U.S. Quiet on China Trade Tax
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China's promise to impose taxes on some textile exports will do little to sway the administration on whether to limit the expected flood of Chinese goods next year.
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U.S. officials say a Chinese vice prime minister may not have the influence to challenge the party apparatus that is tied to the sprawling state-owned export industries.
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A U.S. government official played down reports that the U.S. is considering taking the European Union to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the imposition of new duties on high-tech imports such as flat-screen monitors and digital set-top boxes.
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Treasuries prices were mostly softer  on Wednesday as investors weighed the implications of a record  U.S. trade deficit and balanced comments from a top Federal  Reserve official.
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WASHINGTON -- Despite pressure from Congress, the Bush administration on Wednesday refused to cite China as a country that manipulates its currency to gain unfair trade advantages.
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(InfoWorld) - A U.S. government official played down reports that the U.S. is considering taking the European Union to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the imposition of new duties on high-tech imports such as flat-screen monitors and digital set-top boxes. âThe U.S. has expressed its concern about the E.U. proposal to apply duties to sophisticated products covered by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA),â the official, based at the U.S. embassy in Brussels, said in a telephone interview Friday. He said taking the issue to the WTO, the worldâs trade arbitrator based in Geneva, is still a possibility. âOur options are open,â he said, but added that many concerns about trade matters do not end up as WTO cases. The ITA was signed by most countries producing IT products in 1997. It sets tariffs on goods designed for businesses at zero in order to help spur economic growth. However, as the price of items such as flat-screen monitors has fallen in recent years, they are increasingly being bought by consumers. The E.U. has started to reclassify some equipment as consumer goods, which require import tariffs of around 10 percent. Applying a tariff to new types of goods could potentially lead to higher prices, unless the vendor or manufacturer shoulders the additional cost. The European Commission, the E.U.'s representative body on trade matters, defended its actions. The E.U. classifies products on the basis of "objective criteria," Peter Power, the Commissionâs trade spokesman in a statement. "U.S. claims of E.U. re-classifying products in violation of ITA commitments are unfounded,â he said, adding that the EU "respects the spirit of the ITA" when classifying new technologies. TheÂ E.U. drew sharp criticism from the U.S.Â this week over its decision toÂ dismiss Microsoft's appealÂ of the European Commission's 2004 antitrust ruling against it. The U.S. government official, who did not wish to be identified, denied Friday that the U.S. concerns over tariffs are a reaction to that decision. "This is a long-standing issue for the U.S. government. We've been making these comments about the ITA since 2006," the official said.
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A new Sino-US &quot;strategic economic dialogue,&quot; announced with much fanfare last week, should not be seen as a panacea for all problems in the troubled bilateral trade relationship, analysts say.
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The European Union will not rush to reimpose sanctions on the United States in a trade dispute over U.S. tax breaks for exporters if the World Trade Organization again finds in Europe's favor, a top EU official said on Thursday.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson   will not demand that China rapidly lift currency exchange rate   controls when he visits, preferring dialogue to protectionist   threats, an official Chinese paper said on Tuesday.
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US questions about how Japan and the European Union would retaliate against a law that has handed more than $750 million in customs duties to US companies stalled World Trade Organization approval of the sanctions today.
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BEIJING -- China wants to keep its trade surplus in check this year, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said today.
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The United States and China concluded high-level trade talks with progress reported in a few areas but no breakthrough in the biggest dispute, China's undervalued currency.
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China&#39;s tax on its textile exports is a backward step last week&#39;s twist in textiles is depressing proof, if any were needed, of how hard it is to straighten out world trade.
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Foreign firms are lining up to invest in China. But as U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will find out on his visit this week, Beijing seems increasingly loath to let them in
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The World Trade Organization on Wednesday held off approving stiff sanctions on US exports ranging from cod to mobile homes intended to punish Washington until it repeals the so-called Byrd amendment.
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The United States has been unable to  resolve a dispute with China over treatment of foreign auto  parts and could ask the World Trade Organization to rule on the  matter, U.S. trade officials said on Tuesday.
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The United States has won a preliminary ruling in a World Trade Organization case over Chinese tax policies that restrict imports of foreign auto parts, a U.S. trade official said.