

One of the sticking points between the two chambers was over a federal disaster recovery program.

An earlier Senate bill had permanently authorized block grant recovery funds, a change intended to ensure that funding requests aren’t needed after every disaster. House lawmakers opposed that provision because of concerns over how the program was run, so they agreed on a three-year authorization instead.

The final bill has received widespread support in the housing community, both from organizations representing landlords and large property owners as well as groups that advocate for tenants and low-income renters.

“There is no magic wand that will fix this crisis overnight, and no single piece of legislation is perfect,” said David Dworkin, chief executive of the National Housing Conference, the nation’s oldest housing coalition.

“Compromise demands that. But this bill is a significant down payment on a long-term effort to make housing more affordable for all Americans.”

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June 22 (Reuters) – Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Monday that with the labor market stable, he is focused on figuring out whether too-high inflation will stay that way persistently or if it will recede as the effect of high tariffs fades and if the conflict in the Middle East gets resolved.

“We’ve been dealing with an inflation problem that’s well above the target and has been going the wrong way,” Goolsbee said on the Marketplace radio program.

“What’s been on my mind is, what is the evidence that this is going to be temporary, and that we’re going to get back on path to 2%, which is what we’ve promised.” 

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Nia Williams)

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June 22 (Reuters) – Electronics retailer Best Buy said on Monday its chief financial officer Matt Bilunas will step down from the post, effective July 31.

• Bilunas joined the company in 2006 and became CFO in 2019.

• The company named Jason Bonfig as CEO in April, replacing longtime executive Corie Barry,

• Best Buy, which operates more than 1,000 stores across North America, has been working to revive growth by expanding online sales, services and advertising as competition intensifies across the sector.

• Shares of the company were down 3% in the extended trading.

(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum and Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Sahal Muhammed)

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BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it intends to take a 40% stake in defense contractor KNDS, whose products include Leopard and Leclerc tanks, as it tries to strengthen European production along with NATO ally France.

The French state already has a 50% stake in KNDS, which was formed in 2015 with the merger of Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter. The other half is held by the German family behind Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

Headquartered in Amsterdam, KNDS had 4.4 billion euros ($5 billion) in revenue last year and more than 11,000 employees.

European countries are moving to ramp up their defense spending and production and boost their military ranks as they contend with Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns about the United States’ unpredictability.

The German government said its planned stake “will secure long-term influence on a company that is strategically significant for European security and defense capability.” It added in a statement that “national industrial value creation, as well as technological sovereignty and the protection of security interests and key technologies in Germany” also will be strengthened.

A separate joint statement said that the German and French governments have reached an agreement on the strategy and governance of KNDS, “of which they intend to become joint shareholders through transactions aiming at equal shareholding levels for both countries.”

It didn’t specify when that will happen or what level the countries’ stakes will ultimately settle at, but said the accord paves the way for a possible IPO of KNDS in the near future.

The two governments said their agreement “reflects the shared determination of France and Germany to strengthen Europe’s industrial and defense capabilities, support their armed forces, and strengthen European sovereignty over the long term.”

Beside the tanks, KNDS’ products also include Puma infantry fighting vehicles and Boxer and Dingo armored personnel carriers.

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BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday announced sanctions on 10 American military-related companies in response to a recent U.S. move that bars some leading Chinese tech companies from defense contracts.

The Commerce Ministry said that Chinese companies would be blocked from exporting “dual-use” items to the 10 companies, which include military drone makers and some involved in rare earth mining. Dual use refers to goods that can have military as well as non-military applications.

The ministry said the export ban was both to safeguard China’s national security and in response to what it called the U.S. government’s “wrongful expansion of its so-called List of Chinese Military Companies.”

George Chen, partner for Greater China at the advisory firm The Asia Group, said the ban was an unsurprising and proportionate response to the U.S. restrictions.

“Most of them are U.S. defense industry players or they have close connections with the U.S. government for contracts and other reasons,” he said. “Those companies are not going to do business in China, so the impact will be quite symbolic.”

Separately, the Finance Ministry said that government entities would be prohibited from buying products from 46 American companies including multiple units of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics. A brief statement did not give any reason for the prohibition.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Defense Department added several tech companies including Alibaba and Baidu to its list of firms that it says have links to the Chinese military. Baidu said the suggestion that it is a military company is “totally baseless.”

The designation prevents them from getting U.S. military contracts.

The Commerce Ministry said at the time that the American sanctions run counter to the consensus that Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump reached during Trump’s visit to China in May.

In Monday’s announcement, the ministry said that companies or individuals in third countries are prohibited from transferring dual-use items from China to the sanctioned American firms. It also said that Chinese companies could apply for export approval for goods that are “genuinely necessary.”

The 10 companies are AVEOX in Simi Valley, California; Red Cat Holdings and Teal Drones, both in South Salt Lake, Utah; IMSAR in Springville, Utah; Jaia Robotics in Bristol, Rhode Island; Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Broomfield, Colorado; Oshkosh Defense in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; L3Harris Maritime Services in Norfolk, Virginia; MP Materials in Las Vegas; and USA Rare Earth in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

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By Rajesh Kumar Singh, Alessandro Parodi and Joanna Plucinska

CHICAGO/LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) – Airlines stand to save billions of dollars on jet fuel after an interim U.S.-Iran peace deal sent oil prices lower, but passengers are unlikely to see immediate relief as tight capacity may allow carriers to keep fares well above pre-war levels.

The U.S. market offers the clearest example. Fare increases still lag this year’s run-up in fuel costs, while domestic seat growth remains limited. That gives airlines leeway to use lower fuel bills to rebuild margins rather than reverse recent price increases.

U.S. jet fuel spot prices stood at $2.85 a gallon on June 17, down sharply from an early April high of $4.88. A decline of that size would cut the U.S. airline industry’s annual fuel bill by more than $40 billion if sustained, according to a Reuters calculation based on industry fuel consumption.

FARES STILL LAG FUEL

As jet fuel prices surged, U.S. airlines raised ticket prices and bag fees, and cut schedules, but those steps have offset only part of the rise in fuel costs.

Industry data show jet fuel prices rose more than three times as fast as airfares from January through May. Deutsche Bank estimated U.S. carriers would recover only about 60 cents of every additional dollar spent on fuel — $14.4 billion in higher revenue against $24.1 billion in higher fuel costs.

Alaska Air said it was recovering about one-third of the increase, while Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines put second-quarter recapture at about 40% to 50%. JetBlue Airways and Frontier Group expect to recover less than half.

United CEO Scott Kirby told Reuters his airline was getting closer to recouping the fuel-cost spike through pricing: “We’re on a path to recovering 100% by the end of the year.”

Raymond James data show average domestic fares booked one week before travel were up 34.1% from a year earlier as of June 8.

The key question is whether airlines can keep recent fare increases as fuel prices ease. “What remains crucial is the ability to hold price,” Melius Research analyst Conor Cunningham said, adding that lower gasoline prices could ease consumer pressure over high airfares.

UNEQUAL PASS-THROUGH

Outside the U.S., fare relief is likely to be uneven. Lower crude prices will take time to feed through to jet fuel, and unless jet fuel falls back toward start-of-year levels, airlines are likely to keep fares firm or push them higher where demand allows, said Dudley Shanley, head of aviation and travel research at Dublin-based Goodbody.

Europe may see a split. Long-haul fares are more likely to ease because airlines passed on higher fuel costs more successfully on those routes, RBC analyst Ruairi Cullinane said. Short-haul fares may prove firmer if the peace agreement supports bookings and demand.

In Asia, HSBC analysts said China’s big three airlines face weak pricing power and falling aircraft utilization, while Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific is better placed as higher fares, cargo revenue and premium demand could offset fuel costs.

The Middle East is the clearest exception, after the war disrupted traffic flows. Some airlines may use promotions to win back traffic, said aviation analyst John Strickland, but fuel remains too expensive for widespread discounting. United Arab Emirates carriers could be more aggressive and receive stronger government backing, he added.

EARNINGS BEFORE DISCOUNTS

How much airlines benefit from lower fuel prices will depend on how long prices stay down. Fuel bills reflect purchases over time, not spot prices, and even after the latest declines jet fuel still costs 54% more than a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson summed up the pressure. Asked when Southwest could return to pre-pandemic margins, Watterson told Reuters: “When’s fuel going to go down?”

That leaves little incentive to cut fares as airlines try to rebuild earnings.

Jefferies estimated each 5% drop in its roughly $3-per-gallon 2027 fuel-cost forecast would lift projected earnings per share by 10% to 15% for Delta, Southwest and United, and by as much as 50% for American Airlines.

NO BROAD FARE WAR

In past U.S. fuel cycles, falling oil prices often triggered a capacity race that pushed fares lower. Those conditions are not broadly in place now.

Aircraft delivery delays, tight airport capacity and weaker low-cost carriers are limiting the risk of a broad domestic fare war. U.S. domestic airline seats are scheduled to grow just 0.4% year-on-year in the third quarter, down from 4.6% expected before the latest Middle East tensions, industry data show.

J.P. Morgan analysts said limited aircraft deliveries and budget-carrier pullbacks reduce the risk of “meaningful capacity creep” in the United States, giving airlines a better-than-usual ability to hold current pricing.

For passengers, fare relief may depend less on fuel than on whether demand holds up. “This is very much subject to the strength of the consumer,” Shanley said.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago, Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk and Joanna Plucinska in London; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia and Canada signed a $1.75 billion export agreement on Monday to build an Australian-designed long-range radar system in Canada.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Canadian Secretary of State (Defense Procurement) Stephen Fuhr signed the first phase of a pact to provide early warning radar coverage from the Canada-United States border into the Arctic.

“What this really means is that Australia and Canada are now partners in terms of the future development of the Over-the-Horizon Radar,” Marles told reporters at the Australian Parliament House in the capital Canberra.

“There is now a very strategic dimension to the relationship,” Marles added.

Fuhr said the two British Commonwealth countries, both of which are partners in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance that also includes the United States, Britain and New Zealand, had “stood shoulder-to-shoulder for generations.”

“As the world adjusts to its new strategic and economic realities, I can’t think of a stronger partner to work with more than Australia,” Fuhr said at a joint press conference with Marles.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he’d chosen Australia’s radar system over comparable U.S. technology shortly after he came to power last year.

In March, Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to visit Australia in 12 years.

During the visit, Carney and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese agreed to increase cooperation on defense technologies, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.

BAE Systems Australia said in a statement it will support both governments in developing the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar.

The Australian system, developed over 40 years, works by refracting high-frequency electromagnetic waves off the ionosphere to detect distant objects that are invisible to conventional radars because of Earth’s curvature.

The deal is Australia’s largest ever defense export. Australia’s previous record defense export was a $700 million deal signed in 2024 to provide Germany with 100 Australian-made Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles.

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By Yamini Kalia

June 22 (Reuters) – Castlelake made public its £4.74 billion ($6.26 billion) takeover plan for easyJet on Monday, ramping up pressure on the board of the budget airline, which promptly rejected it as “opportunistic” and not in the best interests of shareholders.

Minneapolis-based Castlelake, which is a major aviation investor and manages about $38 billion in assets, said the move would allow easyJet shareholders to weigh the bid’s merits and relay their views before a June 26 offer deadline.

“There will be increased pressure on the board this week,” Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst Dudley Shanley said of the proposed offer price of £6.25 per share from Castlelake.

Shares in the British carrier, founded by British‑Cypriot entrepreneur Stelios Haji‑Ioannou in 1995, rose more than 5% in early trading to £5.30, their highest level in nearly a year.

“The Board believes that the Third Proposal represents an opportunistic attempt to acquire easyJet ‘on the cheap’ and that it is therefore not in the best interests of easyJet shareholders,” the budget carrier said in a statement.

Castlelake said its proposal is backed by former Malaysia Airlines CEO Peter Bellew and another European Union national, as it seeks to smooth over possible European regulatory hurdles.

EASYJET FOCUSED ON TARGETS

EasyJet said it was focused on its medium-term targets and growing its holidays business, which has accounted for a growing share of profit despite uncertainties.

Castlelake’s £6.25 per share proposal made on June 20 represents a premium of about 57% to easyJet’s share price on May 29 before the U.S. group disclosed its interest and follows two bids of £5.6 and £6.0.

It said easyJet’s “unwillingness to engage meaningfully” was a reason for going public with the bid, which included a partial equity alternative for easyJet investors.

EU OWNERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

To navigate European airlines ownership rules, which require European carriers to be majority owned and controlled by EU nationals, Castlelake has partnered with senior industry executives Bellew and Mark Breen.

Castlelake said its proposed easyJet ownership structure aligns with models used by other European airlines for compliance, but easyJet argued that the envisaged structure was “opaque” and would not form any basis for assessing the bid.

Shanley said that easyJet equity investors could be disappointed due to the lack of a European airline partner.

Castlelake said its bid is expected to be fully funded through a combination of committed equity and debt, with Goldman Sachs indicating confidence in arranging the required funds.

($1 = £0.7572)

(Reporting by Yamini Kalia, Raechel Thankam Job and Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Writing by Pushkala Aripaka; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Louise Heavens and Alexander Smith)

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