China loses trade dispute over rare earth exports

[Manvantaratruti]

The 'rare earth (RE)' treaties on China is unfair on China to start with
We own 23% of the world's RE deposits but we have to supply 90% of RE to the world!?! WTF!
We have 60 days to appeal. Let's see what is going to happen

Meantime, we are not standing still under the bullies attacks:

Chinese WTO suit hits back at U.S. duties
March 29, 2014
By Tom Miles


GENEVA (Reuters) - China launched a complaint at the World Trade Organization on Friday against U.S. import duties on 22 Chinese products that the United States says are unfairly priced or subsidized, including solar panels and steel products.

"China firmly opposes the abuse of trade remedy measures and trade protectionism," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

China's complaint counter-attacks in areas where the United States has hit Chinese products with punitive tariffs, known as anti-dumping duties or countervailing duties, in recent years.

China said the complaint covers exports worth $7.3 billion, encompassing such diverse products as citric acid, kitchen shelving and lawn groomers. It also includes wind towers, even though the U.S. Commerce Department's preliminary decision on those wind tower imports is not due until next Wednesday.

Just eight days ago the U.S. Commerce Department set punitive tariffs on Chinese solar panels, which it said Chinese exporters had dumped on the U.S. market at unfairly low prices.

The United States hit Chinese steel pipe imports with hefty anti-dumping duties in 2010, and later in the same year it launched a trade suit over Chinese government grants to wind power manufacturers, although it did not pursue the case.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Nkenge Harmon, said it was studying the complaint and would respond in accordance with WTO rules.

"The Obama Administration strongly supports the trade remedy laws, and was the first Administration ever to apply a 421 safeguard to imports from China," she said. A 421 safeguard is a U.S. measure that allows manufacturers to request emergency restrictions on Chinese imports in response to a surge.

COMPLAINT WON

Last year China won a WTO complaint similar to Friday's against U.S. duties on imports of Chinese steel pipes, off-road tires and woven sacks. U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called that decision "a clear case of overreaching" by the judges.

Many of China's grievances might have been dealt with by a U.S. court decision last year, which struck down the Commerce Department's ability to impose countervailing duties on "non-market economies" such as China.

But the U.S. Congress voted to restore it in March, ensuring U.S. duties on about two dozen Chinese goods stayed in place.

China's new complaint, the seventh it has filed against the United States since it joined the WTO in 2001, comes just as WTO chief Pascal Lamy flies to China for a four-day visit, during which he will meet Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

The legal process begins with China holding talks with the United States to seek an amicable settlement.

It may move to arbitration if the two cannot agree, and the United States could be forced to scrap its duties and even compensate China if it is found to have broken the rules.

The dispute adds more heat to a trade relationship that has barely stopped simmering, even though the United States has seen signs of China "making progress" towards easing restrictions on its currency, one of the biggest causes of friction.

The U.S. Treasury again shied away from calling China a currency manipulator in its semi-annual report on Friday.

Although the overall pace of China's export growth has slumped to single digits this year, its trade surplus with the United States set a record of more than $295 billion in 2011, putting extra pressure on U.S. manufacturers whose markets are still recovering from the financial crisis.

Lamy has repeatedly warned that the world needs to be on guard against any rise of protectionism in the wake of the financial crisis, although the threat of a global trade war has not yet become reality.

U.S. and Chinese politicians also deny they are in a trade war, but global trade tensions are rising, with Latin American becoming an increasing focus of trade disputes. On Friday, one of the most heated disputes flared into a European Union suit over Argentina's import restrictions.

India, which launched a trade complaint over U.S. duties on steel last month, is also threatening to take the United States to the WTO over U.S. visa fees for high-skilled foreign workers.

WTO dispute panels are due to rule on two more Chinese-U.S. trade disputes within days or weeks.

One concerns China's exports of grain-oriented electrical steel, the other is a U.S. complaint that China's electronic payments market is closed to foreign firms such as VISA, Mastercard and American Express, while China UnionPay enjoys a monopoly.

(Reporting by Tom Miles, additional reporting by Doug Palmer in Washington; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Chinese WTO suit hits back at U.S. duties | Terra

What if the OIL producing nations say the same thing ?

I am not a US supporter but hoarding is not permitted in global trade rules and that is what WTO enforces.

 

[JayAtl]

What if the OIL producing nations say the same thing ?

I am not a US supporter but hoarding is not permitted in global trade rules and that is what WTO enforces.

precisely nor is lowering your production to with the express intent to jack up prices to a ridiculous amount. There is some leeway to lower production with oil companies but that is strictly regulated by the international OPEC body. China was acting like a loan shark in this case.

keep in mind , all the non chinese who are blindly kissing china's A_ on this don't realize that their own countries too were affected by this. everyone of their industries when needing rare earth or their consumers when buying goods that used rare earths , prices on them were affected.

 

[Manvantaratruti]

precisely nor is lowering your production to with the express intent to jack up prices to a ridiculous amount. There is some leeway to lower production with oil companies but that is strictly regulated by the international OPEC body. China was acting like a loan shark in this case.

keep in mind , all the non chinese who are blindly kissing china's A_ on this don't realize that their own countries too were affected by this. everyone of their industries when needing rare earth or their consumers when buying goods that used rare earths , prices on them were affected.

......rare earth materials is mostly used by "developed" nations so most countries in the world do not really care who controls the supply and market. If not the USA then its China.

 

[JayAtl]

......rare earth materials is mostly used by "developed" nations so most countries in the world do not really care who controls the supply and market. If not the USA then its China.

it is used by developing countries too and even so your consumers buy products that use them - and your prices are affected by it.

 

[Manvantaratruti]

it is used by developing countries too and even so your consumers buy products that use them - and your prices are affected by it.

ONLY finished products of rare earth are used by consumers....... they really don't care if its made it China or USA as long as the quality is good and its cheap.

 

[Borr]

Eh, it has been hinting for a while, so the ruling is expected. Next step, let's see anyone try to enforce it.

China will enforce it.

China still needs the WTO framework at the moment, so yes by the rules.

But the ruling is against export quotas, and the RE is just a small piece of a much bigger picture, as China placed quotas on many items. What will happen is the quotas be moved onto the production process, instead of export.

 

[shuttler]

What if the OIL producing nations say the same thing ?

I am not a US supporter but hoarding is not permitted in global trade rules and that is what WTO enforces.

if you refer hoarding to the case about China's rare earth (RE) export then you have to look into the picture where RE is different from oil extraction. Mining of RE is imposing much more devastating environment concerns

As far as I know oil rich countries also regulates their production volume according to market needs and oil prices too. Probably OPEC etc have regulations on that.

And it seems these countries are supplying oil to the world in a more reasonable proportion to their reserves than the case of China in RE when as I said we own 23% of the world's RE but we are supplying 90% or more to the world. This is fucking nuts!

 

[tranquilium]

China will enforce it.

China still needs the WTO framework at the moment, so yes by the rules.

But the ruling is against export quotas, and the RE is just a small piece of a much bigger picture, as China placed quotas on many items. What will happen is the quotas be moved onto the production process, instead of export.

Pretty much, like many posters above have stated, there are many way to work around it.

 

[JayAtl]

ONLY finished products of rare earth are used by consumers....... they really don't care if its made it China or USA as long as the quality is good and its cheap.

you not getting it... the price of the product is effected if raw materials for it get expensive! if the finished product's raw material cost more , the finished product cost more! this is not rocket science.

if you refer hoarding to the case about China's rare earth (RE) export then you have to look into the picture where RE is different from oil extraction. Mining of RE imposing a much more devastating environment concern

As far as I know oil rich countries also regulates their production volume according to market needs and oil prices too. Probably OPEC etc have regulations on that too.

And it seems these countries are supplying oil to the world in a more reasonable proportion to their reserves than the case of China in RE when as I said we own 23% of the world's RE but we are supplying 90% or more to the world. This is fucking nuts!

it would be nuts if you did not all along provide it... you simply reduced and hoarded and you give it cheaper to chinese industries ... once you had 90% of the market. thereby price gouging others ... if you are part of WTO that is not permitted and that is why you got the slap down from WTO. You depend on uranium or ore ( forget which it is) a lot from australia, if they purposely reduced production to make prices rise, it would be against WTO rules.

 

[shuttler]

it would be nuts if you did not all along provide it... you simply reduced and hoarded and you give it cheaper to chinese industries ... once you had 90% of the market. thereby price gouging others ... if you are part of WTO that is not permitted and that is why you got the slap down from WTO. You depend on uranium or ore ( forget which it is) a lot from australia, if they purposely reduced production to make prices rise, it would be against WTO rules.

wow you are appearing like a police without a gun but mouthful of foams.
As I said this is something we are working on within the 60 days appeal period
How much RE is indian exporting?

 

[IndoUS]

I don't even understand as to why they call it rare earth metals, the metals are abundant in nature, it just that the extraction and processing of these metals is absolutely horrific for the environment.

 

[JayAtl]

wow you are appearing like a police without a gun but mouthful of foams.
As I said this is something we are working on within the 60 days appeal period
How much RE is indian exporting?

I am not appearing as any police but to explain why the WTO found you guilty.

what india exports RE is not relevant to you be in violation of WTO

 

[Manvantaratruti]

you not getting it... the price of the product is effected if raw materials for it get expensive! if the finished product's raw material cost more , the finished product cost more! this is not rocket science.

No, its you who is not getting it.

The price of raw material would remain cheap for Chinese companies where bulk of the manufacturing takes place any way. There is no significant direct effect on the consumer.

 

[shuttler]

I am not appearing as any police but to explain why the WTO found you guilty.

"guilty" according to usa and the western judges

what india exports RE is not relevant to you be in violation of WTO

all you need is a good mirror to look at yourself

 

[JayAtl]

No, its you who is not getting it.

The price of raw material would remain cheap for Chinese companies where bulk of the manufacturing takes place any way. There is no significant direct effect on the consumer.

dude seriously you that dense? .... other countries import RE and make finished products that ' consumers in other countries' buy! china does not own the market in selling every product... we are not talking about cheap phones and toys only here.

here is list of what uses rare earth Tasman Metals Ltd. - Principal Uses of Rare Earth Elements - Mon Mar 31, 2014

now figure out if in india or people elsewhere buy non chinese products from that list.

and what do you think happens to other non chinese industries when they have to pay higher amounts? they pass the costs to the consumers or simply shut down and all you then buy is chinese products.