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EU, U.S. Complain at WTO Over Chinese Export Curbs

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WASHINGTON, June 24 -- The European Union and the U.S. complained at the World Trade Organization about Chinese export restrictions on raw materials such as magnesium, coke and zinc.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In their third joint complaint against the Asian nation, the world's two largest economies argued that China is unfairly using export taxes to keep materials costs lower for domestic steel and manufacturing companies, hurting foreign competitors.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;China's policies on these raw materials put a giant thumb on the scale in favor of Chinese producers,&quot; U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirktold reporters in Washington today. &quot;It's our job to make sure we remove that thumb.&quot;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; China is the largest source of U.S. imports, and the Asian nation is the EU's second-largest largest trading partner. The case is the first WTO complaint brought by the Obama administration, which came to office this year vowing to take a harder line against trade barriers, especially in China.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Given those pledges, &quot;we are likely to see more cases like this in the future,&quot; said Robert Kapp, a Port Townsend, Washington-based business consultant focusing on China trade. &quot;But China is a big kid on the block now,&quot; and the WTO is an impartial forum for it to litigate these issues, he said.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The global recession is increasing calls by industries worldwide for protection, and Chinese officials have already complained about Buy American rules imposed on government spending by Congress, and moves to restrict U.S. imports of Chinese tires and steel pipe.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Unlevel Playing Field 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The complaint, filed in Geneva today, accuses China of using taxes or quotas to discourage the export of certain metals or chemicals. The materials listed in the complaint are bauxite, coke, yellow phosphorous, magnesium, silicon metal and zinc. China is either a major supplier or the only source of those materials, according to the EU.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Export restrictions, which have multiplied in recent years because of surging prices for raw materials, discourage companies from being more productive and competitive, according to the European Commission, the EU's trade authority. Such curbs drive up prices and choke off supplies of raw materials, which affects a broad range of finished products including airplanes, semiconductors, detergent and steel, the commission says.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The U.S. and EU complained to China about a variety of raw material quotas and export taxes over the past two years. Just yesterday China scrapped or reduced export taxes on fertilizer, yellow phosphorous, ammonia, tungsten and other products.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trade Ties 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kirk and EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said they hoped both sides could negotiate a resolution during the 60 days of mandatory WTO consultations.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;I hope we can find an amicable solution to this issue,&quot; Ashton said in a statement from Brussels.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The EU is China's largest trading partner and China is the 27-nation bloc's second-biggest. Trade volume between the two governments grew to more than 326 billion euros ($455 billion) last year. The industries in the EU that are potentially affected by the Chinese restrictions represent about 4 percent of the bloc's industrial activity and a half-million jobs.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; China also passed Canada to become the largest source of U.S. imports in 2007. Trade between the U.S. and China expanded to $408 billion last year.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 'Critical Step' 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; U.S. steelmakers and unions have ramped up their complaints of China this year, arguing that cheap government loans, tax rebates and grants give manufacturers an unfair advantage. After filing a WTO case in 2007 against Chinese tax breaks, which the U.S. argued was another subsidy, China agreed to drop them.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chinese restrictions are &quot;just another way in which China favors its domestic manufacturing industries at the expense of the rest of the world,&quot; said five U.S. steel industry organizations including the American Iron and Steel Institute and the United Steelworkers.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Still, the U.S. and EU &quot;have chosen winners and losers&quot; by agreeing to file this complaint against China, Lyle Vander Schaaf, a lawyer at Bryan Cave LLP in Washington. &quot;It means that commodities would be less expensive in the U.S. market, and that's a disadvantage for U.S. producers of these commodities.&quot;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Vander Schaaf predicted that China would agree to scrap the export constraints before the WTO has to rule on their legality.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; No one from China's mission to the WTO in Geneva was available to comment.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; More WTO complaints against China are likely as the nation tries to shield its industries from the global financial slump, Daniel Crosby, a trade lawyer at Budin &amp; Partners in Geneva.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;China is reacting in the context of the financial crisis in a protectionist manner, and this exacerbates ongoing concerns on long-established violations and introduces new ones,&quot; he said. &quot;In both cases, it presents a difficulty that I don't see getting any better.&quot;
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (Source: Bloomberg)
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