Government

Big meatpacking companies that have struggled to keep plants running during the coronavirus crisis said April 29 that they welcomed President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring them to stay open, but unions, some employees and Democrats questioned whether workers could be kept safe.

The Trump White House on April 20 announced the president’s intent to formally nominate Joel Szabat to be undersecretary of transportation for policy.

The Department of Justice has filed a legal document with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia supporting federal regulators’ authority to enforce an Obama-era greenhouse gas emissions rule to include first-ever federal regulation of greenhouse gases and fuel efficiency for trailers.

Volkswagen AG’s use of technology that helped it to cheat on diesel engine pollution tests violated European Union rules, an EU legal adviser warned in the second setback for the automaker at the bloc’s highest court this month.

More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.

President Donald Trump continues to press lawmakers to take up an infrastructure funding package as part of ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts.

Oil rallied on optimism that consumption could gradually return as major producers continue to cut output to counter a global glut.

The U.S. economy contracted by 4.8% on an annualized rate in the first quarter, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, which released the gross domestic product figures April 29.

Tesla Inc. shares have soared in spite of production shutdowns, likely demand disruptions and uncertainty about how soon the electric-car maker can restore more-normal operations.

The record-long U.S. economic expansion is over after almost 11 years, with what’s likely to be the deepest recession in at least eight decades now underway.