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CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL NEGINT Brasília, 24 de maio de 2018

Índice I. OMC _______________________________________________ 2 India takes US steel tariffs complaint to the WTO _______________________ 2 II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS _________________ 3 UK foreign secretary seeks trade agreements in Chile, Latin America _______ 3 Mexico eyes more banana, pork exports to China as NAFTA talks stall ______ 4 III. OUTROS ____________________________________________ 6 El Mercosur busca negociar con el sudeste asiático _____________________ 6 Brazil stocks down on global trade concerns; Eletrobras drops ____________ 6 Brazil Senate approves PPSA sales of pre-salt oil _______________________ 7

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I. OMC India takes US steel tariffs complaint to the WTO CNBC (Estados Unidos) India has launched a complaint against the United States to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum, a filing published by the World Trade Organization showed on Wednesday. Indian officials told Reuters last month that their government would open a WTO dispute if the country's firms were not granted an exemption. Trump imposed the tariffs in March, levying 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum. He said they were justified by national security concerns and therefore outside the WTO's remit. India, China, Russia, Japan, Turkey and the European Union have all dismissed that claim, regarding the U.S. tariffs as "safeguards" under the WTO rules, entitling them to a combined $3.5 billion in annual compensation. India's retaliation claim seeks to recoup a cost of $31 million levied on its aluminum exports and $134 million on steel, and it has said it could target U.S. exports of soya oil, palmolein and cashew nuts in its retaliation. Its latest legal challenge seeks to force the United States to scrap the tariffs entirely. It follows a similar move last month by China, which Washington called "completely baseless." Under WTO rules, the United States has 60 days to settle the complaint, after which India could ask the WTO to set up an expert panel to adjudicate. However, uncertainty is hanging over the WTO's dispute settlement system because Trump is vetoing the appointment of new appeals judges. In its complaint, India listed a string of ways the U.S. tariffs violated the WTO rules and unfairly damaged India's interests.

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It said they broke the WTO's safeguards agreement and the United States was trying to use its tariffs to get other countries to agree to "voluntary export restraints." The United States had also exceeded the maximum import tariff allowed by the WTO and the tariffs were not applied uniformly to steel and aluminum imports from all suppliers, breaking a core principle of the WTO rulebook.

II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS UK foreign secretary seeks trade agreements in Chile, Latin America Reuters (Reino Unido) Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson concluded a five-day charm offensive in Latin America on Wednesday by expressing interest in a trade agreement with Chile and other countries in Latin America’s so-called Pacific Alliance. Johnson extended a trip to a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Buenos Aires to include a tour of Peru, Argentina and Chile, seeking closer ties with all three countries. Britain is looking to negotiate free trade agreements to sustain commerce after its departure from the European Union. “We see a great chance to be closer to the Pacific Alliance, a group of free-trading countries,” he said at a joint news conference with Chile’s Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero. “There is an old, rich and historic friendship between our two outward-looking, free trade economies… We see great opportunities to develop this partnership,” Johnson said. The Pacific Alliance includes Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. Johnson sold a vision of a Britain poised to exploit new global opportunities while at the same time fierce debate rages within his country and his own party about how Britain will exit the EU. 3

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Johnson expressed astonishment that no British foreign minister had visited Argentina or Chile in more than two decades or Peru for 50 years at a reception at the British Embassy in Santiago on Tuesday evening. “Since we joined in 1973 what was then called the Common Market, perhaps subconsciously the instincts of British foreign policy have been a little too Eurocentric at the expense of our engagement with the world,” he said. “Now we are leaving the EU, there is a chance to be more global, more outward-looking, more engaged.” Ampuero said on Wednesday Chile welcomed the chance to replicate with the UK its “very successful, mutually beneficial” free trade deal with the EU. He added: “For us, it’s important that there is no delay…. so that we can both be beneficiaries of a free trade agreement the moment that Brexit is realized.” Johnson had expressed hopes of “a big free trade deal” with Argentina as well. The discussions were met with skepticism in some quarters. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Twitter that the entirety of British exports to Argentina, Peru and Chile were less than 6 percent of those to Ireland, which is part of the EU.

Mexico eyes more banana, pork exports to China as NAFTA talks stall Reuters (Reino Unido) A Mexican trade delegation traveling to China this week expects to wrap up talks that will allow more banana, pork and sorghum exports to the Asian giant, a top Mexican agriculture trade official said on Wednesday. The talks, which center on health and safety protocols, come at a sensitive time for Mexico as negotiations over an updated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States and Canada remain stalled, with major implications for future farm trade between the neighbors.

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Raul Urteaga, head of international trade for Mexico’s agriculture ministry, was traveling to Beijing on Wednesday to conclude the negotiations, which he said were prompted by a shake-up among Chinese health and safety officials. Urteaga, a member of Mexico’s original NAFTA negotiating team in the 1990s, said the outreach to China is unrelated to trade tensions with the United States. “Regardless of trade uncertainties with other trading partners, Mexico has embarked in a market diversification process,” he said, adding that he expects agriculture exports to the U.S. market to also grow in the next few years. “We are confident that we will reach a successful conclusion of the NAFTA process,” he said. Once the new protocols are finalized - in the “next few weeks” - Mexico will be able to expand banana exports to between $40 million and $45 million annually during the next three years, while new pork product exports will reach around $20 million during the first year, said Urteaga. Sorghum shipments are also expected to grow, but Urteaga said he could not provide a projection. He said Mexico also expects to start exports of avocados produced in Jalisco state. Shipments from top-producing Michoacan state are already allowed. Last year, Mexico exported about $326 million in agriculture products to China, according to agriculture ministry data. Mexico’s overall agriculture exports totaled more than $32 billion in 2017, with U.S. buyers accounting for 82 percent, according to central bank data. Urtega added that China is also interested in possible white corn imports from Mexico, since it is one of the few producers of white corn that does not use genetically modified organisms.

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III. OUTROS El Mercosur busca negociar con el sudeste asiático BAE Negocios (Argentina) Luego de los encuentros que mantuvo el canciller Jorge Faurie con naciones del bloque, el Gobierno instaló en la agenda del segundo semestre la necesidad del Mercosur de acelerar las conversaciones con la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (Asean), para lo cual habría una reunión inicial en Singapur o Indonesia. Los avances en el diálogo se dieron con varias países en forma bilateral. Pero con la estrategia de abrir otros mercados mundiales, el Mercosur avanzará con Asean, apuntaron fuentes gubernamentales. La Asean, creada nada menos que hace 50 años en 1967, está integrada por Indonesia, Filipinas, Malasia, Singapur, Tailandia, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Camboya, Laos y Myanmar. Este bloque, compuesto por economías emergentes, representa el 11% del PBI de Asia Pacífico, con un crecimiento promedio de 5,7% de 1990 a 2015. Faurie recibió en el Palacio San Martín a la canciller de la República de Indonesia, Retno Lestari Marsudi, con quien mantuvo al margen de las reuniones del G-20 un encuentro bilateral. Ambos coincidieron en adoptar medidas tendientes a incrementar el comercio bilateral y en resolver los temas puntuales en términos de acceso a mercados. Por otro lado, el Mercosur podría impulsar conversaciones con Indonesia y Singapur, si es que no prospera un consenso con el bloque asiático. A esto se suma el hecho de que mañana, en Seúl, comenzarán las rondas de diálogo con Corea del Sur.

Brazil stocks down on global trade concerns; Eletrobras drops Reuters (Reino Unido) Brazilian stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after comments by U.S. President Donald Trump reignited concerns over global trade, while shares of state-controlled power utility Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras SA plummeted.

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The benchmark Bovespa stock index declined 1.7 percent, more than the 0.9 percent decline by an index tracking Latin American stock markets. Global stocks suffered after Trump signaled a new direction in U.S.-China trade talks and said any deal would need "a different structure," fueling uncertainty over current negotiations. Fears that a trade war between the world's top two economies could damage global growth have kept a lid on appetite for risky assets in recent months. A selloff in the Turkish lira due to growing investor alarm over the direction of monetary policy under President Tayyip Erdogan also kept investors wary of emerging markets. "There's some justifiable concern over Turkey (among investors in Brazil) because it is also an emerging market and a destination for investments that's comparable to Brazil. There's always a fear of contagion," said Pablo Spyer, the head of trading at Mirae. Falling shares of Eletrobras helped to intensify losses in the Brazilian market after lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia said a major bill related to its privatization is unlikely to be put to a vote. But shares of meatpacker Marfrig Global Foods SA jumped around 10 percent after it announced that five companies have qualified to participate in a second phase of bidding for Keystone Foods LLC. Binding proposals are expected next month, Marfrig said.

Brazil Senate approves PPSA sales of pre-salt oil Reuters (Reino Unido) Brazil’s Senate approved a presidential decree on Wednesday allowing state-owned company Pre-sal Petroleo SA, which manages contracts to develop the coveted offshore pre-salt layer, to sell the government’s share of oil and gas from the area. PPSA receives a portion of pre-salt oil, which is trapped under a layer of salt beneath the ocean floor, under production-sharing contracts with oil companies to develop the area.

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The rules passed by the Senate allow PPSA to conclude contracts with trading agents on the government’s behalf or sell the oil directly. The decree, first issued in December but requiring Congressional approval to become permanent, has already been passed by Brazil’s lower house and will now go to President Michel Temer for final approval.

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