LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
LexisNexis(TM) Academic - DocumentCopyright 2005 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London, England)
June 16, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY & ASIA; Pg. 12
LENGTH: 454 words
HEADLINE: EU told to face challenge of China on trade
BYLINE: By RAPHAEL MINDER
BODY:
The European Union and China will face repeated tensions over trade unless European businesses respond rapidly to China's growing manufacturing clout, Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, warned yesterday.
He was speaking after announcing an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese shoes, only days after negotiating an end to a trade dispute with China over textiles.
The investigation could last nine months and result in the imposition of anti-dumping duties if Brussels finds evidence of shoes being sold below the cost of production.
Mr Mandelson told a conference on EU-China relations that he expected trade friction to spread to other sectors as China continued its economic progress.
"Yesterday textiles, today footwear, tomorrow what? Consumer electronics? Cars? Where will it go and when will it end? We are at the beginning of the China story and not the end."
Mr Mandelson said he "won't fight shy" if the footwear probe proved that Chinese shoes were being sold in Europe below the cost of production, even though Beijing could respond with a complaint to the World Trade Organisation. Exports of Chinese shoes to the EU have increased by 700 per cent this year.
However, Mr Mandelson said he remained firmly opposed to "the unhealthy protectionism that is arising in Europe just as it is in America".
While stressing that he could not "ignore politically" the distress signals from European manufacturers, Mr Mandelson said he was ready to challenge politicians who suggest that "we can pull the economic blanket over our head and somehow the economic hurricane will pass".
Bo Xilai, the Chinese commerce minister, praised Mr Mandelson at the weekend for negotiating a truce over textiles rather than resorting to sanctions, as Washington has done by re-imposing import quotas on some categories of Chinese clothing exports.
But Mr Mandelson warned that such a conciliatory approach on textiles was not a template for future trade frictions.
"We can make pragmatic interventions but the idea that we can simply roll out some comprehensive general plan to resolve trade frictions between us and the Chinese is an illusion," he said. Instead, he urged European companies to speed their restructuring efforts and "move up the value chain" to counter cheaper imports. "I am not going to be remembered for my mandate as the man who turned his back on free trade."
The European footwear industry has forecast that employment in the sector could halve in two years, from 290,000 jobs at the end of 2004, with countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal most vulnerable.
In the first four months of this year, shoe prices in Europe have fallen 28 per cent, with Italian shoe imports outstripping exports for the first time.
LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2005
Financial Times (London, England)
June 16, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY & ASIA; Pg. 12
LENGTH: 454 words
HEADLINE: EU told to face challenge of China on trade
BYLINE: By RAPHAEL MINDER
BODY:
The European Union and China will face repeated tensions over trade unless European businesses respond rapidly to China's growing manufacturing clout, Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, warned yesterday.
He was speaking after announcing an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese shoes, only days after negotiating an end to a trade dispute with China over textiles.
The investigation could last nine months and result in the imposition of anti-dumping duties if Brussels finds evidence of shoes being sold below the cost of production.
Mr Mandelson told a conference on EU-China relations that he expected trade friction to spread to other sectors as China continued its economic progress.
"Yesterday textiles, today footwear, tomorrow what? Consumer electronics? Cars? Where will it go and when will it end? We are at the beginning of the China story and not the end."
Mr Mandelson said he "won't fight shy" if the footwear probe proved that Chinese shoes were being sold in Europe below the cost of production, even though Beijing could respond with a complaint to the World Trade Organisation. Exports of Chinese shoes to the EU have increased by 700 per cent this year.
However, Mr Mandelson said he remained firmly opposed to "the unhealthy protectionism that is arising in Europe just as it is in America".
While stressing that he could not "ignore politically" the distress signals from European manufacturers, Mr Mandelson said he was ready to challenge politicians who suggest that "we can pull the economic blanket over our head and somehow the economic hurricane will pass".
Bo Xilai, the Chinese commerce minister, praised Mr Mandelson at the weekend for negotiating a truce over textiles rather than resorting to sanctions, as Washington has done by re-imposing import quotas on some categories of Chinese clothing exports.
But Mr Mandelson warned that such a conciliatory approach on textiles was not a template for future trade frictions.
"We can make pragmatic interventions but the idea that we can simply roll out some comprehensive general plan to resolve trade frictions between us and the Chinese is an illusion," he said. Instead, he urged European companies to speed their restructuring efforts and "move up the value chain" to counter cheaper imports. "I am not going to be remembered for my mandate as the man who turned his back on free trade."
The European footwear industry has forecast that employment in the sector could halve in two years, from 290,000 jobs at the end of 2004, with countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal most vulnerable.
In the first four months of this year, shoe prices in Europe have fallen 28 per cent, with Italian shoe imports outstripping exports for the first time.
LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2005
posted by Eastlaw at 9:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home