Business News at a Glance

Facebook Accused of Allowing Bias Against Women in Job Ads

A group of job seekers is accusing Facebook of helping employers to exclude female candidates from recruiting campaigns. The job seekers, in collaboration with the Communications Workers of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, filed charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday against Facebook and nine employers. The employers appear to have used Facebook’s targeting technology to exclude women from the users who received their advertisements. The charges were filed on behalf of any women who searched for a job on Facebook during roughly the past year.

China Once Looked Tough on Trade. Now Its Options Are Dwindling.

President Donald Trump imposed tariffs in July on $34 billion in Chinese goods. China matched them with its own. Then he hit an additional $16 billion in goods in August. China matched that, too. Now, Trump has made his biggest move yet, announcing 10 percent tariffs starting in a week on $200 billion a year of Chinese goods. But this time, China cannot match them all — and that crystallizes a growing problem for Beijing. On Tuesday, Chinese officials responded to the president’s latest move by following through on an earlier threat to impose tariffs on $60 billion in American goods — nearly everything China buys from the United States.

Places That Once Made Goods Now Speed Them to Your Door

As the U.S. economy continues its shift away from manufacturing, locations that once housed industries such as automobiles or chemicals are being remade as distribution hubs for the millions of items bought by consumers online. Developers are trying to meet growing demand by modifying industrial buildings to meet the requirements of the logistics business or, more likely, demolishing them to make way for facilities built for the distribution industry. These sites offer many benefits ideal for distribution, including easy access to highways, ports and rail links and a proximity to major markets.

Republicans Opposing Trump on Trade Face Election Quandary

As President Donald Trump again ratchets up trade tensions with China and Canada, he has the strong backing of Republican voters. But he risks putting his party’s congressional candidates — many of whom are more supportive of free trade — in a bind. Top Republicans in Congress love Trump’s tax cuts, but they do not love the tariffs that have become the centerpiece of his trade policy. Republican voters across the country approve of Trump’s tariffs almost as much as they approve of his tax cuts, according to a survey conducted for The New York Times in early September by the online polling firm SurveyMonkey.

McDonald’s Workers Across the U.S. Stage #MeToo Protests

In a St. Louis suburb, they chanted, “Hold your burgers, hold your fries. Keep your hands off my thighs.” In Chicago, they had blue duct tape that said “MeToo” covering their mouths. And in Kansas City, Missouri, they held signs bearing the same anti-sexual harassment hashtag with the first letter styled to look like the McDonald’s golden arches. In what organizers said was the first strike in more than 100 years to protest sexual harassment in the workplace, hundreds of McDonald’s employees in those cities and seven others rallied to demand the fast food chain do more to combat the problem.

Justice Department Is Examining Tesla After Musk Tweet

Tesla said Tuesday the Justice Department had requested documents from the company after its chief executive, Elon Musk, announced that he had lined up funding to convert the publicly traded electric carmaker into a private company. The request for information suggests the Justice Department has opened a preliminary investigation into Musk’s market-moving Twitter post Aug. 7 about the potential buyout. The Justice Department inquiry, along with an intensifying Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into Tesla’s practices and communications, substantially increases the risks facing the embattled company. Tesla already is under intense financial pressure, with its shares down 25 percent since early August.

BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen Face Collusion Investigation in Europe

The European Commission opened an inquiry Tuesday into possible collusion among BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen to prevent the development of clean emissions technology. The investigation adds to a series of problems for the German auto industry, the country’s biggest employer and exporter, which is grappling with the consequences of Volkswagen’s diesel deception, as well as a long-term shift toward electric vehicles and the threat of auto tariffs from the United States. The announcement by the commission comes nearly a year after officials searched the German automakers’ offices as part of an initial inquiry into possible price fixing.