Global Trade News

The European Union advised the World Trade Organization on Tuesday that it would reintroduce trade sanctions against the United States in two months unless Washington complies with a WTO ruling against tax breaks for U.S. companies operating overseas.

The 25-nation EU said, however, that it is still offering the United States ways to end the long-standing dispute without having to incur sanctions on lists of targeted products, ranging from textiles and foodstuffs to automotive parts and steel.

First it was textiles, then it was leather shoes but the next trade row between the European Union and China looks likely to concern furniture, which could further strain trading relations between the two areas. According to a report in the Financial Times, Italian and German furniture makers are in the process of making an anti-dumping complaint to the European Commission, accusing mainland furniture manufacturers of selling their goods at well below domestic European prices.

Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union said (Friday 10th March) that the Government was right to intervene for the survival of MG Rover in April 2005, following publication of the National Audit Office's report into the collapse of MG Rover in April 2005.

South Africa’s transport system faces gridlock as unions pledge national strike action in a dispute over the restructuring of a state-owned transport company. Talks with management broke down last Friday.

The European Union is preparing new anti-dumping tariffs on China’s leather and reinforced shoes in a bid to control the country’s booming exports. Following an investigation that found Chinese exporters were dumping footwear — selling it below production cost — EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson will unveil the punitive measures in the coming month, the Financial Times said last week quoting a senior EU official.

After seven rounds of talks, the United States and China on Tuesday signed a three-year agreement on textile trade, imposing quotas on Chinese textile products but clearing a major obstacle to bilateral trade.

The United States banned the imports of beluga fish and caviar from Russia and other Black Sea countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey and Ukraine, on Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

China became one of the major victims of trade protectionism in the past nine months or so, suffering from a wide range of trade barriers including anti-dumping, safeguard measures, subsidies and countervailing measures and special safeguard measures.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced here Friday that China and Chile have reached agreement on trade in cargo which is an important step towards the establishment of their free trade area (FTA). The agreement was reached Friday night in Beijing after five rounds of negotiations.

OPEC is warning of increased pressure on its members to raise crude oil output, according to Tankerworld.  The oil cartel has amended its demand growth forecast to 1.57 mn barrels per day for 2006. This is 30 th. barrels per day more than the previous OPEC forecast and about the same as the growth rate for 2005.