21.09.2018

CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL NEGINT Brasília, 21 de setembro de 2018

Índice I. OMC _______________________________________________ 2 WTO eyes China bid to slap stiff trade sanctions on US __________________ 2 II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS _________________ 3 South Korean Finance Minister Optimistic About Revised U.S. Trade Deal ____ 3 China, Japan and South Korea aim to speed up talks on free-trade agreement to counter US tariffs ________________________________________________ 4 III. OUTROS ____________________________________________ 4 Presidencia de Uruguay en Mercosur impulsará etiquetado de alimentos _____ 4 Going long: Chinese steel mills chase iron ore contracts with Brazil's Vale ___ 6

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I. OMC WTO eyes China bid to slap stiff trade sanctions on US Economic Times (Índia) A World Trade Organization arbitrator will review Friday a Chinese request to impose more than $7 billion (nearly 6 billion euros) in annual sanctions on the United States over antidumping practices, a Geneva trade official said. The decision to appoint an arbitrator was reached during a special meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body convened to discuss developments in a five-year-old trade dispute between the world's top two economies. Beijing had already warned earlier this month that it planned to ask the global trade body during the meeting for permission to impose $7.04 billion in annual trade sanctions on Washington in the case. China's representative told Friday's meeting that measures taken by Washington had "seriously infringed China's legitimate economic and trade interests." A source close to the WTO meanwhile said that the arbitration "was automatically triggered after the United States informed the WTO that it objected to the level of retaliation proposed by China." WTO arbitration can often be a drawn-out process, and the results are not expected to be known for months. China initially filed its dispute against the United States back in December 2013, taking issue with the way Washington assesses whether exports have been "dumped" at unfairly low prices onto the US market. The use of anti-dumping duties are permitted under international trade rules as long as they adhere to strict conditions, and disputes over their use are often brought before the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body. In this specific case, China alleged that the United States, in violation of WTO rules, was continuing a practice known as "zeroing", which calculates the price of imports compared to the normal value in the United States to determine predatory pricing. 2

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In October 2016, a panel of WTO experts found largely in China's favour in the case, including on the issue of "zeroing". The United States, which has repeatedly lost cases before the WTO over its calculation method, said in June last year that it would implement the panel's recommendations within a "reasonable" time frame. This past January, the DSB set an August 22 deadline for Washington to bring its practices in line with the 2016 ruling. According to WTO rules, the plaintiff in such cases can request permission to impose sanctions if the parties have not reached agreement on a satisfactory compensation within 20 days of the WTO deadline

II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS South Korean Finance Minister Optimistic About Revised U.S. Trade Deal The Wall Street Journal (Estados Unidos) Lawmakers in Seoul have threatened to block deal if Washington imposes new tariffs on Korean autos and auto parts. South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon expressed optimism about signing a revised U.S. free-trade pact into law, though lawmakers in Seoul have threatened to block the deal if Washington imposes new tariffs on Korean autos and auto parts. The first trade deal that the Trump administration successfully renegotiated in March is waiting to be signed by the U.S. and South Korean governments – likely next week. Still, it needs approval from each legislature before taking effect.

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China, Japan and South Korea aim to speed up talks on free-trade agreement to counter US tariffs South China Morning Post (China) Officials from China, Japan and South Korea are calling for further efforts to accelerate talks about a free-trade agreement between the three northeast Asian economies in the face of escalating trade pressures from the US. While a quicker negotiation would send a firm signal about the commitment of the three countries to deepen economic cooperation in response to the uncertainties in global trade, experts say that diverging interests remain. China, locked in an escalating trade war with the US, may seek an agreement more urgently, while Japan and South Korea, dissatisfied at Beijing’s reluctance to lower market barriers, may be more cautious in looking for a more substantial and progressive deal. Yang Zhengwei, a deputy director general at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, told the three countries’ fifth free-trade agreement (FTA) forum in Beijing on Wednesday that China was preparing for the next round of talks between the three countries.

III. OUTROS Presidencia de Uruguay en Mercosur impulsará etiquetado de alimentos Sputnik News (Rússia) Las diferencias entre los países del Mercado Común del Sur (Mercosur) sobre el etiquetado en alimentos ultraprocesados podrán ser discutidas en el marco de la presidencia pro tempore ejercida por Uruguay, dijo a Sputnik el representante de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) en Montevideo, Giovanni Escalante.

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"Entiendo yo que en el tema del Mercosur, dado que Uruguay está en la presidencia pro tempore, van a haber espacios para seguir dialogando", dijo Escalante quien afirmó que estos problemas se resuelven "a través del diálogo". El 30 de agosto el presidente de Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, firmó un decreto que establece el rotulado de alimentos para aquellos que tengan sodio, grasa o azúcares agregados. Las etiquetas, de color negro con letra blanca y que tendrán un diseño octogonal, deben ser impuestas en la cara frontal del envase del producto. Si bien la norma atribuye al territorio uruguayo, Paraguay presentó una propuesta de derogar el decreto por encontrarse encima del acuerdo entre países del Mercosur, informó la agencia estatal IP. El representante paraguayo Manuel Morínigo argumentó que ya existen iniciativas para "armonizar" la norma a nivel intra-Mercosur, agrega IP. Varios gremios de productores de alimentos de Paraguay pidieron al parlamento del Mercosur que la medida sea discutida en ese plano. Según Escalante, "hay que partir de la premisa que el etiquetado frontal de alimentos y bebidas ultraprocesadas ha sido trabajado y propuesto con base a criterios técnicos y evidencias de las bondades y ventajas que tiene esa medida". Además, el representante de la OPS, hizo referencia al caso chileno, "uno de los pioneros", y recordó que al principio tuvo "dudas" pero luego de la aplicación de la medida "se mostró que la industria vinculada a los alimentos y bebidas procesadas está haciendo los cambios necesarios y el comercio sigue". De todas maneras, Escalante agregó que cuando se trata de temas en los que se está promoviendo la salud, "estos mecanismos deben ser revisados, consensuados en cada uno de los estados miembro con la industria". Todas las inquietudes deben ser explicadas "adecuadamente" sobre cuál es el propósito y las "empresas tendrán que adecuarse a estas medidas"

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Going long: Chinese steel mills chase iron ore contracts with Brazil's Vale Reuters (Reino Unido) Chinese steel mills and traders are rushing to secure long-term contracts for high-quality iron ore ahead of winter steel output cuts, a boon for the main supplier of such grades of the commodity, Brazilian mining giant Vale. China, the world’s biggest consumer of the steelmaking ingredient, needs higher-quality, less polluting grades of iron ore as it battles to clear its notoriously smoggy skies. That demand highlights how China’s prolonged war on pollution is shaking global markets for iron ore, the world’s most heavily traded bulk commodity. The push to get contracts for quality ore is gathering pace as China gears up to enforce industrial production limits on its northern region for a second winter, with top-steel producing city Tangshan aiming to curb up to 70 percent of mill output based on each plant’s carbon emission levels. Hebei Jingye Group, a medium-size steel mill in the smog-prone northern province of Hebei, is looking for a contract with Vale for supplies of high-grade ore in 2019, a company official said. That would follow on from a 2018 contract for 1.5 million tonnes of Vale’s Brazilian Blend iron ore fines, or BRBF, with 63-percent iron content. “We have already regretted not buying more BRBF. Even if we don’t use all of it, we can still sell it in the spot market and make lots of money since prices have gone up so much,” said Jia Zhanhui, who purchases raw materials for Jingye. Vale, the world’s largest iron ore miner, said it was running out of immediate supplies of some of its top-grade products, with demand from China surging. “Chinese companies are looking for more long-term contracts with us because of the quality,” Peter Poppinga, executive director for ferrous and coal at Vale, said on the sidelines of an industry conference in China.

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“We are completely sold out in Carajas,” Poppinga said, referring to one of the company’s high-grade ores, with iron content of around 65 percent. “We will allocate Carajas according to long-term contracts and according to some spot opportunities.”

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