Tagged: US Protectionism
China hits back at US over trade and currency
BBC NEWS | 2010/02/04 | 09:38:17 GMT
US-CHINA TENSIONS
- Google – China denies being behind an alleged cyber-attack on the US search engine
- Taiwan – a US sale of $6.4bn (£4bn) of defensive arms to Taiwan has angered Beijing
- Tibet – China says a US meeting with the Dalai Lama would “undermine relations”
- Trade – rows over imports and exports of meat, media, car tyres and raw materials
- Iran – the US fears China will not back tougher sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme
- Climate – the US is disappointed at China’s tough position at the Copenhagen Summit
China has hit back at the US a day after President Barack Obama promised to take a tougher line with Beijing over currency and trade. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the value of the Chinese Yuan was not the main reason for the country’s trade surplus with the US. Mr. Obama vowed to ensure countries were not giving their currencies an unfair advantage over the dollar. Ties between the US and China have been strained over an arms deal with Taiwan. Tensions have also risen over reports of Chinese cyber-attacks on US-run websites and a planned visit to the US by the Dalai Lama.
Trade agreements
US companies have long complained that China keeps its currency artificially undervalued, allowing a steady flow of cheap exports around the world. At a meeting with Senate Democrats, Mr. Obama was asked whether the US would cut ties with Beijing over continuing trade Continue reading
US Will Protest to China over Google Cyber Attack
Bloomberg |January 15, 2010 | 12:44 EST
The U.S. will issue a formal protest to the Chinese government over the cyber attack on Google Inc. that the company says originated from China. “We will be issuing a formal demarche in Beijing,” likely early next week, to express U.S. concern about the incident, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in Washington. In the protest, the U.S. will demand that China explain the attack that Mountain View, California-based Google says targeted its Web site and the e-mail accounts of Chinese dissidents.
Google, which owns the most popular Internet search engine, has said it plans to stop censoring results in China and may leave the Chinese market over the attack. The Chinese Embassy in Washington couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the planned U.S. action. David Shear, the deputy assistant secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, met with the Chinese Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in Washington yesterday to express concern and ask questions. Shear didn’t receive answers to his questions, according to a U.S. official who requested anonymity. Google said the attack, which occurred last month, included theft of its intellectual property and hacking into the e-mail accounts of rights activists, and that it targeted at least 20 other “large” companies in technology, finance and chemicals. Continue reading
US votes for Chinese steel duties
BBC NEWS | 2009/12/30 | 23:14:22 GMT
A US trade commission has agreed plans to impose tariffs on imports of Chinese-made steel pipes. The US’s International Trade Commission voted unanimously in favour of the tariffs, designed to offset Chinese government subsidies. Duties ranging between 10% and 15% are now set to be imposed. The move is the latest in a string of recent trade disputes between China and the US, who accuse China of using unfair subsidies and price practices.
In November, the US imposed a 35% import duty on Chinese tyres, arguing that large numbers entering the US market was having a disruptive effect. The latest decision clears the way for the Commerce Department to impose the tariffs on steel piping as originally outlined in November. Steel piping is big business in the US, which imported $2.74bn of steel pipe from China last year. The pipes are used in oil wells, and have seen increased demand on the back of rising oil prices.
Post-Mortems Reveal Obvious Risk at Banks
NYT | ERIC DASH | November 19, 2009
The coroner’s report left no doubt as to the cause of death: toxic loans.
That was the conclusion of a financial autopsy that federal officials performed on Haven Trust Bank, a small bank in Duluth, Ga., that collapsed last December. In what sounds like an episode of “CSI: Wall Street,” dozens of government investigators — the coroners of the financial crisis — are conducting post-mortems on failed lenders across the nation. Their findings paint a striking portrait of management missteps and regulatory lapses. At bank after bank, the examiners are discovering that state and federal regulators knew lenders were engaging in hazardous business practices but failed to act until it was too late. At Haven Trust, for instance, regulators raised alarms about lax lending standards, poor risk controls and a buildup of potentially dangerous loans to the boom-and-bust building industry. Despite the warnings — made as far back as 2002 — neither the bank’s management nor the regulators took action. Similar stories played out at small and midsize lenders from Maryland to California.
What went wrong? In many instances, the financial overseers failed to act quickly and forcefully to rein in runaway banks, according to reports compiled by the inspectors general of the four major federal banking regulators. Together, they have completed 41 inquests and have Continue reading
Trade talks end Obama China trip
BBC NEWS | 2009/11/18 | 10:10:44 GMT
CHINA AND US TIES
- Veto holders on five-member UN Security Council
- China is the biggest foreign investor in US treasury bonds, owning about $770bn (£457bn)
- China is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas producer at 20.7% of global emissions, followed by the US with 15.5%
- US imports from China dwarf its exports, stoking trade tensions
US President Barack Obama has met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the last day of his much-watched visit to the rising Asian house. Trade disputes were expected to be on the agenda during Mr.. Obama’s lunch with China’s third-highest leader, who is responsible for the economy. Reports quoted the Chinese premier as having urged a “steady balancing” of trade with the US during the talks. Mr.. Obama later visited China’s Great Wall, before heading to South Korea. The US president, who is on a week-long tour of East Asia, is expected to focus on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions during talks in Seoul.
Protectionism
Before Wednesday’s meeting with the Chinese prime minister, Mr.. Obama said the Washington-Beijing relationship was now about more than trade and economics. He said it also covered climate, security and other matters of international concern, the Associated Press news agency Continue reading
Highlights of Obama-Hu joint news conference in Beijing
Reuters | Tue Nov 17, 2009 | 1:01pm IST
Following are key quotes by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao, from their joint statement to the media in Beijing on Tuesday.
ECONOMY
HU JINTAO: “We reiterated that we will continue to increase dialogue and cooperation on macroeconomic and financial policies and continue to consult, on an equal footing, to properly resolve and address economic and trade frictions, in a joint effort to uphold the sound and steady growth of our business ties and trade. I stressed to President Obama that under the current circumstances our two countries need to oppose all kinds of trade protectionism even more strongly.”
BARACK OBAMA: “Going forward we agreed to advance the pledge made at the G20 summit in Pittsburg and pursue a strategy of more balanced economic growth. A strategy where America saves more spends less, reduces our long-term debt and where China makes adjustments across a broad range of policies to rebalance its economy and spur domestic demand. “I was pleased to note the Chinese commitment made in past statements to move toward a more market-oriented exchange rate over time.”
CLIMATE CHANGE
OBAMA: “We’ve agreed to a series of important new initiatives in this area. As President Hu indicated, we are creating a joint clean energy research centre and have achieved agreements on energy efficiency, renewable energy and cleaner uses of coal, electric vehicles and shale Continue reading
China and US ‘to work together’
BBC NEWS | 2009/11/17 | 08:42:04 GMT
US Trade Deficit with China for Sep '09
The presidents of China and the US have agreed to work together to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems. On climate change, Barack Obama said both sides agreed on the need for a comprehensive global deal in Copenhagen next month, not a political statement. Mr. Obama and Hu Jintao also agreed to push for North Korea to re-enter stalled talks on its nuclear programme. But underlying tensions were referred to, with Hu Jintao calling for joint opposition to trade protectionism. The two leaders held two hours of talks in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, on the edge of Tiananmen Square. Both leaders then held a joint media event at which they read out statements, but took no questions from listening journalists.
Mr. Obama came to China for his first visit as president emphasising that China was now a major player on the world stage – and he turned to that point again in Beijing. “The major challenges of the 21st Century from climate change to nuclear proliferation to economic recovery are challenges that touch both our nations, and challenges that neither of our nations can solve by acting alone,” he said. With world leaders, meeting in Copenhagen next month to discuss how to tackle global warming, climate change is perhaps the most pressing issue to resolve. Mr. Obama appeared to raise hopes that a deal could be struck in Copenhagen. “Our aim there is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but Continue reading
US new housing figures disappoint
BBC NEWS | 2009/10/20 | 14:46:31 GMT
The number of new houses being built in the US edged up in September, but by less than expected, raising concerns about the strength of the US recovery. Housing starts rose by 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 homes, compared with a revised figure of 587,000 in August. But the rate was still down by 28.2% on the 822,000 homes started in September 2008, the Commerce Department said. Analysts had expected a rate of more than 600,000 housing starts. “It doesn’t bode too well. We really want to see an uptick here, as obviously housing is so important,” said Dan Cook at IG Markets. “If we can get more starts, we’re putting more people to work and that would be very positive, and unfortunately we just didn’t see that Continue reading
List of Goods Causing ‘Trade Disputes’ btw the US & China Going Up
nvs | 11/10/09 | 7:20 pm GMT+5.30
Till recently Trade Disputes between China and the US were on imports of movies, music, poultry paper and tyres. Lately the dispute has been raging on imports of steel pipes. Both the countries have been accusing each other as taking ‘protectionist’ measures for the safety of their respective markets. The US steel manufacturers complained their Government that the Chinese steel manufacturers have sold steel pipes at prices lower than their manufacturing cost. Such a practice in International Trade is called ‘Dumping’. In that case the opposite country can take anti-dumping measures like increasing import tariffs. The American manufacturers also accused China of providing massive subsidies to their steel manufacturers to help them sell their products at lower prices through which they are gaining unfair advantage. Hence they requested their Government to place tariffs on Chinese imports to offset the effect of subsidies. With this the US Department of Commerce last week launched an investigation to ascertain whether Chinese mils are dumping their steel pipes on the US market or they are benefitted with unfair subsidies. Continue reading
China and US in new trade dispute -bbc
BBC NEWS | 2009/09/13 14:25:44 GMT
China has launched an “anti-dumping and anti-subsidy” probe into imports of some US car products and chicken meat. The Commerce Ministry said there were concerns the US imports had “dealt a blow to domestic industries”. It comes a day after the US imposed tariffs on Chinese tyre imports in order “to remedy a market disruption caused by a surge in tyre imports”. The case is the latest in a series of recent trade disputes between China and the US. “In line with national laws and World Trade Organisation rules, the commerce ministry has started an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy examination of some imported US car products and chicken meat,” the Chinese authorities said in a statement. China has called the tyre move by US President Barack Obama “protectionist”.
The White House announced duties of an additional 35% on Chinese-made tyres for one year, followed by tariffs of 30% and 25% in the following two years. While Washington has long accused China of trade protectionism, the US is also unhappy at the high volume of Chinese exports to America, accusing Beijing of deliberately keeping the Yuan undervalued to make its exports artificially cheap. The US trade deficit with China totalled $103bn (£63bn) in the first half of 2009, down 13% from the same period last year.
nvs Blog of Politico-Economics 