Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter - Trump-Hamas negotiator says businesses can lean on Israel

By Ross Kerber

Dec 3 (Reuters) - This is the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter, which you can sign up for here .

Ever since a massacre of Israelis in 2023 by Hamas militants began the war in Gaza, Western businesses have been asked to take stands on the conflict that has killed tens of thousands. I've been meaning to ask Israeli negotiator and peace activist Gershon Baskin about this topic for a while now, and you can read our discussion in this week's column linked below.

Also below are items on topics like our Special Report on China's gasoline-vehicle exports, a potentially big ruling against Apple in Europe, and the agenda of Wall Street's top regulator.

As always you can follow me on LinkedIn and/or Bluesky, or reach me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com

Trump-Hamas negotiator Baskin says businesses can lean on Israel

Jerusalem-based peace activist and negotiator Gershon Baskin played an important role in the diplomacy between U.S. and Hamas leaders leading to the October deal pausing the war in Gaza.

Business concerns were hardly at the center of the talks, but they will be for future diplomacy and reconstruction. I got in touch with Baskin to ask about the posture of the Western business community during the conflict.

You can click here to read our conversation. Some big takeaways: Baskin thinks Israel's war conduct poses a problem for its relations with the European Union, its biggest trading partner, and said he wouldn't object if Israel were banned from the Eurovision Song Contest.

Company news

Europe's highest court said Apple AAPL.O can be sued in the Netherlands, siding with two foundations seeking payment over allegedly anticompetitive conduct involving the company's App Store.

Crowded out of China's domestic market, many of the country's biggest carmakers responded by exporting their gasoline-powered vehicles, according to a new Reuters Special Report. The trend shows the far-reaching impacts of Chinese industrial policy.

Bayer BAYGn.DE won backing from the Trump administration for its legal bid for the U.S. Supreme Court to curtail thousands of lawsuits linking the company's Roundup weedkiller with cancer.

On my radar

Emerson Electric EMR.N won permission from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to skip a vote on whether its directors should be elected annually, but regulators didn't cite a reason. The decision is in correspondence shown to me by resolution sponsor John Chevedden. The well-known private investor said the case shows how new rules "will keep worthy proposals off the ballot." Emerson representatives didn't respond to questions.

Speaking of the SEC, its chairman Paul Atkins on Tuesday urged the agency to reform CEO pay disclosure rules and take other steps to cut the burdens facing smaller companies.

As part of the Trump administration's Invest America initiative, entrepreneur Michael Dell and his wife will deposit $250 in the individual accounts of 25 million American children. The gifts are part of a $6.25 billion philanthropic pledge.

A new survey by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing found about eight in 10 institutional asset managers and owners expect the proportion of their assets in sustainable funds to increase over the next two years.