The United States once sued China because of it put obstacles on import and distribution of books, music, movies and other entertainment products.

Committing to fulfilling WTO ruling means the Chinese have to adjust its import policy on American movies, audio and video products and books. China is allowed to retain import rights of two Chinese state-owned film distributors, and protect the Chinese government to have a degree of right to censor foreign films without increasing the annual quota of 20 foreign films for import. However, China cannot forbid the United States and other foreign enterprises to export to China movies, music, video games and books, and allow the joint venture to distribute music on Internet.

It is known that starting from 2003, Chinese domestic films at the box office have been beating imported films for 6 years. Market participants believe that, by contrast, audio-visual products may suffer more. Yesterday, reporter interviewed Tai He Mai Tian, in which Song Ke said that China’s future policy changes would not seriously affect the Chinese original recording industry, he also believed that this would do good to the show market.

Yi Xiaozhun, vice-minister of commerce, told WTO members that China would make the offer before the next meeting of the global trade body’s government procurement committee, due in the middle of next month, the officials said.

He was speaking during the WTO review of China’s trade policies, held every two years, at which China faced demands for more transparency in its trade policy and calls to continue liberalizing its economy — to which Yi responded by assuring members that China would continue opening up.

Some members including the United States had questioned China’s “indigenous innovation” policy which they said amounted to a form of “Buy China” favoring domestic producers over foreign suppliers, but Yi said it applied to all companies established in China.

China first applied to join the WTO government procurement agreement in December 2007 but its partners wanted better terms than it first offered.

Worldwide, government procurement accounts for about 23 percent of demand — nearly a quarter of the economy.

China estimates that the share of government procurement in its economy which would be covered by the agreement is much less.

Yi said it accounts for only two percent of gross domestic product because China excludes purchases by state-owned enterprises and limits the definition to purchases using budgetary funds above a certain threshold.

That would still make it worth some 615 billion yuan ($90 billion) a year.

Source : Konaxis

China’s trade policies generated big surpluses that contributed to the imbalances behind the global financial crisis that started in the United States in 2008, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said.

“If China continues to pursue huge trade and investment surpluses and to accumulate vast financial claims, it will hinder the necessary global economic adjustment, create excess manufacturing capacity and lay the groundwork for the next financial crisis,” the bipartisan commission said in its annual report to the U.S. Congress.

The fiscal stimulus plan that China has used to combat the crisis, which won praise in some circles, mainly supports more exports and “will only exacerbate overcapacity, aggravating the overall problem,” said the 367-page report.

The commission urged Congress to press the Obama administration to pursue a mix of WTO cases, the application of U.S. trade laws and pressure on Beijing to allow its currency to trade more freely.

“WTO cases, while important, are very industry specific, and fail to have an impact on the trade-distorting aspects of China’s industrial policy or to deal with the underlying causes of the U.S.-China trade deficit,” it said.

Source : Konaxis

Pascal Lamy, its director-general, added that overall, the WTO?s forecast is a 10 per cent drop in world trade volumes this year – the biggest fall in 60 years, although it appears to be slowing.

“Our figures showed that Asian countries may be leading a recovery in global trade,” Mr Lamy told reporters in Singapore where he was attending a meeting of trade ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.

Patrick Low, the WTO’s chief economist who was also in Singapore, said the weak European economic performance was likely to leave German exports lagging China’s this year.

International financial institutions expect China to reap quicker trade benefits from a global upturn later this year that will be led by emerging economies.

Last year, China’s merchandise exports of $1,428bn (?1,004bn, £869bn) were only slightly behind Germany’s $1,465bn, according to the WTO report.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) released its report that China, which achieved year-on-year growth of nearly 8 per cent in the second quarter, remains the top destination for future foreign direct investment (FDI), according to its survey of investment prospects. The 240 multinationals respondents ranked the US in second place, followed by India, Brazil and Russia.

Unctad said respondents expected FDI to begin a slow recovery in 2010 and gain momentum in 2011, after a big decline this year. Half the multinationals surveyed said they expected their FDI in 2011 to top 2008 levels.

Source : Konaxis

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said at a news conference that the U.S. is “deeply troubled at what appears to be a conscious policy to create unfair advantages for Chinese industries.”

The European Union also filed its own case on the matter, setting the stage for what could be a key showdown among the world’s major trading countries.

As stated in the US complaint documents, the raw materials at issue include coke, bauxite, magnesium and silicon metal. The U.S. and EU complaints say China’s export restrictions give its companies an unfair edge over their foreign rivals by giving them access to cheaper materials, despite WTO rules against export controls.

The U.S. complaint specifies that China has in place a number of measures that restrict the export of raw materials for products for which it is either the world’s largest producer or one of the top, such as coke, a key ingredient in steel production.

The U.S. document cited as “a prime example of the highly distortive effects of China’s export restraints” was its decision to limit exports of coke from 336 million metric tons in 2008, down to current annual exports of only 12 million metric tons.

Meanwhile, China “deeply regrets” the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) ruling the previous day that U.S. manufacturers are being materially injured by imports of Chinese-made tires for certain passenger vehicles and light truck tires. A Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson said in a statement that the ITC decision violates rules set under the World Trade Organization.

ITC said Thursday it found certain passenger vehicles and light truck tires from China are being imported to the United States in such increased quantities or under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic producers of like or competitive products.

Yao Jian, the spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said lots of evidence have proved that the Chinese-made tires did not cause direct competition with the US products. Restriction of the Chinese imports can not fix the structural problem in the US, he said.

As a result of the affirmative determination, the ITC will consider the corrective measures and send its report to the US President and the US Trade Representative by July 9.

Source : Konaxis