|
Washington Trade Daily
Volume 18, Number 123 Monday, June 22, 2009
_______________________________Trade Reports International Group___________________________
A Challenge Over EU-US Beef Accord
Geneva – Some big beef producing countries – along with India – on Friday challenged the United States and the European Union at the World Organization over their recent bilateral agreement – for increasing EU access for US beef through a new tariff-rate quota, which the countries say is inconsistent with global trade rules, WTD has learned (WTD, 6/3/09).
Eight members – Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Nicaragua and India – demanded details on how the special arrangement was agreed. The memorandum of understanding reached in April allows a five-fold increase in US quotas on hormone-free, high-quality beef.
The agreement is blatantly inconsistent with the WTO’s most-favored-nation rule, the complainants argued.
The US-EU agreement temporarily settled a long-standing dispute between the two nations over Brussels’ ban on imports of hormone-treated beef, which the WTO has judged to be an unfair trade practice.
Discriminatory
During a Dispute Settlement Body meeting, Uruguay – one of the leading beef exporters to the EU – said the US-EU MOU is discriminatory because it allows an increase in the US quota for high quality beef – from some 11,500 metric tons to over 50,000 tons – without making equivalent concessions to others. Uruguay told the meeting that the US-EU deal sets a new precedent in which it not only denies tariff-rate quota access for other beef producers, but creates tariff classification hurdles.
Australia echoed Uruguay’s remarks, saying the agreement establishes a new tariff-rate quota and raises concerns about consistency with WTO agreements.
Argentina has many concerns regarding the commercial impact of the quota. Brazil said any solution mutually accepted by the parties must be consistent with the covered agreements, including MFN treatment.
In response, the EU explained that the underlying rationale for the beef understanding with Washington was to pave the way for the United States to lower the level of sanctions applied to EU products. The quota – a new one – is not linked to the definition or the implementation of a separate quota for beef opened as part of the Uruguay Round market access commitments, a EU legal official maintained.
Brussels, however, said it has yet to fully implement the agreement.
Washington, on its part, will maintain trade sanctions of some $38.5 million annually which will be lifted in the fourth year under the agreement. Both sides agreed not to further challenge the EU hormone ban in the WTO for at least three years.
Around the Globe
China's Ministry of Commerce expressed “deep regret” at a US trade panel ruling that Chinese tires had flooded the US market, the first step in what could be the Obama administration's first trade dispute with Beijing, Reuters news service reported from Beijing (WTD, 6/19/09). The International Trade Commission found that a surge of low-cost tires from China had disrupted US markets, following a complaint by the United Steelworkers union which hopes to cap Chinese tire imports at their 2005 level.
“China has repeatedly expressed its opposition to foreign governments' using safeguard clauses to launch investigations of Chinese products,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian said in a statement posted on the ministry's website on Friday. “The decision does not conform to objective facts, and also violates relevant World Trade Organization rules in addition to US law.”
Lawyers representing Chinese tire producers argue that US companies largely abandoned the low-range tire market before Chinese manufacturers moved in. They also noted that no US tire producers had joined the steelworkers' complaint. “We hope the US will fully consider the actual situation of this case and proceed from the overall interests of the two countries' industries,” Yao said.
Iran spent nearly twice as much on US imports during President Barack Obama's first months in office as it did during the same period in 2008, showing that despite trade penalties and tense relations, the two countries are still doing business the Associated Press news service reported (WTD, 6/2/09). The US exported $96 million in goods to Iran from January through April, according to an Associated Press analysis of US government trade data compiled by the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research in Holyoke, Mass.
US exports to Iran totaled $51 million during the same period in 2008 and $27 million over those months in 2007. Soybeans, wheat and medical supplies -- all considered humanitarian items exempt from US trade sanctions -- are among the top exports this year.
Several countries have been more than willing to do business with Iran. Those exporting more than $1 billion in goods to Iran last year included China, $8 billion; Germany, $5.7 billion; Italy, $3.2 billion; France, $2.6 billion; and Japan, $1.9 billion. That compares with about $747 million in exports to Iran by Britain, $689 million by Belgium, about $685 million by Spain and $683 million by the US.
Russia wants to preserve the progress it made during 16 years of talks to join the World Trade Organization, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday, as Russian, Kazakh and Belarussian negotiators were presenting a joint bid in Geneva, the Moscow Times newspaper reported (WTD, 6/15/09). “We need to prevent the level of agreement that we've reached with the WTO from falling or being lost,” Putin said in a meeting with Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, whose ministry oversees the talks.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan announced last week that they would suspend individual accession talks with the WTO and pursue a joint bid as a customs union, a grouping that they aim to create in January. “We have already gone most of the way in the course of many years of talks,” Nabiullina said. “Of course, we don't want to lose that.” Delegations from the three countries held a grueling first meeting to discuss a new accession format with WTO members, Russia's chief negotiator, Maxim Medvedkov, said late Wednesday. The delegations spoke with some 60 to 70 countries for an “informal” meeting earlier Wednesday, Medvedkov said. A number of countries said the change could delay their bid because there had been no precedents, Medvedkov said.
EU leaders have given unanimous political backing for Jose Manuel Barroso to become president of the European Commission for a second time, putting an end to months of speculation about his candidacy, the EU Observer reported. Czech Prime minister Jan Fischer, currently in charge of the EU, said there was “broad and unanimous support" for the centre-right Portuguese politician, who presented some of his plans for his second mandate during a dinner with EU leaders on Thursday evening.
Thailand's exports slumped at a record pace in May and could fall by almost 20 percent this year as global demand remains weak, the Commerce Ministry said Friday according to the Wall Street Journal. Exports from the Southeast Asian nation fell 26.6 percent from a year earlier to $11.7 billion, the biggest monthly drop ever, the ministry said. Imports slid 34.7 percent to $9.3 billion, producing a trade surplus of $2.4 billion for May. Thailand's export-dependent economy is reeling from the worst global recession in decades while domestic consumption remains sluggish because of chronic political instability following the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister. The ministry said exports this year will fall between 15 percent and 19 percent compared with its previous forecast of exports being flat in the worst-case scenario.
Argentina's trade surplus shot up to $2.5 billion in May, 139 percent higher than $1 billion a year ago, although overall trade volumes fell far short of last year's numbers largely due to the impact of the global economic crisis, Dow Jones news service reported from Buenos Aires. Exports totaled $5.14 billion in May, down 17 percent from $6.2 billion a year ago, while imports totaled $2.66 billion, down 49 percent from $5.2 billion a year ago, the government statistics institute, Indec, said Friday. Indec said export prices were down 13 percent on average from a year ago, while volumes were down 6%. Import volumes, meanwhile, fell 39 percent, while import prices fell 16 percent. In the first five months of 2009, the trade surplus reached $8.33 billion, up 63 percent from the same five-month period in 2008, Indec reported. Exports totaled $22.1 billion, down 21 percent from a year ago, and imports were $13.8 billion, down 40 percent.
— —
Sign up for WTD’s special email alert system which keeps you informed of major trade-related news throughout the day. Simply email WTD your email address and we will add you to the list.
Email: wtdtrade@cs.com
WTD now has available for sale compact disks for all of 2005 through 2008 – for $35 each.
To order call 301-946-0817, fax us at 301-946-2631 or e-mail us at wtdtrade@cs.com
On the Web......
Agriculture
Burkina Faso
Canada
Peru. Canadian government statement on legislation implementing the Canada-Peru free trade agreement. (available at: http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/andean-andin/can-peru-perou.aspx?lang=en ) issued: 6/19/09.
China
Imports. Statement by Rep. Ryan on the International Trade Commission decision on tire imports from China. issued: 6/19/09.
Imports. Statement by Sen. Specter on the International Trade Commission decision on tire imports from China. (available at: http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=f440001e-fb9b-e4a4-065d-6c88ce897874&Region_id=&Issue_id= ) issued: 6/18/09.
Developing Countries
Doha Development Agenda
Imports. World Trade Organization Secretariat summary the countervailing duty and antidumping provisions in the rules negotiations in the Doha Development Agenda. (available at: http://docsonline.wto.org/GEN_viewerwindow.asp?http://docsonline.wto.org:80/DDFDocuments/t/tn/rl/W238.doc ) issued: 6/18/09.
Environment
WTO. World Trade Organization list of documents on trade and the environment. (available at: http://docsonline.wto.org/GEN_viewerwindow.asp?http://docsonline.wto.org:80/DDFDocuments/t/WT/CTE/INF5R8.doc ) issued: 6/18/09.
Export Controls
Korea (North). Treasury Department update fact sheet on US sanctions against North Korea. (available at: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/nkorea/nkorea.pdf ) issued: 6/19/09.
Foreign Investment
Forest Products
Imports
China. Statement by Rep. Ryan on the International Trade Commission decision on tire imports from China. issued: 6/19/09.
China. Statement by Sen. Specter on the International Trade Commission decision on tire imports from China. (available at: http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=f440001e-fb9b-e4a4-065d-6c88ce897874&Region_id=&Issue_id= ) issued: 6/18/09.
DDA. World Trade Organization Secretariat summary the countervailing duty and antidumping provisions in the rules negotiations in the Doha Development Agenda. (available at: http://docsonline.wto.org/GEN_viewerwindow.asp?http://docsonline.wto.org:80/DDFDocuments/t/tn/rl/W238.doc ) issued: 6/18/09.
Intellectual Property Rights
Enforcement. Letter from several senators to President Obama on intellectual property rights enforcement. (available at: http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=f5528716-1b78-be3e-e07c-10870587b1fe&Month=6&Year=2009 ) issued: 6/18/09.
Korea (North)
Export Controls. Treasury Department update fact sheet on US sanctions against North Korea. (available at: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/nkorea/nkorea.pdf ) issued: 6/19/09.
Sierra Leone
Switzerland
Taxation
Trade Policy
Travel and Tourism
|