JAPAN, CHILE SIGN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: Japan and Chile signed a free trade agreement Monday, hailing it as a tool to consolidate their economic partnership and strengthen bilateral relations. The pact that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet inked in a Tokyo signing ceremony marks the first such agreement between the world's No. 2 economy and a South American country. Chile is likely to become Japan's largest trading partner in South America as a result of the agreement, Abe told Bachelet after the ceremony. Under the pact, Chile will abolish tariffs on automobiles, machinery and electronics from Japan. In return, Tokyo gradually will abolish taxes on salmon, trout and wine from Chile, with tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade phased out within 10 years.
U.S. WORKERS MOST PRODUCTIVE: U.S. workers stay longer in the office, at the factory or on the farm than their counterparts in Europe and most other rich nations, and they produce more per person over the year. They also get more done per hour than everyone but the Norwegians, according to a U.N. report released Monday, which said the United States "leads the world in labor productivity." The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609.
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