[naviga:h3]Gas prices spike in wake of Harvey[/naviga:h3]

NEW YORK — Gas prices hit a high for the year on Labor Day as the effects of Harvey continued to shut in refineries.

As of Monday the nationwide average for a gallon of gas averaged $2.638, according to the AAA. That’s up from $2.45 on Thursday.

Exxon Mobil said Sunday it’s making progress on restarting its Baytown refinery and chemical plant, which was spared significant damage from Harvey. The company’s Beaumont refinery is flooded and remained shut.

And Colonial Pipeline, which operates a key pipeline that runs from Houston to New York, said Sunday it may restart the transportation of distillates between Houston and Hebert, Texas, on Monday and of gasoline Tuesday.

[naviga:h3]China says Trump’s threat ‘unacceptable’[/naviga:h3]

BEIJING — China on Monday criticized President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off U.S. trade with countries that deal with North Korea and rejected pressure to do more to halt the North’s nuclear development.

Trump issued the threat after North Korea on Sunday exploded a thermonuclear device in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test. The threat was seen as a warning to China, North Korea’s main trading partner and only major ally.

A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, criticized Trump’s stance as unfair to Beijing.

“What is definitely unacceptable to us is that on the one hand we work so hard to peacefully resolve this issue and on the other hand our interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized,” Geng said.

Such an approach would be drastic if applied to China, from which the United States imports goods worth about $40 billion a month.