NEW YORK — (AP) — PPG Industries plans to lay off about 1,800 employees amid efforts to cut costs, with the paints and coatings maker also inking a deal to sell a sizeable chunk of its architectural business. Pittsburgh-based PPG said Thursday that the job cuts would primarily impact positions in the U.S. and Europe. The timing of the layoffs was not immediately disclosed, but the company said the cuts were part of a larger multiyear program aimed at reducing structural worldwide — noting that this will also include “various facility closures,” without specifying further. “While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary to adjust our fixed cost base and to right-size our company,” Tim Knavish, PPG chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement — pointing to two recently-announced business divestitures. PPG also announced that it had agreed to sell all of its U.S. and Canadian architectural coatings business — which houses brands like Liquid Nails, Glidden and Olympic and made up $2 billion in net sales for PPG last year — to private equity firm American Industrial Partners. The sale, expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025, is valued at $550 million.