Line drawn over technology

June 23, 2009

Line drawn over technology

WASHINGTON - ACCESS to green technology is becoming a growing stumbling block in global efforts to fight climate change, with US lawmakers bristling at what they see as China's attempt to 'steal' US know-how.

'Common but differentiated responsibility' THE United States is the only major industrialised nation to reject the Kyoto Protocol, with former president George W. Bush saying it was unfair through making no demands of fast-growing developing nations such as China and India. Despite a recession, President Barack Obama has vowed to work to halt the planet's warming, which UN scientists warn will threaten severe weather and the extinction of plant and animal species later this century if unchecked. ... more

China and India have led calls for developed nations to share technology to help them battle global warming as the clock ticks to a December meeting in Copenhagen meant to seal a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

The US House of Representatives this month unanimously voted to make it US policy to prevent the Copenhagen treaty from 'weakening' US intellectual property rights on a wind, solar and other eco-friendly technologies.

Congressman Rick Larsen, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party who authored the measure, said the United States was caught between concern both over the climate and its soaring trade deficit with China.

'The US can be part of China's solution for the problems that they admittedly have with energy efficiency and emissions. And I think legitimately we want to be part of that solution - we're the two largest emitters of C02 in the world,' Mr Larsen said. 'But we need to couple being part of that solution with making it part of the solution on the trade deficit as well,' he said ahead of the measure's approval.

Representative Mr Mark Kirk, a Republican who joined Mr Larsen on a recent trip to China, said that climate change was the most contentious issue during talks with Chinese leaders. Mr Kirk said the Chinese essentially were seeking 'the stealing of all intellectual property' related to energy efficiency and climate change.

He warned that China's position could change the political dynamics in Washington, where promoters of a bill to force emission cuts say the United States stands to create millions of jobs in a new green economy.

'Right now a number of green industries like the climate change bill (are) coming out. But if an international treaty sanctions the theft of their intellectual property, then there will be hardly any green jobs built in the United States,' Mr Kirk said.

Technology transfer 'is certainly a big and important question that might be a roadblock' in global negotiations, said Mr Daniel Kessler of Greenpeace. The environmental group has called for public and private funds on climate change to be pooled into an independent global body, funded to the tune of at least 140 billion dollars a year.

But such funding may prove hard to come by. The European Union, champion of the Kyoto Protocol, has come under fire from environmentalists for declining to put a figure on climate aid, saying it is waiting to see other nations' proposals.-- AFP

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US versus China at WTO

June 23, 2009
US versus China at WTO

WASHINGTON - US TRADE Representative Ron Kirk is expected to launch a WTO case against China on Tuesday when he holds what his office called a major news conference regarding US-China trade.

Mr Kirk's office gave no details in announcing the 9.15am EDT (1315 GMT, 9.15pm Singapore time) session with reporters. But industry sources said they expected the United States and the European Union would both announce a World Trade Organisation case against China over its export restrictions on raw materials.

The expected action by the United States and the EU follows their failure to persuade China to reduce its export tariffs and raise quotas on materials such as zinc, tin, tungsten and yellow phosphorous.

The first step, which industry sources expect to be announced on Tuesday, would be for Brussels and Washington to formally request consultations with Beijing. If these talks fail, the next step would be to request that a WTO panel hear the complaint, a step that can take years.

'If the US and the EU do indeed file a WTO case against China on raw material export restrictions, we welcome this action,' said Tom Gibson, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute.

'US and Nafta steel producers have long believed that this government of China policy is a WTO violation and that it is benefiting Chinese manufacturers artificially while disadvantaging manufacturers everywhere else,' he said.

Western governments say resource-hungry China has continued to restrict exports of raw materials used in steel, semiconductors, aircraft and other products despite Beijing's pledge to eliminate taxes and charges on exports when it joined the WTO in 2001. They say these quotas and taxes hurt European and US companies while giving Chinese companies an unfair advantage.

The export curbs drive down China's domestic raw materials costs at the expense of producers elsewhere in the world. But taking action at the WTO is expected to further damage already brittle trade relations with China.

The materials expected to be covered by the case include yellow phosphorous, antimony, bauxite, coke, fluorspar, indium, magnesium carbonate, molybdenum, rare earths, silicon, talc, tin, tungsten and zinc.

In a move that may have been an attempt to forestall U.S. and European action, Beijing said on Monday it was cutting export taxes on a range of materials, including some used to make steel.

It said that effective from July 1, export taxes for indium and molybdenum would be cut to 5 per cent from 15 per cent and the 5 per cent export tax on sulfuric acid would be scrapped. Taxes on some steel products and certain tungsten products will also be cut to 5 per cent from 10 per cent. -- THOMSON REUTERS

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