Trade Policy
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8a564aa-9d85-11e4-9b22-00144feabdc0.html
Obama steps up battle to win fast-track trade deal authority
- renegotiation of trade deals
- Miscellaneous Tariff Bills (MTBs)
- http://export.gov/basicguide/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=tradegov&utm_campaign=basicguide
Export-import bank
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e17251fa-360b-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852.html The House of Representatives passed a highway funding bill on Wednesday that excludes a measure to save the US’s export credit agency, a decision blasted by supporters who say that leaving the lender closed until after the summer recess could lead to job losses. Conservatives in the House have led the fight against reauthorising theExport-Import Bank, which critics say is a symbol of corporate welfare.
- http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1845119/boeing-may-move-work-abroad-given-uncertain-future-export-import
WTO
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4ccf5356-9eaa-11e5-8ce1-f6219b685d74.html
this week trade ministers from around the world will gather to engage once again in the Doha Round of talks which, for all the initial hopes it represented, simply has not delivered. If global trade is to drive development and prosperity as strongly this century as it did in the last, we need to write a new chapter for the World Trade Organisation that reflects today’s economic realities. It is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-wto-idUSKBN16832U U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to ignore any rulings by the World Trade Organization that it sees as an affront to U.S. sovereignty, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a report prepared by officials. The draft document, due to be sent to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, marks the first time the new administration has laid out its trade plans in writing, the Times said.
- https://www.ft.com/content/b59b4412-dc6f-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 As Mr Lighthizer and ministers from the 163 other members of the World Trade Organization meet in Buenos Aires this week no other attendee wields more power over the future of the institution or the international trading system it anchors. A China hawk, Mr Lighthizer has been a persistent WTO critic and argues it has not coped well with the rise of the Chinese economy. In a terse statement, his office said he would use this week’s meeting to “advocate for US economic and trade interests, including WTO institutional reform”. Officials close to the discussions said the EU and several other participant shad abandoned efforts at a ministerial statement after the US language to prohibit the WTO’s appellate body from violating members’ sovereignty and to strip out a longstanding affirmation of the multilateral system’s role in the global economy.
- tariff
- dispute settlement
export ban
- 美國總統特朗普上任後一直大力推動武器銷售，白宮周四宣布放寬常規武器及無人機出口限制，擴大軍售市場、創造就業與增加收入。華府將向相關產業諮詢，在六十日內公布細節。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180421/00180_007.html
- 在中美爆發貿易戰背景下，美國商務部轄下的工業與安全局（BIS），周一提出一份針對關鍵技術，以及相關產品的出口管制框架方案，研究對十四項涉及國家安全和高技術科技加強管制，同時更新出口管制清單。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181121/00180_005.html
export control
- 昨日，美商務部產業安全局 （BIS）將中國 28 家實體增列入出 口管制 「實體清單」 。據悉，被列入所謂 「實體清單」的機構與企業包括 新疆維吾爾自治區人民政府公安局、19家附屬政府機 構與8家商業企業。這8家企業包括浙江海康威視、 大華科技、科大訊飛、廈門美亞柏科與溢鑫科創以及 獨角獸級別的人工智能公司商湯科技、依圖科技和阿 里巴巴支持的曠視科技。其中，海康威視是中國攝像 頭巨頭。http://hk.hkcd.com/pdf/201910/1009/HZ15A09CZXX_HKCD.pdf
import tax/fee
- cotton
Generalised system of preferences (gsp)
- https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/trade-development/preference-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp
- 美國總統特朗普上周五表示，因烏克蘭早前通過法例保護知識產權，將恢復對烏克蘭部分商品的免稅貿易待遇。另一邊廂，他宣布暫停對部分泰國商品的免稅待遇，因為泰國未有採取措施保障泰國工人享有國際公認的勞工權利。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20191027/00180_014.html
- kiv
- 聯泰(311) claim to be affected
fdi
- http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/170896/cfius-issues-interim-regulations-to-conduct-a-firrma-pilot-program
- 美國財政部周一宣布加強監管敏感外國投資，將擴大總統特朗普審查及阻止可能威脅國安的交易之權力。新規定下月十三日生效，旨在加強美國國家安全，讓審查程序更現代化。有關規定將實行國會前年制訂的改革措施，防止美國對手獲得敏感技術、關鍵基建或軍事設施，但官員強調不針對任何一個國家。新規定亦擴大美國外商投資審查委員會（CFIUS）的權力，讓其檢視涉及關鍵技術、基建或敏感個人數據的投資個案。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200115/00180_004.html
fta
- 美國貿易代表萊蒂澤周二表示，總統特朗普政府為了重新平衡全球貿易，已通知國會，將分別向英國、歐盟、日本尋求簽訂貿易協議。 http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181018/00180_005.html
TPP
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cb067d52-a893-11e4-ad01-00144feab7de.html The 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, now nearing conclusion almost seven years after the US joined negotiations, is daunting in size and scope and dwarfs the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico that went into effect two decades ago. Some 40 per cent of global output will be covered by the TPP, including two of the top three economies in the world (the US and Japan). It will significantly lower tariffs and other trade barriers around the Pacific Rim on everything from rice and steaks to cars and chemicals. It will contain enforceable standards on labour and the environment. It will set new benchmarks by delineating rules for state-owned enterprises in the developing world and the digital economy. It will leave rivals in Beijing and Brussels salivating.
us version of silk road
- mentioned in a silk road tv series (the one on kurdistan), proposed by hillary clinton
「337調查」
- 「337調查」最早得名於《1930年美國關稅法》第337條款，已歷經多次修訂。該條款禁止的是一切不公平競爭行為，或向美國出口產品中的任何不公平貿易行為（例如專利侵權、壟斷等）。按照規定，美國國際貿易委員會（ITC）有權調查有關專利和註冊商標侵權的申訴，此外也開展涉及盜用商業機密、商品包裝侵權、仿製和虛假廣告等內容的調查。在「337調查」制度下，ITC在啟動一項調查後，必須在45日內確定終裁的目標時間，並盡快完成調查，通常案件會在12至16個月內作出裁決。
- 近兩到三年，美國「337調查」作為貿易救濟調查的一種形式，已經逐漸由偶發案件演變為多發案件──鋼鐵、輪胎、平衡車、電子設備以至近年的高科技產品等，愈來愈多的產業在應付反傾銷、反補貼之餘，不得不面對「337調查」這塊硬骨頭。據中國貿促會提供資料，一六年，美國對中國企業發起的「337調查」達到23宗。中國並已連續15年成為遭受該調查最多的國家。不願透露姓名的廠商表示，最令中港企業憂慮的是特朗普政府將貿易「知識產權化」，對中國企業而言，反傾銷和反補貼的雙反調查不懼，但「337調查」的可怕之處在於非單純懲罰關稅，而後果是中國產品從此不能出口至美國。
-aluminium
- ft 7aug19 US treasury has limited tools to weaken the dollar
currency manipulation
- https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3012317/us-addition-malaysia-singapore-monitoring-list-over-currency The United States ’ move on Wednesday to include Southeast Asian economic powerhouses Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam on a list of countries it is scrutinising for unfair currency practices has been met with strong official pushback – as well as a healthy amount of ridicule from analysts. While nine countries – including China, and US treaty allies Japan, Germany and South Korea – were named on the latest list of countries requiring extra attention, none were identified as currency manipulators. Some regional observers questioned whether the inclusion of the Southeast Asian countries – alongside Italy and Ireland – may have something to do with their close economic relationship with China, which is currently embroiled in a fierce trade and geopolitical stand-off with Washington.
tariff to curb immigrants
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48469408 US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico, demanding the country curb illegal immigration into the US. In a tweet, Mr Trump said that from 10 June a 5% tariff would be imposed and would slowly rise "until the illegal immigration problem is remedied". Jesús Seade, Mexico's top diplomat for North America, said the proposed tariffs would be "disastrous".
tax
- The U.S. Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) (Pub.L. 99–514, 100 Stat. 2085, enacted October 22, 1986) to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters. Referred to as the second of the two "Reagan tax cuts" (the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 being the first), the bill was also officially sponsored by Democrats, Richard Gephardt of Missouri in the House of Representatives and Bill Bradley of New Jersey in the Senate. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was given impetus by a detailed tax-simplification proposal from President Reagan's Treasury Department, and was designed to be tax-revenue neutral because Reagan stated that he would veto any bill that was not. Revenue neutrality was achieved by offsetting tax cuts for individuals by eliminating $60 billion annually in tax loopholes and shifting $24 billion of the tax burden from individuals to corporations by eliminating the investment tax credit, slowing depreciationof assets, and enacting a stiff alternative minimum tax on corporations.
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20171011/PDF/a13_screen.pdf 新舊稅改框架主要政策建議比較
- https://www.ft.com/content/4909d804-b9a1-11e7-8c12-5661783e5589 Millions of US citizens working overseas could see their tax bills lowered by an overhaul of the tax system as Republicans edge towards eliminating a requirement for American expatriates to pay taxes both overseas and in the US. Kevin Brady, the Republican head of the House ways and means committee, which is drafting a tax reform bill, said lawmakers were considering the measure, which has been the focus of lobbying by Republicans Overseas, a group of party donors around the world.
visa
- 內地傳媒報道，從前天起，內地民眾申辦美國簽證時，需要提交自己的社交平台及帳號名稱，範圍涉及QQ、豆瓣、微博、優酷及其他社交平台。旅行社負責人強調政策並非針對中國人，而是面向全球。據悉美國國務院去年已提出，要收集簽證申請者更多個人資料，以便審查其背景。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190602/00178_007.html
Investment visa
- EB-5
- 美國傳媒周二披露，特朗普政府計劃把額外七個國家加入旅行禁令名單，包括白羅斯、厄立特里亞、吉爾吉斯、緬甸、尼日利亞、蘇丹和坦桑尼亞。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200123/00180_013.html
Nonproliferation act
- The Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act authorizes the United States to impose sanctions against foreign individuals, private entities, and governments that engage in proliferation activities. The Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, with interagency support, is responsible for leading efforts to implement the INKSNA, which provides for penalties on entities and individuals for the transfer to or acquisition from Iran since Jan. 1, 1999, the transfer to or the acquisition from Syria since Jan. 1, 2005, or the transfer to or acquisition from North Korea since Jan. 1, 2006, of equipment and technology controlled under multilateral control lists (Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group, Chemical Weapons Convention, Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wassenaar Arrangement). INKSNA also provides for sanctions for the transfer of equipment or technology having the potential to make a material contribution to the development of weapons of mass destruction or cruise or ballistic missile systems.
- As part of its enforcement efforts, OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx
Lobbying
- The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a "political or quasi-political capacity" disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances. The purpose is to facilitate "evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons." The law is administered by the FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) of the United States Department of Justice.
commercial law
- The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been put into law with the goal of harmonizing the law of salesand other commercial transactions across the United States of America (U.S.) through UCC adoption by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.
types of companies
- a subchapter s corporation is a form of corporation whose stockholders are taxed as partners.
insolvency
- filing of a petition may be voluntary (by the debtor) or involuntary. Creditors will normally file an involuntary petition to force the debtor into bankruptcy in order to have its assets distributed.
- in chapter 7, a debtor may be discharged only once every six years.
- chapter 11 - provision known as reorganisation or debtor in possession plan. This section is a viable business provided that it is given enough breathing room to devise a plan for the payment of the business's debt. This may include renegotiating installments, interest rates, and the sale of some assets. The debtor stays in possession of the business and continues operations; the debts accrued prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition is generally stayed.
- chapter 13 is a bankruptcy provision that is available for individuals who have a regular source of income, including sole proprietors whose unsecured debts are less than $100,000 and secured debts do not exceed $350,000. The court will allow the debtor to devise a plan for the full or partial payment of creditors over a 3-5 year period
price control
- robinson patman act
Oil
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5c56d152-9288-11e4-a1fd-00144feabdc0.html The Obama administration has set the stage for a fierce debate over a US ban on crude oil exports by allowing more overseas sales of lightly processed oil as it grapples with the consequences of cheap crude. Last week’s decision will push the US’s 40-year-old export ban up the political agenda as environmental concerns over shale production crosscut with rising tensions between US producers and Saudi Arabia over the falling price of oil. Critics of the crude export ban — including oil industry executives and some Republicans — say it is a 1970s anachronism that should be scrapped as the US faces a glut of shale oil, which has undercut the global market by reducing US import needs.
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20151217/PDF/b3_screen.pdf 美國會領袖一致同意取消長達40年的石油出口禁令，此歷史性舉措，反映由美國頁巖油開採熱潮推動的結果和整體經濟環境的變化。這一消息刺激下，油價週二曾短暫反彈，但由於石油市場供過於求情況沒有轉變，油價走勢仍然偏軟，紐約油價未明顯受消息影響，在週三徘徊於每桶37.09美元水平。布蘭特期油跌至37.34美元。- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-oil-idUSKCN0VD2Q7 U.S. President Barack Obama will launch a long-shot bid next week to impose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil that would fund the overhaul of the nation's aging transportation infrastructure, the White House said on Thursday. The proposed fee, which would be paid by oil companies and phased in over five years, was quickly met with scorn by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Congress.
In the last year of his presidency, Obama has said the country must stop subsidizing the "dirty" fossil fuels of the past and focus on clean, renewable fuels that do not exacerbate climate change. "By placing a fee on oil, the President's plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future," the White House said in a statement.
Pension fund
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c86dadde-71cc-11e4-9048-00144feabdc0.html US financial advisers and investment providers are battling consumer protection rules they say could disrupt the way more than $6.5tn of retirement products are sold.
Minimum wage
- On June 4, 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the United States, which established a state commission for recommending non-compulsory minimum wages for women and children. The passage of the bill was significantly assisted by the Lawrence textile strike which had raged for ten weeks at the beginning of 1912. The strike brought national attention to the plight of the low wage textile workers, and pushed the state legislatures, who feared the magnitude of the strike, to enact progressive labor legislation. By 1923, fifteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia had passed minimum wage laws, with pressure being placed on state legislatures by the National Consumers League in a coalition with other women's voluntary associations and organized labor.The United States Supreme Court of the Lochner era (1897–1937), however, consistently invalidated labor regulation laws. Advocates for state minimum wage laws hoped that they would be upheld under the precedent of Muller v. Oregon (1908), which upheld maximum working hours laws for women on the grounds that women required special protection that men did not. In 1933, the Roosevelt administration during the New Deal made the first attempt at establishing a national minimum wage regiment with the National Industrial Recovery Act, which set minimum wage and maximum hours on an industry and regional basis. The Supreme Court, however, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935) ruled the act unconstitutional, and the minimum wage regulations were abolished.[33] Two years later after President Roosevelt's overwhelming reelection in 1936 and discussion of judicial reform, the Supreme Court took up the issue of labor legislation again in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish(1937) and upheld the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by Washingtonstate and overturned the Adkins decision which marked the end of the Lochner era.[34] In 1938, the minimum wage was re-established pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, this time at a uniform rate of $0.25 per hour ($4.78 in 2017 dollars[35]). The Supreme Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act in United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941), holding that Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions.
- 美國部分地區的最低時薪約七點二五美元（約五十七港元），而且維持十年原封不動。為保障低收入人士，多州自行修訂法規；首都華盛頓、新澤西州、俄勒岡州將於周一提高最低時薪，分別為十四、十、十一點二五美元（約七十八至一百零九港元）。數字顯示，全美目前有近四十三萬名員工領取最低時薪，另有一百二十萬人的薪酬低於最低水平。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190701/00180_017.html
- http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/pf/california-minimum-wage/
California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage. Both the State Assembly and State Senate passed the measure on Thursday afternoon. Governor Jerry Brown said he would sign it on Monday. "No one who is working full time in California should live in poverty due to a low wage," said Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, who cosponsored the bill. The measure will raise the state's minimum wage to $10.50 in January and to $11 in January 2018. It will then increase by an additional $1 per hour every year until it reaches $15 in 2022. If, however, the state goes through an economic downturn or budget crisis, the governor may choose to slow the implementation. The final bill gives small businesses, with 25 or fewer employees, an extra year to implement the increases.
banking
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/77b19124-e76c-11e4-8e3f-00144feab7de.html Paul Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve, has issued a radical call for the US to follow the UK’s lead by streamlining its mishmash of financial watchdogs in order to close worrisome gaps in regulation. Mr Volcker said that reforming the regulatory structure was an unfinished task left over from the financial crisis as he warned that lending by non-banks — known as shadow banks — was creating unchecked risks.
derivatives
- 美國商品期貨交易委員會(CFTC)主席賈恩卡洛於美國時間昨日，公佈修訂前總統奧巴馬時期通過的《多德－弗蘭克法案》，放寬對金融衍生產品市場的監管，以提升美國金融機構的競爭力。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/10/02/a24-1002.pdf
ico
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20170727/00202_013.html 美國證交會（SEC）日前表示，首次公開募幣（ICO, Initial Coin Offering）屬於該局管轄範圍，須遵從聯邦證券法監管。美國證交會調查報告重申，任何在美國境內提供的證券銷售，不論發行機構屬傳統金融公司或其他組織，以美元或虛擬貨幣進行交易，均列入當局監管，所有ICO發行人於市場集資前，必須先向政府提交申請。事實上，在今年以來，全球至少有90隻ICO進行集資，規模高逾10億美元。有報道指，有銀行家為追逐ICO市場發展，不惜放棄七位數字的薪金，轉投虛擬貨幣市場。
Insurance
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b1229cb8-edc6-11e4-90d2-00144feab7de.html Global insurance rules face a revolt in the US as Republicans spearhead complaints that international regulators who they say lack accountability are imposing inappropriate standards on American companies. The financial crisis and the government rescue of US insurer AIG prompted a new regulatory regime for insurance, but the Republican takeover of Congress has brought to the surface deep unease over their development in the US. While the discontent in Washington is not universal, it signals trouble for the Financial Stability Board, a group of regulators and central bankers set up by the Group of 20 leading economies in 2009 to fortify the global financial system. At the head of the Republican attacks is Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate banking committee, who used a hearing on Tuesday to showcase a range of concerns about the FSB’s influence.
m&a
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f72bf0b8-57d6-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html A New York businessman has been criminally charged with using “reverse mergers” between Chinese firms and US shell companies to make millions of dollars in illicit profits, which he used to finance his lavish lifestyle, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday. Benjamin Wey, founder of New York Global Group, which also has an office in Beijing, was arrested at his home in Manhattan on Thursday. His Geneva-based banker, Seref Dogan Erbek, was also charged and remains at large, the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.
ict
- 5g
Internet regulation
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21632511-barack-obama-jumps-debate-about-how-regulate-broadband-not-neutral-about-net
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bdbc7ee2-bc3b-11e4-a6d7-00144feab7de.html The US communication watchdog’s proposed new regulatory regime for the internet has “unnecessary risks” for internet providers, according to Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, America’s largest internet provider. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Thursday on whether to regulate the internet as a public utility, much like commercial telephone networks. The vote, which is expected to pass, is likely to trigger legal challenges from large internet providers.
Defend trade secrets act
Online sales tax exemption
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3c7e71e2-7900-11e4-b518-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Ki7pUTp8 Alibaba is taking on Amazon’s habitual role as public enemy number one for traditional US retailers, after being dragged into a political fight over a tax exemption for online sales.
- 美國最高法院周四裁定，網上商家即使在某些州份沒有實體商店，仍可被徵收銷售稅，有關判決勢將再一次改變零售業生態。最高法院以五比四票數，推翻一九九二年奎爾公司起訴北達科他州案（Quill Corporation v. North Dakota）。當年高院裁定，州政府不能要求本州沒實體店的網上零售商繳交銷售稅。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180623/00180_016.html
aviation
- 美國政府自一九七三年起逐步禁止超音速客機在境內飛行，以免突破音障時產生的音爆影響地面民居。但聯邦航空局有望獲國會授權並修改有關法例，不但為超音速客機在境內飛行解禁，更為超音速旅行普及化鋪路。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180926/00180_036.html
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8a564aa-9d85-11e4-9b22-00144feabdc0.html
Obama steps up battle to win fast-track trade deal authority
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/442bc274-b2cf-11e4-a058-00144feab7de.html letter to FT by C Fred Bergsten, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus, Peterson Institute for International Economics on 17 feb15
- renegotiation of trade deals
- five points to keep in mind https://www.ft.com/content/4c1594c6-e18d-11e6-8405-9e5580d6e5fb
- Miscellaneous Tariff Bills (MTBs)
- The Committee on Ways and Means in the House of Representatives has initial jurisdiction over legislation to amend the U.S. tariff schedule and to make corrections to trade legislation. Miscellaneous Tariff Bills (MTBs) enact the temporary reduction or suspension of duties on certain U.S. imports or other technical corrections to the U.S. Harmonized Tariff System.https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/industry-manufacturing/industrial-tariffs/miscellaneous-tariff-bills
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-tariffs-analysis/as-congress-moves-to-drop-tariffs-some-u-s-firms-cry-foul-idUSKBN1GH0LF Even as President Trump threatens to slap protective tariffs on steel and aluminum, lawmakers are moving forward with legislation to lower trade barriers on hundreds of other products, from chemicals to toasters, in a bid to lower costs for U.S. companies and consumers. Supporters of the so-called miscellaneous tariff bill, which unanimously passed the House of Representatives in January, say it would boost the economy by getting rid of tariffs designed to protect U.S. industries that no longer exist. The National Association of Manufacturers says U.S. companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year on unnecessary import fees. Critics say that miscellaneous tariff bills, which began decades ago as modest efforts to help U.S. manufacturers, have in recent years become sprawling packages of tariff reductions that undercut domestic producers without the means to defend their interests in Washington.
- The Trump administration may undertake trade actions to protect the U.S. semiconductor, shipbuilding and aluminum industries, citing national security concerns, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Tuesday. He said those industries could qualify for protection under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which lets the president impose restrictions on imports for reasons of national security and was used to launch a probe of steel imports, the Journal reported. http://fortune.com/2017/04/26/donald-trump-wilbur-ross-trade/
- In 1948 the United States joined the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the predecessor organization of the World Trade Organization. In accordance with GATT provisions the United States agreed to extend what was then called Most Favored-Nation status (MFN) to all GATT member countries. This status was also applied to some countries that were not GATT members. However, a member may opt out of its obligations by invoking the non-application provision (Article XIII of the WTO or Article XXXV of the GATT) if it determines it cannot extend GATT/WTO principles to newly acceding members for political reasons. In 1951, the U.S. Congress directed President Harry Truman to revoke MFN status to the Soviet Union and other Communist countries except for Yugoslavia.[3]:2 During the Cold War, most Communist countries were denied MFN status if they did not meet certain conditions. In December 1960, Poland was granted MFN status by President Eisenhower.[1] In 1962, Congress enacted a directive that jeopardized the MFN status of Poland and Yugoslavia; however, the directive was delayed until a new one was passed that allowed any countries with MFN to keep the status if the President determined it to be in the national interest of the United States.
- For many years, People's Republic of China was the most important country in this group which required an annual waiver to maintain free trade status. The waiver for the PRC had been in effect since 1980. Every year between 1989 and 1999, legislation was introduced in Congress to disapprove the President's waiver. The legislation had sought to tie free trade with China to meeting certain human rightsconditions that go beyond freedom of emigration. All such attempted legislation failed to pass. The requirement of an annual waiver was inconsistent with the rules of the World Trade Organization, and for the PRC to join the WTO, Congressional action was needed to grant PNTR to the PRC. This was accomplished in late 1999, allowing the PRC to join WTO in the following year.
- By Act of Congress, the United States granted permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to Czechoslovakia (later the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, and Romania after the fall of the communist governments in those countries.The United States granted PNTR to Albania, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania before their countries acceded to the WTO. Before it granted PNTR, the United States invoked the non-application provision against Mongolia for more than two years after it joined the WTO on January 29, 1997. It also invoked the provision against Armenia from its WTO accession on February 5, 2003, until it was granted PNTR on January 7, 2005, and with Kyrgyzstan from when it joined the WTO on December 20, 1998, until receiving PNTR on June 29, 2000. According to a 2005 Congressional Research Service report, as of 2005, only Cuba (see United States embargo against Cuba) and North Korea (see North Korea–United States relations), were specifically denied NTR status.[5] The same report said that in accordance with the Jackson–Vanik amendment, Belarus and Turkmenistan had been temporarily afforded NTR treatment by presidential waiver and that Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan were temporarily afforded NTR treatment by a presidential compliance determination. In December 2006, the U. S. granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations status to Vietnam.[3]:3[6] Vietnam had a temporary free trade status on a year-to-year waiver basis as a prerequisite for accession to the WTO since 2001. In the same year Ukraine was granted PNTR. In December 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 (Magnitsky Act) granting PNTR to Russia and Moldova.
- The Jackson–Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974 is a 1974 provision in United States federal law intended to affect U.S. trade relations with countries with non-market economies (originally, countries of the Communist bloc) that restrict freedom of emigration and other human rights.The amendment, named after its major co-sponsors Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of Washington in the Senate and Charles A. Vanik of Ohio in the House of Representatives, both Democrats, is contained in Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974. The Trade Act of 1974 passed both houses of the United States Congress unanimously, and President Gerald Ford signed the bill into law with the adopted amendment on January 3, 1975. Over time, a number of countries were granted conditional normal trade relations subject to annual review, and a number of countries were liberated from the amendment. In December 2012, the Magnitsky Act was signed into law by President Obama, repealing the Jackson–Vanik amendment.
- The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2012, intending to punish Russian officials responsible for the death of Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009. Since 2016 the bill, which applies globally, authorizes the US government to sanction who it sees as human rights offenders, freezing their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S.
- https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2019/march/united-states-will-terminate-gsp At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced today that the United States intends to terminate India’s and Turkey’s designations as beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program because they no longer comply with the statutory eligibility criteria. India’s termination from GSP follows its failure to provide the United States with assurances that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets in numerous sectors. Turkey’s termination from GSP follows a finding that it is sufficiently economically developed and should no longer benefit from preferential market access to the United States market. By statute, these changes may not take effect until at least 60 days after the notifications to Congress and the governments of India and Turkey, and will be enacted by a Presidential Proclamation.
- President Donald Trump opened another potential front in his trade war on Friday, terminating India’s designation as a developing nation and thereby eliminating an exception that allowed the country to export nearly 2,000 products to the U.S. duty-free. “I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets,” Trump said in a proclamation. “Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India’s designation as a beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019.”https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-01/trump-ends-india-s-trade-designation-as-a-developing-nation
- India has said that, from Sunday, it will impose tariffs on 28 US products, including almonds and apples. The new duties, some as high as 70%, are in response to Washington's refusal to exempt Delhi from higher taxes on steel and aluminium imports. Earlier this month, US President Trump also announced the US was withdrawing India's preferential trade treatment. Tariffs of up to 120% were announced by India in June last year, but trade talks had delayed their implementation.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48650505
- http://export.gov/basicguide/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=tradegov&utm_campaign=basicguide
Export-import bank
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e17251fa-360b-11e5-b05b-b01debd57852.html The House of Representatives passed a highway funding bill on Wednesday that excludes a measure to save the US’s export credit agency, a decision blasted by supporters who say that leaving the lender closed until after the summer recess could lead to job losses. Conservatives in the House have led the fight against reauthorising theExport-Import Bank, which critics say is a symbol of corporate welfare.
- http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1845119/boeing-may-move-work-abroad-given-uncertain-future-export-import
WTO
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4ccf5356-9eaa-11e5-8ce1-f6219b685d74.html
this week trade ministers from around the world will gather to engage once again in the Doha Round of talks which, for all the initial hopes it represented, simply has not delivered. If global trade is to drive development and prosperity as strongly this century as it did in the last, we need to write a new chapter for the World Trade Organisation that reflects today’s economic realities. It is time for the world to free itself of the strictures of Doha.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-wto-idUSKBN16832U U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to ignore any rulings by the World Trade Organization that it sees as an affront to U.S. sovereignty, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a report prepared by officials. The draft document, due to be sent to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, marks the first time the new administration has laid out its trade plans in writing, the Times said.
- Trump’s trade shake-up: why has the US taken aim at the WTO Global trading system at risk as White House seeks ways to bypass its rules https://www.ft.com/content/a15868ba-ff00-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30
- https://www.ft.com/content/b59b4412-dc6f-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 As Mr Lighthizer and ministers from the 163 other members of the World Trade Organization meet in Buenos Aires this week no other attendee wields more power over the future of the institution or the international trading system it anchors. A China hawk, Mr Lighthizer has been a persistent WTO critic and argues it has not coped well with the rise of the Chinese economy. In a terse statement, his office said he would use this week’s meeting to “advocate for US economic and trade interests, including WTO institutional reform”. Officials close to the discussions said the EU and several other participant shad abandoned efforts at a ministerial statement after the US language to prohibit the WTO’s appellate body from violating members’ sovereignty and to strip out a longstanding affirmation of the multilateral system’s role in the global economy.
- tariff
- The US has approved controversial tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels.The move is in line with President Donald Trump's "America First" trade policy, which aims to protect local manufacturers from foreign competition. A spokesman said the administration would "always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers and businessmen". But China and South Korea, whose manufacturers will be most heavily affected, criticised the move. The first 1.2 million imported large residential washing machines in the first year will have a 20% tariff imposed on them, while there will be a 50% tariff on machines above that number. By the third year, these will drop to 16% and 40% respectively. Meanwhile, the tariff increase on imported solar cells and modules in the first year will be 30%, falling to 15% by the fourth year, although 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of imported cells - enough for about 11.5 million panels - will be allowed in tariff-free annually. The ITC said that China had been selling "artificially low-priced" solar components in the US, assisted by state subsidies.http://www.bbc.com/news/business-42784380
- 金屬管
- China's export subsidies
- 美國商務部周二初步裁定，中國以遠低於公平價格向美國傾銷用於石油和天然氣業的焊接管，因此必須作出回應，保護美國工業。商務部擬向中國進口金屬管加徵百分之一百三十二進口關稅，另有多國也被認定為傾銷，加拿大將被加徵逾百分之廿四關稅、希臘為逾百分之五十、印度和南韓為百分之廿二，土耳其也將被徵稅百分之五。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180823/00180_013.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/business/white-house-to-file-trade-case-against-china-at-wto-over-export-subsidies.html?_r=0 The Obama administration accused China on Wednesday of providing illegal export subsidies to critical industries, flexing its muscle on trade as it presses Congress to expand President Obama’s authority to secure major trade accords. Flanked by House members from both parties, Michael B. Froman, the United States trade representative, said the administration was filing a broad case at the World Trade Organization, accusing Beijing of subsidizing services like information technology, product design and worker training for industries that aim their products at the export market. Those export industries include textiles, apparel and footwear, advanced metals, specialty chemicals, medical products and agriculture, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/6f7c50de-b210-11e4-b380-00144feab7de.html Q&A: US challenges China export subsidies, also hket 13feb15 a20
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/12/usa-trade-china-aluminium-idUSL5N0VM1H320150212A legal challenge by the United States to Chinese export subsidies that takes aim at aluminium products is set to revive industry concerns that China could cut a sales tax refund that has boosted exports and eased a supply shortfall in Asia. The U.S. on Wednesday launched a legal challenge to Chinese subsidies supporting billions of dollars of exports across a wide swathe of industries from steel to shrimp, in the first step of a World Trade Organization dispute. Chinese companies in designated export hubs benefited from free or subsidized services, cash grants and other incentives which gave their products an unfair advantage, the U.S. said. Industries covered include advanced materials and metals such as speciality steel, titanium and aluminium products. http://www.afr.com/p/us_takes_aim_at_chinese_export_subsidies_gTtYXxT2bVjS6ZlajcWMLI
- http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2015/02/13/a18-0213.pdf 據新華社報道，中國商務部條約法 律司負責人昨日就美國在世貿組織起訴中國補貼措 施發表談話，表示中方已經收到美方提出的磋商請 求。 11日，美國就中國外貿轉型升級示範基地和公共 服務平台補貼措施提起世貿組織爭端解決機制下的 磋商請求，指稱中國通過外貿轉型升級示範基地和 公共服務平台向企業提供世貿規則禁止的出口補 貼。該負責人表示，中方一貫尊重世貿規則，外貿轉 型升級示範基地是中國轉變外貿發展方式，促進對 外貿易健康穩定發展的重要舉措，符合世貿規則的 規定。
- The United States launched a complaint against China at the World Trade Organization on Friday, part of a package of trade measures announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday over China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property. “China appears to be breaking WTO rules by denying foreign patent holders, including U.S. companies, basic patent rights to stop a Chinese entity from using the technology after a licensing contract ends,” the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement. “China also appears to be breaking WTO rules by imposing mandatory adverse contract terms that discriminate against and are less favorable for imported foreign technology,” it said. Such policies interfered with foreign technology holders’ ability to set market-based terms in licensing and other technology-related contracts, it said. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-trade-wto/u-s-accuses-china-of-stealing-patents-in-wto-complaint-idUSKBN1GZ1BV
- dispute settlement
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1b89a3b4-261d-11e6-8ba3-cdd781d02d89.html The US has been accused of being a bully and undermining the World Trade Organisation’s dispute system after vetoing the reappointment of a South Korean judge. The EU and legal scholars have warned that the veto threatens the impartiality of the global trade court. US opposition comes at a time when many believe Washington has been losing faith in the WTO and is preparing for a big fight with China over how and when economies can deploy anti-dumping defences against cheap imports.
- https://www.ft.com/content/7bb991e4-fc38-11e6-96f8-3700c5664d30 The Trump administration is exploring alternatives to taking trade disputes to the World Trade Organisation in what would amount to the first step away from a system that Washington helped to establish more than two decades ago.
- https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21729462-rules-based-system-trade-faces-threats-beyond-trumps-tariffs-america-holds Trouble is brewing at the WTO’s court of appeals. It is meant to have seven serving judges, but has only five and by the end of the year will have just four. The Americans refuse to start the process of filling the spots, citing systemic concerns. What seemed an arcane procedural row has become what some call a “crisis”.
- 據報道，美國官員在世貿組織的一次會議上，拒絕再次委任一名上訴機構的法官。該機構原有七名法官，但早前已有三名法官離任，上述法官的任期將於下月三十日屆滿，須再次獲委任才可展開第二個任期。由於按世貿組織規定，上訴機構最少得有四名法官方可召開聽證會，若今次法官的任命難產，勢必令上訴機構陷入癱瘓。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180829/00192_001.html
- http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38131617 The US has been given 90 days to drop a special tax exemption for the giant aerospace company Boeing because it amounts to an unlawful subsidy. The World Trade Organization (WTO) made the order after investigating a complaint from the European Union. The tax cut was provided by the state of Washington in 2013 to ensure that wings for Boeing's new 777X jetliner were made only there.
- https://www.ft.com/content/861449ae-918e-11e7-bdfa-eda243196c2c The US has scored a victory over the EU in a long-running tit-for-tat trade row, after a World Trade Organisation appeals body overturned a ruling that Boeing had received “prohibited” state aid for its newest long-haul jet. The decision marks the end of just one chapter in what is among the most contentious battles in the global trade system, over billions in illegal state aid to Boeing and its European rival Airbus. The EU and the US continue to accuse each other of wrongdoing over subsidies, loans and tax breaks given to the aircraft makers in a row which has already lasted 13 years. Another ruling is expected later this year on whether the US had complied with an order to halt illegal aid, while a second on the EU’s compliance is due next year. The dispute reached a head in 2010 and 2011 when the WTO ruled that both Boeing, which won government money through contracts for defence and space business as well as tax breaks, and Airbus, which received aid to launch many aircraft repayable on delivery, had collected billions in unlawful assistance. The latest ruling concerns a case brought by the EU in 2014 which challenged tax breaks granted by the state of Washington to Boeing in return for the aircraft maker’s promise to assemble the 777X in the state. The EU had claimed that the agreement violated global trade rules by in effect making the tax breaks contingent on using domestic rather imported goods. In November, the WTO had ruled that this amounted to a “prohibited” subsidy, the most severe category of illegal aid. However, the WTO’s appeal judges on Monday reversed that finding, which had also imposed a three month deadline to withdraw the tax breaks. US trade officials hailed the ruling as a significant victory.
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49906815 The US has been given the go-ahead to impose tariffs on $7.5bn (£6.1bn) of goods it imports from the EU. It is the latest chapter in a 15-year battle between the US and the EU over illegal subsidies for planemakers Airbus and rival Boeing. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling will mean tariffs on EU goods ranging from aircraft to cheese, olives and jumpers from 18 October. Brussels has threatened to retaliate similarly against US goods.
- 華府周二宣布撥出一百二十億美元（約九百三十六億港元）的緊急援助，協助受報復性關稅影響的農民。不少政客及農業組織批評特朗普治標不治本，要求取消徵罰農民的關稅。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180726/00180_002.html
- 農業部周二表示，政府將直接向農民派發四十七億美元（約三百六十七億港元）現金，其中三十六億美元（約二百八十一億港元）是給予大豆農。計劃於九月收成季開始，農民屆時需展示收成作為付款根據。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180829/00180_007.html
- ft 26jul19 US increases aid for farmers hit by china trade dispute
export ban
- 美國總統特朗普上任後一直大力推動武器銷售，白宮周四宣布放寬常規武器及無人機出口限制，擴大軍售市場、創造就業與增加收入。華府將向相關產業諮詢，在六十日內公布細節。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180421/00180_007.html
- 在中美爆發貿易戰背景下，美國商務部轄下的工業與安全局（BIS），周一提出一份針對關鍵技術，以及相關產品的出口管制框架方案，研究對十四項涉及國家安全和高技術科技加強管制，同時更新出口管制清單。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181121/00180_005.html
export control
- 昨日，美商務部產業安全局 （BIS）將中國 28 家實體增列入出 口管制 「實體清單」 。據悉，被列入所謂 「實體清單」的機構與企業包括 新疆維吾爾自治區人民政府公安局、19家附屬政府機 構與8家商業企業。這8家企業包括浙江海康威視、 大華科技、科大訊飛、廈門美亞柏科與溢鑫科創以及 獨角獸級別的人工智能公司商湯科技、依圖科技和阿 里巴巴支持的曠視科技。其中，海康威視是中國攝像 頭巨頭。http://hk.hkcd.com/pdf/201910/1009/HZ15A09CZXX_HKCD.pdf
import tax/fee
- cotton
- http://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/Regulatory-Alert-US/Cotton-Import-Fee-to-Be-Increased/baus/en/1/1X300W0C/1X0AIVGZ.htm Assessments paid by importers of cotton and cotton-containing products under the Cotton Research and Promotion Order will rise 2.7 percent under a direct final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. This rule also amends the Import Assessment Table, which indicates the total assessment rate due for each HTSUS number subject to assessment, to reflect this change. This rule will be effective as of 16 December unless significant adverse comment is received by 14 November, in which case it will be withdrawn.
Generalised system of preferences (gsp)
- https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/trade-development/preference-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp
- 美國總統特朗普上周五表示，因烏克蘭早前通過法例保護知識產權，將恢復對烏克蘭部分商品的免稅貿易待遇。另一邊廂，他宣布暫停對部分泰國商品的免稅待遇，因為泰國未有採取措施保障泰國工人享有國際公認的勞工權利。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20191027/00180_014.html
- kiv
- GSP Update for Production Diversification and Trade Enhancement Act
- 聯泰(311) claim to be affected
fdi
- http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/170896/cfius-issues-interim-regulations-to-conduct-a-firrma-pilot-program
- 美國財政部周一宣布加強監管敏感外國投資，將擴大總統特朗普審查及阻止可能威脅國安的交易之權力。新規定下月十三日生效，旨在加強美國國家安全，讓審查程序更現代化。有關規定將實行國會前年制訂的改革措施，防止美國對手獲得敏感技術、關鍵基建或軍事設施，但官員強調不針對任何一個國家。新規定亦擴大美國外商投資審查委員會（CFIUS）的權力，讓其檢視涉及關鍵技術、基建或敏感個人數據的投資個案。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200115/00180_004.html
fta
- 美國貿易代表萊蒂澤周二表示，總統特朗普政府為了重新平衡全球貿易，已通知國會，將分別向英國、歐盟、日本尋求簽訂貿易協議。 http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181018/00180_005.html
TPP
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cb067d52-a893-11e4-ad01-00144feab7de.html The 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, now nearing conclusion almost seven years after the US joined negotiations, is daunting in size and scope and dwarfs the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico that went into effect two decades ago. Some 40 per cent of global output will be covered by the TPP, including two of the top three economies in the world (the US and Japan). It will significantly lower tariffs and other trade barriers around the Pacific Rim on everything from rice and steaks to cars and chemicals. It will contain enforceable standards on labour and the environment. It will set new benchmarks by delineating rules for state-owned enterprises in the developing world and the digital economy. It will leave rivals in Beijing and Brussels salivating.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/43920bae-c3f3-11e4-9019-00144feab7de.html article by Lawrence Summers, Charles W Eliot university professor at Harvard and a former US Treasury secretary Over the next few months the question of US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is likely to be resolved one way or the other. It is, to put it mildly, a highly controversial issue. Proponents believe a deal is essential for both our economic and geopolitical interests; opponents fear it will benefit corporate interests and the wealthy at the expense of middle-class living standards. Definitive judgment is not possible because the parties are still negotiating and we have not yet seen a final agreement. Our negotiators should never forget that those who “need” agreements get less good ones than those who do not. The US economy is certainly capable of prospering without an agreement. And lack of global profit opportunities for US headquartered corporations is far from one of our economy’s most pressing problems. Nonethe less I believe that the right TPP is very much in the American national interest.
- www.ft.com/cms/s/0/102d56f2-cdf2-11e4-8760-00144feab7de.html After more than half a decade wrangling over rules for everything from data flows to fisheries’ subsidies, the US, Japan and 10 other countries are close to finalising one of the biggest trade deals ever struck — the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Or are they? To close the deal, Mr Obama needs “fast-track” negotiating authority from Congress, which guarantees that the 535 members of the US legislature will not pile in and try to renegotiate what the administration has hashed out with other countries.
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201504/0407/HA11407CGBA.pdf in view of new developments in AIIB, USA must conclude TPP
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c1ec8a0e-ed94-11e4-a894-00144feab7de.html After more than five hard years of negotiation, the Pacific deal looks like it is nearing completion. It is top of the agenda for this week’s visit to Washington by Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister.Things are looking starkly different for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The discussions there are crawling along. Many negotiators and close observers now say it will be for the next US president to close a real deal. One reason is the nature of the transatlantic talks. They are arguably much more complicated because they are focused on freeing up trade by finding a way to “harmonise” regulations. They have also been under way for less than two years, which makes them nascent in trade negotiating terms. The other reason is politics. The TTIP is rarely discussed in the US. But in Europe it has become contentious. In Germany and the UK critics contend a trade deal with the US would allow American multinationals to use supranational courts to require governments to withdraw environmental regulations or force the privatisation of public health systems. It would, opponents argue, result in the weakening of food safety standards and ease the way for highly processed American “frankenfoods” to land on European shores.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2489e3a-f03a-11e4-aee0-00144feab7de.html The top Republican lawmaker on trade has called for US president Barack Obama to work even harder to build support among Democrats for a crucial trade bill on the eve of what are expected to be divisive votes in Congress. “We’ve still got a lot of raindrops to run through here without getting splashed,” Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, told the Financial Times in an interview.
- www.ft.com/cms/s/0/102d56f2-cdf2-11e4-8760-00144feab7de.html After more than half a decade wrangling over rules for everything from data flows to fisheries’ subsidies, the US, Japan and 10 other countries are close to finalising one of the biggest trade deals ever struck — the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Or are they? To close the deal, Mr Obama needs “fast-track” negotiating authority from Congress, which guarantees that the 535 members of the US legislature will not pile in and try to renegotiate what the administration has hashed out with other countries.
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201504/0407/HA11407CGBA.pdf in view of new developments in AIIB, USA must conclude TPP
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c1ec8a0e-ed94-11e4-a894-00144feab7de.html After more than five hard years of negotiation, the Pacific deal looks like it is nearing completion. It is top of the agenda for this week’s visit to Washington by Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister.Things are looking starkly different for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The discussions there are crawling along. Many negotiators and close observers now say it will be for the next US president to close a real deal. One reason is the nature of the transatlantic talks. They are arguably much more complicated because they are focused on freeing up trade by finding a way to “harmonise” regulations. They have also been under way for less than two years, which makes them nascent in trade negotiating terms. The other reason is politics. The TTIP is rarely discussed in the US. But in Europe it has become contentious. In Germany and the UK critics contend a trade deal with the US would allow American multinationals to use supranational courts to require governments to withdraw environmental regulations or force the privatisation of public health systems. It would, opponents argue, result in the weakening of food safety standards and ease the way for highly processed American “frankenfoods” to land on European shores.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d2489e3a-f03a-11e4-aee0-00144feab7de.html The top Republican lawmaker on trade has called for US president Barack Obama to work even harder to build support among Democrats for a crucial trade bill on the eve of what are expected to be divisive votes in Congress. “We’ve still got a lot of raindrops to run through here without getting splashed,” Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, told the Financial Times in an interview.
- Obama's Pacific trade deal will not tame China http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0d6bc1a-fafa-11e4-9aed-00144feab7de.html
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-06/11/content_20969576.htm China is adopting a more welcoming attitude toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a US-led free-trade agreement now being negotiated by 12 countries. Zhang Jianping, director of the department of international economic cooperation at the Institute for International Economic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, said China's attitude is clear. "We are very happy to see that those TPP members can reach a consensus - because we think the TPP will be a possible approach for promoting Asia-Pacific economic integration," Zhang said at a seminar on Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. His remarks come as the Obama administration tries to pressure the US House of Representatives to approve a renewal of trade promotion authority, which is necessary for the US executive branch to negotiate the TPP and other free-trade agreements. The bill cleared the Senate on May 21, but in the House, Obama is still lobbying members of his Democratic Party. Meanwhile, the US and Japan are still haggling over the opening of the auto and agricultural markets under the TPP, while Malaysia and Vietnam face some major hurdles in the negotiations. The other nations that have participated in the negotiations are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore. Kathy Santillo, regional managing director of the US-ASEAN Business Council, said on Tuesday that there is no certainty that Congress will approve the TPP this year. Obama hopes to make the TPP a major foreign-policy legacy. While saying that the TPP might be a possible approach to the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, Zhang said that countries such as China and Indonesia may not feel so comfortable with the agreement. The TPP's high standards and strict regulations to some extent may surpass the development stage for some developing economies in the region, Zhang said.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4c6ce556-0849-11e5-85de-00144feabdc0.html The debate in Washington over trade and the future of the US economy in the world is following a familiar pattern these days. With a bold new Pacific Rim trade deal that he wants to strike with Japan and 10 other economies, President Barack Obama argues he is fighting for the beleaguered American middle class and opening up new markets for US exports. In response, his detractors on the subject — most of them from the same progressive left of the Democratic party that helped elect him in 2008 — cry false promise. Past trade deals have led to a hollowing out of the American manufacturing sector, they argue. Globalisation is to blame for stagnant middle-class wages. If Mr Obama’s most imminent trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, becomes reality it will just extend a pattern, the critics charge. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/3/5ec32950-0492-11e5-95ad-00144feabdc0.html Trade deals are unlikely to boost development in poor countries and the TPP is no exception
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2015-06/12/content_20980071.htm Documents leaked via WikiLeaks showed that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement willundermine Australia's universal healthcare system, pushing up the cost of medicine, according tomedia reports on Thursday.
The TPP is a US-led regional Pacific Rim regulatory investment treaty, negotiated in secret,encompassing approximately 40 percent of the world's GDP. Documents leaked via WikiLeaks showed TPP countries will face a much greater risk ofpharmaceutical companies taking legal action to contest government decisions. These actionsrelate to the list price and reimbursement of medicines, suggesting consumers will pay morewhile corporate profits will be protected.
- Obama in high-stakes push to rescue trade agenda
- http://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1822909/eu-us-trade-deal-seems-distant-dream-after-early-optimism When United States trade chief Michael Froman opened talks in 2013 on an EU-US free trade deal, he said he was confident it could be reached on "one tank of gas". Two years later, negotiations have all but stalled. This was to have been a unique trade deal between open, developed economies whose high wages meant trade unions did not need to fear job-sapping floods of cheap imports. But as negotiators prepare for their 10th meeting, in Brussels next month, European Union officials are complaining that US counterparts are inflexible and the European Parliament is so split on the subject of the deal that it cannot even agree to debate it. Senior trade officials initially forecast talks could conclude by the end of 2014, but now they appear to be heading for the in-tray of whoever succeeds Froman's boss Barack Obama in 2017. "The two sides haven't really started negotiating yet. Even if they hit full speed we are looking at something like 2019 or 2020 based on a normal schedule," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6cbb5f8-15d4-11e5-be54-00144feabdc0.html Republicans in the House of Representatives sought to resurrect Barack Obama’s trade agenda and plans for a Pacific Rim free trade zone, joining with a small band of pro-trade Democrats to vote to grant the US president the “fast-track” authority he needs to conclude such pacts. Thursday’s vote saw the House decide 218-208 to approve a stripped-down version of a trade bill that had failed to advance last week because of a move by Democrats to block an associated worker aid programme. Debate over trade in Washington will now return to the Senate next week with a series of votes expected to begin as soon as Tuesday. If Mr Obama and his Republican allies on trade succeed in convincing pro-trade Democrats in that chamber to continue their support the legislation could be on his desk within a week. The initial prospects of that happening appeared to be good. Fourteen Democrats joined Republicans last month in a 62-37 vote to give the president fast-track authority when the worker assistance was included. Aides said those Democrats were now seeking assurances from the Republican leadership that the programme would pass in another form but both sides appeared close.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7a9d03c0-19bf-11e5-8201-cbdb03d71480.html President Barack Obama is poised to win the powers he needs to close the biggest trade deal in a generation, after a bill granting him fast-track authority passed its last major legislative hurdle. The Senate voted 60-37 to close debate on legislation giving Mr Obama so-called Trade Promotion Authority, overcoming the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent any procedural moves to block it by opponents. The White House commended Democrats and Republicans for taking the move.
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20150625/00184_009.html 中方希望美方盡快完成TPP談判。眾所周知，TPP本意是針對中國的，華府不希望由中國去主導亞太的經濟發展，主導亞太的經濟遊戲規則，於是接過TPP，搞美國主導的新經貿圈子。至今，美國尚未表示歡迎中國加入TPP談判。中國商務部國際貿易談判副代表張向晨說，中國對所有促進貿易投資自由化的區域經濟整合機制都持開放態度。他表示，美國盡快完成TPP後，可以轉而投入更多精力到中美雙邊投資協定（BIT）的談判中。三禪相信，北京是明白了美國主導的TPP難產，而且經過深入研究也不覺得對中國有多大的傷害。始終，這些貿易協定都是推進貿易自由化、全球化，而中國是這些協定的受益者，所以轉而採取歡迎的態度。三禪建議，以北京更為長遠的利益看，中國目前的所有經貿活動，都應該力邀美國為夥伴。若美國甚至日本也參加「一帶一路」，能不成功？- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/408acb3c-1a86-11e5-a130-2e7db721f996.html With Mr Obama securing that authority on Wednesday, the focus for negotiators is to resolve a handful of outstanding issues. The latest plan is for trade ministers to gather at a still secret location in the US at some point in mid-July for a likely week-long meeting. The biggest elephants in the room relate to tariffs and politically-sensitive industries. For 18 months, the US and Japan have been working out just how much tariffs will be reduced on products ranging from auto parts to beef and rice. A deal there is close to being done, negotiators say. But then, to the frustration of some other countries, Canada has yet to put its own offer on the table for sensitive areas like its dairy sector. Other sticking points include questions about intellectual property and how long certain pharmaceuticals should be protected from competition from generic drugs. Also, what sort of state owned enterprises should be covered by the rules and what exclusions there might be for certain countries. The good news, however, is that the difficult issues have not changed much in 18 months and everyone knows where the compromises are likely to land. Hence why Andrew Robb, Australia’s trade minister, last week declared : “We are literally one week of negotiation away from completing this extraordinary deal.”
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21659716-all-its-flaws-biggest-trade-deal-years-good-news-world The zone, dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is the most important free-trade agreement in years. If completed, it will be the largest regional trade deal ever, with its members accounting for nearly 40% of the world economy. The countries leading the negotiations want to set a new standard for what trade agreements cover. They are taking on the morass of regulations, such as local-content rules determining how much of a product must be made from local inputs, that have replaced tariffs as the main obstacle to the free flow of goods across borders. After repeated failures to seal big global deals—the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has turned its focus to specific industries rather than comprehensive agreements (see article)—the TPP actually has a good chance at success. A meeting of trade ministers in Maui from July 28th to 31st is expected to put the final touches on the deal.- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/12307780-3270-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html If the 12 trade ministers gathering at a beachside hotel and spa on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week to put the finishing touches on the Trans-Pacific Partnership live up to the confidence of their negotiators, the agreement could finally be sealed at the end of this week. For five long years negotiators from the US and other Pacific Rim economies have been labouring away at the fine details of a trade agreement of more than 700 pages and 29 chapters.- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/28/trade-tpp-idUSL1N10801620150728
Ministers from Pacific Rim nations hoping to finalize an ambitious free trade deal this week warned on Monday that hurdles remained including intellectual property and dairy. The United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the talks, are both keen for strong intellectual property protections, such as long copyright periods and data protection for next-generation drugs. Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari, arriving in Hawaii with his counterparts from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries, told reporters that the aim was to produce a win-win outcome for all countries. "There are a lot of difficulties to overcome with intellectual property," he said, noting that a series of one-on-one as well as group meetings are planned during the four days of talks ending on Friday. Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo declined to say if he backed the U.S. call for 12 years data protection for biologic drugs but he was confident a deal could be reached. "We are expecting to close off this agreement," he told reporters. Another major sticking point is dairy. Mexico is under pressure to give Australia and New Zealand more access to its markets, while Canada is also so far resisting demands to open up its protected local industry.
- http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1844748/its-push-trans-pacific-partnership-us-engages-china-battle
- http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1845746/obama-dealt-blow-ministers-fail-seal-pacific-free-trade-deal Delegates negotiating a vast Pacific free-trade agreement failed to reach a final deal after several days of intense talks in Hawaii, in a setback to US President Barack Obama. But US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in a statement on behalf of the 12 countries involved, insisted “significant progress” had been made on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the most ambitious trade deal in decades. “After more than a week of productive meetings we’ve made significant progress and will continue on resolving a limited number of remaining issues, paving the way for the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations,” Froman said. The negotiators were “more confident than ever that the TPP is within reach,” he said, adding the Pacific Rim countries involved would continue to have bilateral discussions to try to iron out their remaining differences. The TPP – already eight years in the making – would be a huge free-trade bloc encompassing 40 per cent of the world’s economy and part of Obama’s much-vaunted “pivot” towards Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20150805/00184_009.html 據報道，美日間的關鍵分歧在於汽車貿易關稅問題；而新西蘭在其最重要的乳製品市場准入上未能取得滿意結果；還有，美國與其他TPP成員在生物製藥的知識產權保護期限上分歧明顯，美國希望將保護期限定為十二年，澳洲要求定為五年。不過，美國貿易代表弗羅曼在談判結束後的記者會上強調，談判已經完成百分之九十八，取得顯著進展，並表示今後各方將繼續致力於解決懸而未決的議題。美國總統奧巴馬多次表示，美國要通過TPP談判，為下一階段的國際貿易「制訂規則」，甚至公開點名，阻止中國主導下階段的區域貿易架構。美國在《2015國家安全戰略》強調TPP是亞太再平衡戰略的最重要內容，冀達成兩個目標：讓美國更深地參與世界上最有活力的經濟體；防止正崛起的中國填補亞太地區出現的權力和經濟真空。TPP談判已超過五年。起初，北京的經濟學家確實擔心由美國主導的TPP的經濟規模達全球總額的百分之四十，被其排除在外，是不妙的事情。但隨着時間的推移，倒不是其難產令北京減少戒心，而是中國愈來愈看透TPP，且不說澳洲、南韓、東盟已與中國簽FTA，難道馬來西亞和越南受得了TPP，中國反而受不了？事實，中國是全球經濟自由化的得益者。
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a346efc-6663-11e5-a57f-21b88f7d973f.html On the agenda in calls with leaders like Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Peru’s Ollanta Humala and Chile’s Michelle Bachelet has been the need to conclude negotiations “quickly”. “This thing needs one last shove,” New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, told reporters after meeting Mr Obama in New York on Monday. “[The US president] can also see the window of opportunity closing in on us.” That last push starts on Wednesday in Atlanta where, after more than five years of talks, ministers from the 12 TPP countries, including the US, are due to meet for what is expected by many to be a marathon final session of negotiations. The immediate goal this time is to get an agreement before an October 19 election in Canada which polls now put in a three-way tie and stands a good chance of leading to a change of government. US officials have publicly sought to play down expectations and insist that they will only do a deal if it is one they can sell as benefiting the US economy and its national security. They are prepared to let the schedule slip again if need be.
FTA
- benefit?
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2015-06/12/content_20980071.htm Documents leaked via WikiLeaks showed that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement willundermine Australia's universal healthcare system, pushing up the cost of medicine, according tomedia reports on Thursday.
The TPP is a US-led regional Pacific Rim regulatory investment treaty, negotiated in secret,encompassing approximately 40 percent of the world's GDP. Documents leaked via WikiLeaks showed TPP countries will face a much greater risk ofpharmaceutical companies taking legal action to contest government decisions. These actionsrelate to the list price and reimbursement of medicines, suggesting consumers will pay morewhile corporate profits will be protected.
- Obama in high-stakes push to rescue trade agenda
- http://www.scmp.com/business/global-economy/article/1822909/eu-us-trade-deal-seems-distant-dream-after-early-optimism When United States trade chief Michael Froman opened talks in 2013 on an EU-US free trade deal, he said he was confident it could be reached on "one tank of gas". Two years later, negotiations have all but stalled. This was to have been a unique trade deal between open, developed economies whose high wages meant trade unions did not need to fear job-sapping floods of cheap imports. But as negotiators prepare for their 10th meeting, in Brussels next month, European Union officials are complaining that US counterparts are inflexible and the European Parliament is so split on the subject of the deal that it cannot even agree to debate it. Senior trade officials initially forecast talks could conclude by the end of 2014, but now they appear to be heading for the in-tray of whoever succeeds Froman's boss Barack Obama in 2017. "The two sides haven't really started negotiating yet. Even if they hit full speed we are looking at something like 2019 or 2020 based on a normal schedule," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6cbb5f8-15d4-11e5-be54-00144feabdc0.html Republicans in the House of Representatives sought to resurrect Barack Obama’s trade agenda and plans for a Pacific Rim free trade zone, joining with a small band of pro-trade Democrats to vote to grant the US president the “fast-track” authority he needs to conclude such pacts. Thursday’s vote saw the House decide 218-208 to approve a stripped-down version of a trade bill that had failed to advance last week because of a move by Democrats to block an associated worker aid programme. Debate over trade in Washington will now return to the Senate next week with a series of votes expected to begin as soon as Tuesday. If Mr Obama and his Republican allies on trade succeed in convincing pro-trade Democrats in that chamber to continue their support the legislation could be on his desk within a week. The initial prospects of that happening appeared to be good. Fourteen Democrats joined Republicans last month in a 62-37 vote to give the president fast-track authority when the worker assistance was included. Aides said those Democrats were now seeking assurances from the Republican leadership that the programme would pass in another form but both sides appeared close.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7a9d03c0-19bf-11e5-8201-cbdb03d71480.html President Barack Obama is poised to win the powers he needs to close the biggest trade deal in a generation, after a bill granting him fast-track authority passed its last major legislative hurdle. The Senate voted 60-37 to close debate on legislation giving Mr Obama so-called Trade Promotion Authority, overcoming the 60-vote threshold needed to prevent any procedural moves to block it by opponents. The White House commended Democrats and Republicans for taking the move.
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20150625/00184_009.html 中方希望美方盡快完成TPP談判。眾所周知，TPP本意是針對中國的，華府不希望由中國去主導亞太的經濟發展，主導亞太的經濟遊戲規則，於是接過TPP，搞美國主導的新經貿圈子。至今，美國尚未表示歡迎中國加入TPP談判。中國商務部國際貿易談判副代表張向晨說，中國對所有促進貿易投資自由化的區域經濟整合機制都持開放態度。他表示，美國盡快完成TPP後，可以轉而投入更多精力到中美雙邊投資協定（BIT）的談判中。三禪相信，北京是明白了美國主導的TPP難產，而且經過深入研究也不覺得對中國有多大的傷害。始終，這些貿易協定都是推進貿易自由化、全球化，而中國是這些協定的受益者，所以轉而採取歡迎的態度。三禪建議，以北京更為長遠的利益看，中國目前的所有經貿活動，都應該力邀美國為夥伴。若美國甚至日本也參加「一帶一路」，能不成功？- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/408acb3c-1a86-11e5-a130-2e7db721f996.html With Mr Obama securing that authority on Wednesday, the focus for negotiators is to resolve a handful of outstanding issues. The latest plan is for trade ministers to gather at a still secret location in the US at some point in mid-July for a likely week-long meeting. The biggest elephants in the room relate to tariffs and politically-sensitive industries. For 18 months, the US and Japan have been working out just how much tariffs will be reduced on products ranging from auto parts to beef and rice. A deal there is close to being done, negotiators say. But then, to the frustration of some other countries, Canada has yet to put its own offer on the table for sensitive areas like its dairy sector. Other sticking points include questions about intellectual property and how long certain pharmaceuticals should be protected from competition from generic drugs. Also, what sort of state owned enterprises should be covered by the rules and what exclusions there might be for certain countries. The good news, however, is that the difficult issues have not changed much in 18 months and everyone knows where the compromises are likely to land. Hence why Andrew Robb, Australia’s trade minister, last week declared : “We are literally one week of negotiation away from completing this extraordinary deal.”
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21659716-all-its-flaws-biggest-trade-deal-years-good-news-world The zone, dubbed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is the most important free-trade agreement in years. If completed, it will be the largest regional trade deal ever, with its members accounting for nearly 40% of the world economy. The countries leading the negotiations want to set a new standard for what trade agreements cover. They are taking on the morass of regulations, such as local-content rules determining how much of a product must be made from local inputs, that have replaced tariffs as the main obstacle to the free flow of goods across borders. After repeated failures to seal big global deals—the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has turned its focus to specific industries rather than comprehensive agreements (see article)—the TPP actually has a good chance at success. A meeting of trade ministers in Maui from July 28th to 31st is expected to put the final touches on the deal.- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/12307780-3270-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html If the 12 trade ministers gathering at a beachside hotel and spa on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week to put the finishing touches on the Trans-Pacific Partnership live up to the confidence of their negotiators, the agreement could finally be sealed at the end of this week. For five long years negotiators from the US and other Pacific Rim economies have been labouring away at the fine details of a trade agreement of more than 700 pages and 29 chapters.- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/28/trade-tpp-idUSL1N10801620150728
Ministers from Pacific Rim nations hoping to finalize an ambitious free trade deal this week warned on Monday that hurdles remained including intellectual property and dairy. The United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the talks, are both keen for strong intellectual property protections, such as long copyright periods and data protection for next-generation drugs. Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari, arriving in Hawaii with his counterparts from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries, told reporters that the aim was to produce a win-win outcome for all countries. "There are a lot of difficulties to overcome with intellectual property," he said, noting that a series of one-on-one as well as group meetings are planned during the four days of talks ending on Friday. Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo declined to say if he backed the U.S. call for 12 years data protection for biologic drugs but he was confident a deal could be reached. "We are expecting to close off this agreement," he told reporters. Another major sticking point is dairy. Mexico is under pressure to give Australia and New Zealand more access to its markets, while Canada is also so far resisting demands to open up its protected local industry.
- http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1844748/its-push-trans-pacific-partnership-us-engages-china-battle
- http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1845746/obama-dealt-blow-ministers-fail-seal-pacific-free-trade-deal Delegates negotiating a vast Pacific free-trade agreement failed to reach a final deal after several days of intense talks in Hawaii, in a setback to US President Barack Obama. But US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in a statement on behalf of the 12 countries involved, insisted “significant progress” had been made on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the most ambitious trade deal in decades. “After more than a week of productive meetings we’ve made significant progress and will continue on resolving a limited number of remaining issues, paving the way for the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations,” Froman said. The negotiators were “more confident than ever that the TPP is within reach,” he said, adding the Pacific Rim countries involved would continue to have bilateral discussions to try to iron out their remaining differences. The TPP – already eight years in the making – would be a huge free-trade bloc encompassing 40 per cent of the world’s economy and part of Obama’s much-vaunted “pivot” towards Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20150805/00184_009.html 據報道，美日間的關鍵分歧在於汽車貿易關稅問題；而新西蘭在其最重要的乳製品市場准入上未能取得滿意結果；還有，美國與其他TPP成員在生物製藥的知識產權保護期限上分歧明顯，美國希望將保護期限定為十二年，澳洲要求定為五年。不過，美國貿易代表弗羅曼在談判結束後的記者會上強調，談判已經完成百分之九十八，取得顯著進展，並表示今後各方將繼續致力於解決懸而未決的議題。美國總統奧巴馬多次表示，美國要通過TPP談判，為下一階段的國際貿易「制訂規則」，甚至公開點名，阻止中國主導下階段的區域貿易架構。美國在《2015國家安全戰略》強調TPP是亞太再平衡戰略的最重要內容，冀達成兩個目標：讓美國更深地參與世界上最有活力的經濟體；防止正崛起的中國填補亞太地區出現的權力和經濟真空。TPP談判已超過五年。起初，北京的經濟學家確實擔心由美國主導的TPP的經濟規模達全球總額的百分之四十，被其排除在外，是不妙的事情。但隨着時間的推移，倒不是其難產令北京減少戒心，而是中國愈來愈看透TPP，且不說澳洲、南韓、東盟已與中國簽FTA，難道馬來西亞和越南受得了TPP，中國反而受不了？事實，中國是全球經濟自由化的得益者。
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a346efc-6663-11e5-a57f-21b88f7d973f.html On the agenda in calls with leaders like Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto, Peru’s Ollanta Humala and Chile’s Michelle Bachelet has been the need to conclude negotiations “quickly”. “This thing needs one last shove,” New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, told reporters after meeting Mr Obama in New York on Monday. “[The US president] can also see the window of opportunity closing in on us.” That last push starts on Wednesday in Atlanta where, after more than five years of talks, ministers from the 12 TPP countries, including the US, are due to meet for what is expected by many to be a marathon final session of negotiations. The immediate goal this time is to get an agreement before an October 19 election in Canada which polls now put in a three-way tie and stands a good chance of leading to a change of government. US officials have publicly sought to play down expectations and insist that they will only do a deal if it is one they can sell as benefiting the US economy and its national security. They are prepared to let the schedule slip again if need be.
- http://news.yahoo.com/pacific-trade-negotiators-push-hard-deal-045547373.html A deal on an ambitious Pacific Rim free-trade area appeared within reach as negotiators kept pushing to resolve the remaining issues over drug patents and auto and dairy trade. The arrival of senior US congressional aides at the hotel venue for the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in Atlanta pointed to the possibility that top trade officials from 12 countries were close to agreement. But their presence -- and the fact that talks continued late into the night -- underscored the stakes in the US-led effort to create the world's largest free-trade zone that would comprise 40 percent of the global economy. Pressure was intense on negotiators, especially those from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, not to undercut important home businesses as they bargain over the last issues of the broad-ranging treaty. Although the auto and dairy trade issues remained on the table, officials involved said the main barrier to a final deal is the length of intellectual property (IP) protection for biologics, a promising class of treatments derived from living materials. The United States is seeking longer protections than the five years common in many countries. In the US, pharmaceutical companies get 12 years of IP protection before rivals can produce "biosimilar" copycat drugs that sell more cheaply. But in most countries, the US protections for drug developers are seen as far too long, and costly, for health care systems.
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201510/1005/HA07A05CGBA.pdf, http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1864112/pacific-trade-deal-talks-hindered-impasse-over-patents
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/06/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0RZ0ZV20151006 Twelve Pacific Rim countries on Monday reached the most ambitious trade pact in a generation, aiming to liberalize commerce in 40 percent of the world's economy in a deal that faces skepticism from U.S. lawmakers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact struck in Atlanta after marathon talks could reshape industries, change the cost of products from cheese to cancer treatments and have repercussions for drug companies and automakers. Tired negotiators worked round the clock over the weekend to settle tough issues such as monopoly rights for new biotech drugs. New Zealand's demand for greater access for its dairy exports was only settled at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) on Monday. If approved, the pact would cut trade barriers and set common standards from Vietnam to Canada. It would also furnish a legacy-shaping victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, who will promote the agreement on Tuesday in remarks to business leaders in Washington. The Obama administration hopes the pact will help the United States increase its influence in East Asia and help counter the rise of China, which is not one of the TPP nations. Lawmakers in the United States and other TPP countries must approve the deal. Five years in the making, it would reduce or eliminate tariffs on almost 18,000 categories of goods. Initial reaction from U.S. Congress members, including Democrats and Republicans, ranged from cautious to skeptical. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, warned the pact would cost jobs and hurt consumers. "In the Senate, I will do all that I can to defeat the TPP agreement," he tweeted. Many of Obama's Democrats, as well as labor groups, fear the TPP will cost manufacturing jobs and weaken environmental laws, while some Republicans oppose provisions to block tobacco companies from suing governments over anti-smoking measures.
- 美國及日本等12個國家早前就「跨太平洋戰略經濟夥伴關係協定」(TPP)達成共識，但詳細條款預料稍後才會正式公佈。「維基解密」網站前日率先披露聲稱是知識產權章節的全部內容，揭發協定將對非專利藥施加新限制，恐令治療變得更昂貴，被批評是用患者性命換取大型藥廠的利潤。洩漏的文件標註日期為10月5日，即12國宣佈達成協議當天。關注權益組織「Public Citizen」指出，根據該份文本，所有TPP成員國不論其個別經濟財富或發展水平，也要強制採取TPP所規定的醫藥專利權守則，這將會窒礙非專利藥及仿製藥的競爭，恐推高藥物價格和治療成本，並提到正在實行類似規則的美國作例子，坦言「TPP將害死人」。協定其他爭議之處包括加強成員國政府阻止敏感資訊公開的權力，有打壓言論自由和損害公眾知情權之嫌。文本指，若被洩資料可能損害簽署國的經濟利益、國際關係、國防或國家安全時，相關政府有權中止有關案件審訊，阻止資料進一步流出和擴散；另一條款則授權每個簽署國有權根據自身法律，要求「違反或涉嫌違反知識產權的人士」，把他擁有或控制的相關敏感資料交出。德國首都柏林昨日則有近10萬人集會，反對歐盟與美國正在談判、性質與TPP類似的「跨大西洋貿易與投資夥伴關係協定」(TTIP)，批評協定會降低食物安全質素和損害監管等。主辦單位則聲稱有多達25萬人參與集會。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2015/10/11/b01-1011.pdf
- presidential candidates' stance toward tpp hkej 4nov15 a20 shum yuk fai article hilary clinton more reserved
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201511/1105/HZ16B05CGBA.pdf tpp may be rejected by congress
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d2c1222-83ca-11e5-8e80-1574112844fd.html The US, Japan and 10 other countries joining a new Pacific Rim trade zone have pledged not to engage in currency wars with each other and to disclose any interventions in foreign exchange markets. The currency promise on Thursday came alongside the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Barack Obama described as a break from past trade agreements that “haven’t always lived up to the hype”.
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21678253-tpp-intended-spark-boom-trade-services-it-will-be-decades IT DID not take long for America’s presidential candidates, busy though they must be, to digest the 6,000 pages of the agreement creating the “Trans-Pacific Partnership” (TPP). America and 11 other countries of the Pacific Rim struck the trade deal in early October, but the full text was not released until November 5th. Within days Bernie Sanders, a Democrat, had rendered judgment: “It’s even worse than I thought.” Donald Trump, a Republican, labelled it “insanity”. Even people of a less protectionist bent are unimpressed, complaining that TPP’s short-term benefits will be indetectably modest. One estimate suggests that in its first ten years it will cause its members’ exports of goods and services to rise by just $308 billion in total. In 2003-13 global trade in goods and services grew by more than $1 trillion a year on average. A ten-year horizon misses the point, however. TPP’s real promise lies in the liberalisation of trade in services. Just as it took decades for supply-chain integration to flower into the rapid goods-trade growth of the 1990s and 2000s, the pay-off from TPP, and deals like it, is further off.
- Kurt Tong Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary BUREAU OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS SAID THAT CHINA NEEDS TO CHANGE IF IT WANTS TO JOIN TPP HKEJ 17NOV15 A10
- “一帶一路”在習近平此次外訪的G20、APEC等國際多邊場合已成為熱詞。美國著名智庫，卡內基國際和平基金會副會長包道格在接受大公報獨家專訪時表示，美未來不排除加入“一帶一路”戰略。談及TPP是否遏制中國時，包道格回答，TPP並不針對中國，反而會在未來的幾年裏為中國帶來好處，中國加入TPP只是時間問題。但倘若中國今天就加入TPP，其做出的讓步代價將極其高昂，會對中國市場造成很大幹擾。因此中國需要保持耐心，深化經濟改革。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20151120/PDF/a14_screen.pdf
- http://www.iatp.org/documents/response-to-ustr-fromans-time-to-be-honest-we-are-at-the-end-of-the-line-on-doha letter from Sophia Murphy, Senior Advisor Trade and Global Governance Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Minneapolis to the Financial Times in response to USTR Froman's editorila of December 13, 2015, Time to be honest, we are at the end of the line on Doha.
- http://www.chinadailyasia.com/asia/2016-03/10/content_15397505.html A senior Japanese trade negotiator said on Wednesday that it would be impossible to renegotiate a sweeping Pacific trade agreement, as some US presidential candidates have proposed, without destroying it. Hiroshi Oe, Japan's deputy chief negotiator for the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, told an Asia Society forum in Washington that trying to alter one aspect of the pact for the United States would open the door for 11 other countries to ask for changes. "TPP to me is something like a delicate, fragile glasswork, so if we want to cut one part of it, that will destroy everything," Oe said. "About renegotiation of the substance, that's no possibility." Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has said she does not support TPP in its current form and would seek to renegotiate it to include an enforceable provision to combat currency manipulation. Some economists, along with Obama administration officials, argue that this would be unworkable because it is often too difficult to distinguish currency manipulation and normal monetary policy actions and could expose the Federal Reserve's decisions to trade retaliation. Other US lawmakers, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have expressed opposition to provisions on tobacco regulation and have said that the pact should not be considered for a vote in Congress before November's elections. Oe said that he hoped that Japan's parliament would approve the trade deal by early June, prior to national elections in July. "I think that's necessary, to pressure the United States" to approve TPP as well.
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201510/1005/HA07A05CGBA.pdf, http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1864112/pacific-trade-deal-talks-hindered-impasse-over-patents
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/06/us-trade-tpp-idUSKCN0RZ0ZV20151006 Twelve Pacific Rim countries on Monday reached the most ambitious trade pact in a generation, aiming to liberalize commerce in 40 percent of the world's economy in a deal that faces skepticism from U.S. lawmakers. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact struck in Atlanta after marathon talks could reshape industries, change the cost of products from cheese to cancer treatments and have repercussions for drug companies and automakers. Tired negotiators worked round the clock over the weekend to settle tough issues such as monopoly rights for new biotech drugs. New Zealand's demand for greater access for its dairy exports was only settled at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT) on Monday. If approved, the pact would cut trade barriers and set common standards from Vietnam to Canada. It would also furnish a legacy-shaping victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, who will promote the agreement on Tuesday in remarks to business leaders in Washington. The Obama administration hopes the pact will help the United States increase its influence in East Asia and help counter the rise of China, which is not one of the TPP nations. Lawmakers in the United States and other TPP countries must approve the deal. Five years in the making, it would reduce or eliminate tariffs on almost 18,000 categories of goods. Initial reaction from U.S. Congress members, including Democrats and Republicans, ranged from cautious to skeptical. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, warned the pact would cost jobs and hurt consumers. "In the Senate, I will do all that I can to defeat the TPP agreement," he tweeted. Many of Obama's Democrats, as well as labor groups, fear the TPP will cost manufacturing jobs and weaken environmental laws, while some Republicans oppose provisions to block tobacco companies from suing governments over anti-smoking measures.
- 美國及日本等12個國家早前就「跨太平洋戰略經濟夥伴關係協定」(TPP)達成共識，但詳細條款預料稍後才會正式公佈。「維基解密」網站前日率先披露聲稱是知識產權章節的全部內容，揭發協定將對非專利藥施加新限制，恐令治療變得更昂貴，被批評是用患者性命換取大型藥廠的利潤。洩漏的文件標註日期為10月5日，即12國宣佈達成協議當天。關注權益組織「Public Citizen」指出，根據該份文本，所有TPP成員國不論其個別經濟財富或發展水平，也要強制採取TPP所規定的醫藥專利權守則，這將會窒礙非專利藥及仿製藥的競爭，恐推高藥物價格和治療成本，並提到正在實行類似規則的美國作例子，坦言「TPP將害死人」。協定其他爭議之處包括加強成員國政府阻止敏感資訊公開的權力，有打壓言論自由和損害公眾知情權之嫌。文本指，若被洩資料可能損害簽署國的經濟利益、國際關係、國防或國家安全時，相關政府有權中止有關案件審訊，阻止資料進一步流出和擴散；另一條款則授權每個簽署國有權根據自身法律，要求「違反或涉嫌違反知識產權的人士」，把他擁有或控制的相關敏感資料交出。德國首都柏林昨日則有近10萬人集會，反對歐盟與美國正在談判、性質與TPP類似的「跨大西洋貿易與投資夥伴關係協定」(TTIP)，批評協定會降低食物安全質素和損害監管等。主辦單位則聲稱有多達25萬人參與集會。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2015/10/11/b01-1011.pdf
- presidential candidates' stance toward tpp hkej 4nov15 a20 shum yuk fai article hilary clinton more reserved
- http://www.hkcd.com.hk/pdf/201511/1105/HZ16B05CGBA.pdf tpp may be rejected by congress
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d2c1222-83ca-11e5-8e80-1574112844fd.html The US, Japan and 10 other countries joining a new Pacific Rim trade zone have pledged not to engage in currency wars with each other and to disclose any interventions in foreign exchange markets. The currency promise on Thursday came alongside the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which President Barack Obama described as a break from past trade agreements that “haven’t always lived up to the hype”.
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21678253-tpp-intended-spark-boom-trade-services-it-will-be-decades IT DID not take long for America’s presidential candidates, busy though they must be, to digest the 6,000 pages of the agreement creating the “Trans-Pacific Partnership” (TPP). America and 11 other countries of the Pacific Rim struck the trade deal in early October, but the full text was not released until November 5th. Within days Bernie Sanders, a Democrat, had rendered judgment: “It’s even worse than I thought.” Donald Trump, a Republican, labelled it “insanity”. Even people of a less protectionist bent are unimpressed, complaining that TPP’s short-term benefits will be indetectably modest. One estimate suggests that in its first ten years it will cause its members’ exports of goods and services to rise by just $308 billion in total. In 2003-13 global trade in goods and services grew by more than $1 trillion a year on average. A ten-year horizon misses the point, however. TPP’s real promise lies in the liberalisation of trade in services. Just as it took decades for supply-chain integration to flower into the rapid goods-trade growth of the 1990s and 2000s, the pay-off from TPP, and deals like it, is further off.
- Kurt Tong Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary BUREAU OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS SAID THAT CHINA NEEDS TO CHANGE IF IT WANTS TO JOIN TPP HKEJ 17NOV15 A10
- “一帶一路”在習近平此次外訪的G20、APEC等國際多邊場合已成為熱詞。美國著名智庫，卡內基國際和平基金會副會長包道格在接受大公報獨家專訪時表示，美未來不排除加入“一帶一路”戰略。談及TPP是否遏制中國時，包道格回答，TPP並不針對中國，反而會在未來的幾年裏為中國帶來好處，中國加入TPP只是時間問題。但倘若中國今天就加入TPP，其做出的讓步代價將極其高昂，會對中國市場造成很大幹擾。因此中國需要保持耐心，深化經濟改革。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20151120/PDF/a14_screen.pdf
- http://www.iatp.org/documents/response-to-ustr-fromans-time-to-be-honest-we-are-at-the-end-of-the-line-on-doha letter from Sophia Murphy, Senior Advisor Trade and Global Governance Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) Minneapolis to the Financial Times in response to USTR Froman's editorila of December 13, 2015, Time to be honest, we are at the end of the line on Doha.
- http://www.chinadailyasia.com/asia/2016-03/10/content_15397505.html A senior Japanese trade negotiator said on Wednesday that it would be impossible to renegotiate a sweeping Pacific trade agreement, as some US presidential candidates have proposed, without destroying it. Hiroshi Oe, Japan's deputy chief negotiator for the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, told an Asia Society forum in Washington that trying to alter one aspect of the pact for the United States would open the door for 11 other countries to ask for changes. "TPP to me is something like a delicate, fragile glasswork, so if we want to cut one part of it, that will destroy everything," Oe said. "About renegotiation of the substance, that's no possibility." Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has said she does not support TPP in its current form and would seek to renegotiate it to include an enforceable provision to combat currency manipulation. Some economists, along with Obama administration officials, argue that this would be unworkable because it is often too difficult to distinguish currency manipulation and normal monetary policy actions and could expose the Federal Reserve's decisions to trade retaliation. Other US lawmakers, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have expressed opposition to provisions on tobacco regulation and have said that the pact should not be considered for a vote in Congress before November's elections. Oe said that he hoped that Japan's parliament would approve the trade deal by early June, prior to national elections in July. "I think that's necessary, to pressure the United States" to approve TPP as well.
- http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2016/03/15/b04-0315.pdf隨着美國總統大選 初選的深入，TPP（跨太平洋夥伴關 係協定）的前景越發模糊起來。因為 目前選情相對領先的三名參選人，對 TPP都持鮮明的否定態度。《華爾街 日報》近日的一篇報道就指出，反自 由貿易情緒似乎在民主黨和共和黨內 都佔據了上風，這讓TPP在今年獲得 美國國會通過的可能性變得渺茫。
- http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21695075-even-workers-protected-trade-tariffs-feel-angry-and-neglected-view-rustbelt AMERICA feels sick at heart this year. Can conventional politics cure that malaise, or will voters turn to those peddling radical remedies, from trade wars to high border walls? That question weighs heavily in midwestern states, where factories propelled millions of post-war workers into middle-class prosperity. Though rustbelt states like Ohio, Michigan and Illinois helped Barack Obama win the White House, this year many midwestern voters seem drawn to fiery candidates who offer the sharpest contrast with the president’s cool, headmasterly style: from Donald Trump on the right to Senator Bernie Sanders on the left. More traditional politicians, starting with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, are moving to placate unhappy voters by promising “fair trade”, using import rules to punish unfair competition by such rivals as China. Mrs Clinton, who lost the Michigan primary to Mr Sanders earlier this month, took Ohio on March 15th after tacking to the left on trade: at an Ohio Democratic dinner shortly before the primary she promised to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a flagship trade bill supported by Mr Obama.
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-tpp-idUSKBN13629G U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has suspended its efforts to win congressional approval for his Asian free-trade deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, saying on Friday that TPP's fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers.
- 特朗普退出 TPP，揚言要保護美國貿易利益，但隨着日本與其他國家的貿 易關係愈趨緊密，退出 TPP對美國農業的影響開始浮面，農民面對訂單減少和銷售額下降，生計大受打擊，他們 更憂慮在日本降低其他國家農產品的關稅後，將進一步削弱美國農產品競爭力，情況將日益嚴峻。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2019/03/20/a19-0320.pdf; ft 20mar19 "farmers push trump to open japan trade talks"
- itc report
Ttip
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b9337e4-0a3d-11e6-b0f1-61f222853ff3.html barack Obama and Angela Merkel have called for talks over a transatlantic trade deal to be completed this year as fears mount that the opportunity to reach an agreement is slipping away. The US president used a visit to Hanover in Germany on Sunday to try to breathe new life into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which has been beset by political opposition in the US and Europe.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be91f3ca-273c-11e6-8b18-91555f2f4fde.html Washington and Brussels are scrambling to rebuild momentum for a landmark trade accord, amid signs that it is faltering under an increasingly bitter onslaught from politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. TTIP’s supporters have also been blindsided by increasing opposition to trade deals in the US, where Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has built his campaign around an antitrade message and Democrat Hillary Clinton, facing a challenge from the left, has abandoned her support for a similar Pacific trade pact. With the clock running out on Mr Obama’s presidency, officials on both sides now believe that the window is closing for a deal to be reached and approved in legislatures in Europe and the US before the end of the year. EU officials stress that they want to agree a working text by July. A failure to complete the agreement before a change in US administration could condemn the pact to years of drift. France is the most vocal TTIP sceptic, largely because of fears that the deal could harm its hallowed farming sector and lessen the value of geographical indications that protect iconic French wines, cheeses and meats.
- http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1935543/more-50-health-religious-and-labour-groups-urge-congress-reject-tpp-trade More than 50 public health, religious and labour groups – including Doctors Without Borders, the Catholic lobby group Network and the Communications Workers of America – are urging Congress to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-nation free trade agreement between the US and Pacific Rim nations. In a letter sent to Congress yesterday, the groups argue that the intellectual property and pharmaceutical provisions in the pact would make it more difficult for people in TPP countries to access affordable medicine. Among their concerns are that TPP grants several years of exclusivity to pharmaceutical makers for certain drugs that would delay the availability of generics. “In the US, the TPP is a danger to public health and fiscal responsibility because it would lock in policies that keep prices of too many medicines unaffordably high,” says the letter, which is also signed by Aids and HIV prevention and advocacy groups, Oxfam America, National Nurses United and National Physicians Alliance. The move comes just one day after 225 agriculture, farm and food groups sent their own letter to congressional leaders, urging them to approve TPP. In the letter, dated back to Monday, they applaud TPP’s removal of many tariffs that allows them to better compete in the Asia market.
- The controversy swirling around the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement sheds light on two critically important but divisive issues: international trade and intellectual property protection for pharmaceuticals. One of the most significant sticking points in the negotiations is the issue of intellectual property protection for pharmaceuticals, specifically data exclusivity. Data exclusivity is a means of correcting a free-riding market failure, providing the innovative firms with a limited period of time in which data from clinical trials and other required testing cannot be used by competing firms to secure market access. ip watchdog email 8apr15
- http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2015/10/26/ip-protection-for-biologics-in-the-tpp-trading-away-future-treatments-and-cures
- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-tpp-idUSKBN13629G U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has suspended its efforts to win congressional approval for his Asian free-trade deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, saying on Friday that TPP's fate was up to Trump and Republican lawmakers.
- 特朗普退出 TPP，揚言要保護美國貿易利益，但隨着日本與其他國家的貿 易關係愈趨緊密，退出 TPP對美國農業的影響開始浮面，農民面對訂單減少和銷售額下降，生計大受打擊，他們 更憂慮在日本降低其他國家農產品的關稅後，將進一步削弱美國農產品競爭力，情況將日益嚴峻。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2019/03/20/a19-0320.pdf; ft 20mar19 "farmers push trump to open japan trade talks"
- itc report
- http://www.wsj.com/articles/study-projects-tpp-will-provide-modest-gains-for-u-s-economy-1463614427 President Barack Obama’s signature Pacific trade agreement, which has come under intense fire in the 2016 election, would boost American agriculture and the services sector that dominates the U.S. economy but weigh on manufacturing, a nonpartisan government agency said Wednesday. If ratified, the 12-nation trade agreement would likely lift U.S. gross domestic product by a small amount—0.15%, or $42.7 billion, by 2032—and increase employment by a net of 128,000 full-time jobs, according to the report from the U.S. International Trade Commission.
- side ref
- http://tppnocertification.org
TPP replacement
- http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2099076/us-trade-talks-asian-nations-replace-limping-tpp The US has started trade talks with multiple countries in Asia to find an alternative to the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.Ross declined to specify with which other countries the US has resumed talks, saying: “We like to announce things when it’s agreeable to the other nation. The Japanese have acknowledged our overture. So far, I don’t think other nations have.”Ttip
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b9337e4-0a3d-11e6-b0f1-61f222853ff3.html barack Obama and Angela Merkel have called for talks over a transatlantic trade deal to be completed this year as fears mount that the opportunity to reach an agreement is slipping away. The US president used a visit to Hanover in Germany on Sunday to try to breathe new life into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which has been beset by political opposition in the US and Europe.
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be91f3ca-273c-11e6-8b18-91555f2f4fde.html Washington and Brussels are scrambling to rebuild momentum for a landmark trade accord, amid signs that it is faltering under an increasingly bitter onslaught from politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. TTIP’s supporters have also been blindsided by increasing opposition to trade deals in the US, where Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has built his campaign around an antitrade message and Democrat Hillary Clinton, facing a challenge from the left, has abandoned her support for a similar Pacific trade pact. With the clock running out on Mr Obama’s presidency, officials on both sides now believe that the window is closing for a deal to be reached and approved in legislatures in Europe and the US before the end of the year. EU officials stress that they want to agree a working text by July. A failure to complete the agreement before a change in US administration could condemn the pact to years of drift. France is the most vocal TTIP sceptic, largely because of fears that the deal could harm its hallowed farming sector and lessen the value of geographical indications that protect iconic French wines, cheeses and meats.
- https://www.ft.com/content/7996f226-282a-11e7-9ec8-168383da43b7 In an interview with the Financial Times, Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, called the need to reduce the US’s $146bn transatlantic trade deficit in goods one of his priorities. That deficit is second only to the US’s $347bn one with China. The billionaire investor is due to host Cecilia Malmström, the EU’s trade commissioner, in Washington on Monday for their first meeting to discuss how to proceed with talks over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) launched under the Obama administration. Those talks were launched with great fanfare in 2013 but stalled last year amid intense political opposition in the EU and last June’s vote by the UK to leave the bloc.
FTA
- benefit?
- http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21695879-case-free-trade-overwhelming-losers-need-more-help-open-argument
- http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21695855-americas-economy-benefits-hugely-trade-its-costs-have-been-amplified-policy Presidential candidates have taken such positions in the past. Barack Obama, who today peddles trade deals, slammed them in 2008. What makes today’s protectionism more potent is that it draws on broader changes in thinking among economists about the impact of trade. Many are now a good deal more critical.Since the 1980s, America’s economy has gradually opened up to cheap imports. This accelerated in 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. The deal, America’s first broad trade accord to include a poor economy, eliminated most tariffs on trade between the three countries over a decade. Coincidentally, within a year of the start of tariff reductions, the peso collapsed, making Mexican imports cheaper still. Excluding fuel (which America had to buy from somewhere) imports from Mexico grew by about five times between 1993 and 2013, according to the Peterson Institute, a think-tank. Exports to Mexico grew by about three-and-a-half times. As a result of the disparity, a bilateral trade deficit worth $23 billion (then, 0.2% of America’s GDP) opened up within five years. The small size of Mexico’s economy—America’s is still well over ten times bigger—limited NAFTA’s impact. A greater shock was coming: in 2001 China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Although this did not change any tariffs, a tsunami of cheap Chinese imports followed. “Made in China” labels became ubiquitous on clothes, toys, furniture and, eventually, electronics as Chinese imports surged from 1% of GDP in 2000 to 2.7% by 2015. The best explanation for this sudden inflow is that WTO membership gave certainty to investors in China’s export industries; until then, America could impose higher tariffs on China at will. Many blamed the yuan’s peg to the dollar for creating a trade imbalance. By 2014 China had accumulated nearly $4 trillion in foreign currency to sustain the peg. Economists have always struggled to formalise the allegation that China manipulates the yuan. Over time, higher wage inflation in booming China should undermine the advantage of a weak currency. Wages have indeed risen much faster in China than in the West. China’s current-account surplus, which reached 10% of GDP in 2007, is often cited as proof of fiddling. But Chinese surpluses and American deficits are—as a matter of accounting—the difference between saving and investment in those countries. So China’s vast surpluses in part reflected its extraordinary propensity to save.
- Korea http://export.gov/fta/korea/
- http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003919036 U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will discuss the fate of a five-year-old U.S.-South Korean free trade deal with his advisers next week in a move that could see him pull out of the accord with a key American ally at a time of heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
us version of silk road
- mentioned in a silk road tv series (the one on kurdistan), proposed by hillary clinton
- http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2092218/lessons-china-failed-us-silk-road-initiative US President Donald Trump, already in office for more than 100 days, has yet to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan, which sits at the centre of a Silk Road initiative the US Department of State began promoting in 2011. Compared with China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, Washington’s plan was underfunded and under-resourced after then secretary of state Hillary Clinton formally proposed it in 2011, observers say. The US initiative also lacked the Pacific-to-Atlantic scope that would have made it more appealing to stakeholders across the world’s biggest land mass and that might have attracted more international support. The United States’ New Silk Road initiative was “basically a collection of interesting, somewhat promising but cash-poor ideas about regional connectivity”, said George Gavrilis, author of the 2008 book Dynamics of Interstate Boundaries, a study on border control in Central Asia since the 19th century. Beijing’s plan had “a lot more money behind it in the form of loans, grants, soft loans, low-conditionality and no-conditionality loans”.
A Section 232 investigation is conducted under the authority of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the effect of imports on the national security. Investigations may be initiated based on an application from an interested party, a request from the head of any department or agency, or may be self-initiated by the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary’s report to the President, prepared within 270 days of initiation, focuses on whether the importation of the article in question is in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security. The President can concur or not with the Secretary’s recommendations, and take action to “adjust the imports of an article and its derivatives” or other non-trade related actions as deemed necessary.https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/other-areas/office-of-technology-evaluation-ote/section-232-investigations.
- Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the affirmative final determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of stainless steel flanges from China, finding that exporters from China received countervailable subsidies of 174.73 percent. “President Trump made it clear from the beginning that we will vigorously administer our trade laws to provide U.S. industry with relief from unfair trade practices,” said Secretary Ross. “Today’s decision follows an open and transparent investigation in accordance with the applicable laws, regulations, and administrative practices that ensured a full and fair review of the facts.”As a result of these decisions, the Commerce Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of stainless steel flanges from Chinabased on these final rates. https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2018/04/us-department-commerce-issues-affirmative-final-determination-stainless
「337調查」
- 「337調查」最早得名於《1930年美國關稅法》第337條款，已歷經多次修訂。該條款禁止的是一切不公平競爭行為，或向美國出口產品中的任何不公平貿易行為（例如專利侵權、壟斷等）。按照規定，美國國際貿易委員會（ITC）有權調查有關專利和註冊商標侵權的申訴，此外也開展涉及盜用商業機密、商品包裝侵權、仿製和虛假廣告等內容的調查。在「337調查」制度下，ITC在啟動一項調查後，必須在45日內確定終裁的目標時間，並盡快完成調查，通常案件會在12至16個月內作出裁決。
- 近兩到三年，美國「337調查」作為貿易救濟調查的一種形式，已經逐漸由偶發案件演變為多發案件──鋼鐵、輪胎、平衡車、電子設備以至近年的高科技產品等，愈來愈多的產業在應付反傾銷、反補貼之餘，不得不面對「337調查」這塊硬骨頭。據中國貿促會提供資料，一六年，美國對中國企業發起的「337調查」達到23宗。中國並已連續15年成為遭受該調查最多的國家。不願透露姓名的廠商表示，最令中港企業憂慮的是特朗普政府將貿易「知識產權化」，對中國企業而言，反傾銷和反補貼的雙反調查不懼，但「337調查」的可怕之處在於非單純懲罰關稅，而後果是中國產品從此不能出口至美國。
-aluminium
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20170508/00202_029.html 美國貿易保護行動連番升級，特朗普政府在執政百日後，傳將宣布調查進口鋁的計劃，此調查類似於白宮早前宣布針對進口鋼鐵的調查，而其採取的將會是貿易「337調查」。對此，中國企業所受的衝擊相當大，香港則暫未看到有關調查對出口商帶來的影響。資料顯示，今年首四月有12宗涉及中國企業遭到「337調查」的個案，去年全年才23宗，難免令市場憂慮特朗普政府會以此貿易手段，針對部分與美國存在較大貿易逆差及糾紛的國家。早在去年，美國國際貿易委員會（ITC）已就中國40家鋼鐵企業實施「337調查」，即所謂保護知識產權條款。而中方今年二月原獲得美法院判勝訴，但早前卻被特朗普政府推翻，要求重新進行調查。香港付貨人委員會主席林宣武表示，美國總統特朗普上任100日，相信他已了解到美國在國際貿易上不可以「打橫行」，始終貿易是雙向的，即使美國企業亦不一定能從貿易抵制措施中得益。因此，林宣武不擔心在貿易上美國會持續針對中國，畢竟講與做是兩回事。對於有關337條款，他指不讓侵犯專利權的外來貨品進入市場是正常的事，而侵權訴訟就連蘋果公司、三星等大公司也經常遇到。整體而言，他暫未看到337條款對出口業帶來影響。
- ft 7aug19 US treasury has limited tools to weaken the dollar
currency manipulation
- https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3012317/us-addition-malaysia-singapore-monitoring-list-over-currency The United States ’ move on Wednesday to include Southeast Asian economic powerhouses Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam on a list of countries it is scrutinising for unfair currency practices has been met with strong official pushback – as well as a healthy amount of ridicule from analysts. While nine countries – including China, and US treaty allies Japan, Germany and South Korea – were named on the latest list of countries requiring extra attention, none were identified as currency manipulators. Some regional observers questioned whether the inclusion of the Southeast Asian countries – alongside Italy and Ireland – may have something to do with their close economic relationship with China, which is currently embroiled in a fierce trade and geopolitical stand-off with Washington.
tariff to curb immigrants
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48469408 US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico, demanding the country curb illegal immigration into the US. In a tweet, Mr Trump said that from 10 June a 5% tariff would be imposed and would slowly rise "until the illegal immigration problem is remedied". Jesús Seade, Mexico's top diplomat for North America, said the proposed tariffs would be "disastrous".
tax
- The U.S. Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) (Pub.L. 99–514, 100 Stat. 2085, enacted October 22, 1986) to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters. Referred to as the second of the two "Reagan tax cuts" (the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 being the first), the bill was also officially sponsored by Democrats, Richard Gephardt of Missouri in the House of Representatives and Bill Bradley of New Jersey in the Senate. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was given impetus by a detailed tax-simplification proposal from President Reagan's Treasury Department, and was designed to be tax-revenue neutral because Reagan stated that he would veto any bill that was not. Revenue neutrality was achieved by offsetting tax cuts for individuals by eliminating $60 billion annually in tax loopholes and shifting $24 billion of the tax burden from individuals to corporations by eliminating the investment tax credit, slowing depreciationof assets, and enacting a stiff alternative minimum tax on corporations.
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20171011/PDF/a13_screen.pdf 新舊稅改框架主要政策建議比較
- https://www.ft.com/content/4909d804-b9a1-11e7-8c12-5661783e5589 Millions of US citizens working overseas could see their tax bills lowered by an overhaul of the tax system as Republicans edge towards eliminating a requirement for American expatriates to pay taxes both overseas and in the US. Kevin Brady, the Republican head of the House ways and means committee, which is drafting a tax reform bill, said lawmakers were considering the measure, which has been the focus of lobbying by Republicans Overseas, a group of party donors around the world.
visa
- 內地傳媒報道，從前天起，內地民眾申辦美國簽證時，需要提交自己的社交平台及帳號名稱，範圍涉及QQ、豆瓣、微博、優酷及其他社交平台。旅行社負責人強調政策並非針對中國人，而是面向全球。據悉美國國務院去年已提出，要收集簽證申請者更多個人資料，以便審查其背景。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190602/00178_007.html
Investment visa
- EB-5
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20161121/PDF/a24_screen.pdf 中國投資者趨之若鶩的美國聯邦投資移民EB-5項目，如 今面臨着不確定的未來。這個旨在鼓勵富有的外國人在美國投 資、促進本土就業的項目，愈來愈傾向於支持大型豪華房地產 項目，而不是用於鄉村和窮困地區的發展，被詬病違背了項目 的初衷。
- hkej 20feb19 c7 how chinese people exploit chinese people out of this scheme
- 美國傳媒周二披露，特朗普政府計劃把額外七個國家加入旅行禁令名單，包括白羅斯、厄立特里亞、吉爾吉斯、緬甸、尼日利亞、蘇丹和坦桑尼亞。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200123/00180_013.html
Nonproliferation act
- The Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act authorizes the United States to impose sanctions against foreign individuals, private entities, and governments that engage in proliferation activities. The Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, with interagency support, is responsible for leading efforts to implement the INKSNA, which provides for penalties on entities and individuals for the transfer to or acquisition from Iran since Jan. 1, 1999, the transfer to or the acquisition from Syria since Jan. 1, 2005, or the transfer to or acquisition from North Korea since Jan. 1, 2006, of equipment and technology controlled under multilateral control lists (Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group, Chemical Weapons Convention, Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wassenaar Arrangement). INKSNA also provides for sanctions for the transfer of equipment or technology having the potential to make a material contribution to the development of weapons of mass destruction or cruise or ballistic missile systems.
- https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/03/269084.htm chinese companies & individuals sanctioned
- As part of its enforcement efforts, OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country-specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them. https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx
Lobbying
- The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a United States law passed in 1938 requiring that agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a "political or quasi-political capacity" disclose their relationship with the foreign government and information about related activities and finances. The purpose is to facilitate "evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons." The law is administered by the FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) of the United States Department of Justice.
commercial law
- The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been put into law with the goal of harmonizing the law of salesand other commercial transactions across the United States of America (U.S.) through UCC adoption by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories.
types of companies
- a subchapter s corporation is a form of corporation whose stockholders are taxed as partners.
insolvency
- filing of a petition may be voluntary (by the debtor) or involuntary. Creditors will normally file an involuntary petition to force the debtor into bankruptcy in order to have its assets distributed.
- in chapter 7, a debtor may be discharged only once every six years.
- chapter 11 - provision known as reorganisation or debtor in possession plan. This section is a viable business provided that it is given enough breathing room to devise a plan for the payment of the business's debt. This may include renegotiating installments, interest rates, and the sale of some assets. The debtor stays in possession of the business and continues operations; the debts accrued prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition is generally stayed.
- chapter 13 is a bankruptcy provision that is available for individuals who have a regular source of income, including sole proprietors whose unsecured debts are less than $100,000 and secured debts do not exceed $350,000. The court will allow the debtor to devise a plan for the full or partial payment of creditors over a 3-5 year period
price control
- robinson patman act
- section 2(a) of the act makes price discrimination illegal. Basically, this act helps maintain market competition. Price discrimination due to cost differences required to meet competition is not illegal.
Oil
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5c56d152-9288-11e4-a1fd-00144feabdc0.html The Obama administration has set the stage for a fierce debate over a US ban on crude oil exports by allowing more overseas sales of lightly processed oil as it grapples with the consequences of cheap crude. Last week’s decision will push the US’s 40-year-old export ban up the political agenda as environmental concerns over shale production crosscut with rising tensions between US producers and Saudi Arabia over the falling price of oil. Critics of the crude export ban — including oil industry executives and some Republicans — say it is a 1970s anachronism that should be scrapped as the US faces a glut of shale oil, which has undercut the global market by reducing US import needs.
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20151217/PDF/b3_screen.pdf 美國會領袖一致同意取消長達40年的石油出口禁令，此歷史性舉措，反映由美國頁巖油開採熱潮推動的結果和整體經濟環境的變化。這一消息刺激下，油價週二曾短暫反彈，但由於石油市場供過於求情況沒有轉變，油價走勢仍然偏軟，紐約油價未明顯受消息影響，在週三徘徊於每桶37.09美元水平。布蘭特期油跌至37.34美元。- http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-oil-idUSKCN0VD2Q7 U.S. President Barack Obama will launch a long-shot bid next week to impose a $10-a-barrel tax on crude oil that would fund the overhaul of the nation's aging transportation infrastructure, the White House said on Thursday. The proposed fee, which would be paid by oil companies and phased in over five years, was quickly met with scorn by lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Congress.
In the last year of his presidency, Obama has said the country must stop subsidizing the "dirty" fossil fuels of the past and focus on clean, renewable fuels that do not exacerbate climate change. "By placing a fee on oil, the President's plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future," the White House said in a statement.
Pension fund
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c86dadde-71cc-11e4-9048-00144feabdc0.html US financial advisers and investment providers are battling consumer protection rules they say could disrupt the way more than $6.5tn of retirement products are sold.
Plans to impose a fiduciary standard on retirement advisers have emerged as the latest flashpoint between the financial industry and Obama administration regulators, acting with the support of consumer advocates.
Minimum wage
- On June 4, 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the United States, which established a state commission for recommending non-compulsory minimum wages for women and children. The passage of the bill was significantly assisted by the Lawrence textile strike which had raged for ten weeks at the beginning of 1912. The strike brought national attention to the plight of the low wage textile workers, and pushed the state legislatures, who feared the magnitude of the strike, to enact progressive labor legislation. By 1923, fifteen U.S. states and the District of Columbia had passed minimum wage laws, with pressure being placed on state legislatures by the National Consumers League in a coalition with other women's voluntary associations and organized labor.The United States Supreme Court of the Lochner era (1897–1937), however, consistently invalidated labor regulation laws. Advocates for state minimum wage laws hoped that they would be upheld under the precedent of Muller v. Oregon (1908), which upheld maximum working hours laws for women on the grounds that women required special protection that men did not. In 1933, the Roosevelt administration during the New Deal made the first attempt at establishing a national minimum wage regiment with the National Industrial Recovery Act, which set minimum wage and maximum hours on an industry and regional basis. The Supreme Court, however, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935) ruled the act unconstitutional, and the minimum wage regulations were abolished.[33] Two years later after President Roosevelt's overwhelming reelection in 1936 and discussion of judicial reform, the Supreme Court took up the issue of labor legislation again in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish(1937) and upheld the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by Washingtonstate and overturned the Adkins decision which marked the end of the Lochner era.[34] In 1938, the minimum wage was re-established pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act, this time at a uniform rate of $0.25 per hour ($4.78 in 2017 dollars[35]). The Supreme Court upheld the Fair Labor Standards Act in United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941), holding that Congress had the power under the Commerce Clause to regulate employment conditions.
- 美國部分地區的最低時薪約七點二五美元（約五十七港元），而且維持十年原封不動。為保障低收入人士，多州自行修訂法規；首都華盛頓、新澤西州、俄勒岡州將於周一提高最低時薪，分別為十四、十、十一點二五美元（約七十八至一百零九港元）。數字顯示，全美目前有近四十三萬名員工領取最低時薪，另有一百二十萬人的薪酬低於最低水平。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190701/00180_017.html
- http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/pf/california-minimum-wage/
California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage. Both the State Assembly and State Senate passed the measure on Thursday afternoon. Governor Jerry Brown said he would sign it on Monday. "No one who is working full time in California should live in poverty due to a low wage," said Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, who cosponsored the bill. The measure will raise the state's minimum wage to $10.50 in January and to $11 in January 2018. It will then increase by an additional $1 per hour every year until it reaches $15 in 2022. If, however, the state goes through an economic downturn or budget crisis, the governor may choose to slow the implementation. The final bill gives small businesses, with 25 or fewer employees, an extra year to implement the increases.
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/77b19124-e76c-11e4-8e3f-00144feab7de.html Paul Volcker, former head of the Federal Reserve, has issued a radical call for the US to follow the UK’s lead by streamlining its mishmash of financial watchdogs in order to close worrisome gaps in regulation. Mr Volcker said that reforming the regulatory structure was an unfinished task left over from the financial crisis as he warned that lending by non-banks — known as shadow banks — was creating unchecked risks.
- US regulator moves to loosen Volcker rule ft 3aug17
- https://www.ft.com/content/40b19aea-5878-11e8-bdb7-f6677d2e1ce8 These are bullish times for small banks in the US. As well the opportunity to exploit public anger at their largest peers, they are also among the beneficiaries of the deregulatory wave in Washington. President Donald Trump last month signed a new law aimed at lightening the load on thousands of small and mid-sized banks that were swept up in the crackdown on huge lenders in the wake of the financial crisis. Shares in smaller banks have been boosted as a result, with the Russell 2000 banks index outperforming the S&P banks by about 10 percentage points since the turn of the year. But Mr Kennedy — who went to Peapack-Gladstone after a career at banking sector goliaths Capital One, Bank of America and NatWest — says he wants to see lawmakers go further in providing more targeted relief for smaller banks like his, which has 27 branches across central New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-20/volcker-rule-revamp-takes-shape-marking-big-win-for-wall-street Wall Street watchdogs handpicked by President Donald Trump eased the Volcker Rule’s controversial ban on banks making speculative investments, wrapping up a top deregulatory priority that’s long been sought by the financial industry. The changes, approved Tuesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., seek to provide lenders a much clearer picture of which trades are prohibited, giving them confidence to engage in transactions without fear of violating Volcker. But one Democratic FDIC board member warned the rollback could again endanger the financial system by allowing lenders to recklessly trade hundreds of billions of dollars in assets like they did before the 2008 financial crisis.
- A small bank in West Virginia has become the first institution to fail during the coronavirus crisis, though the bank had been experiencing difficulties since 2015 and its 2019 capital levels were too low, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Friday. The First State Bank of Barboursville, with $152 million in total assets, was closed Friday by the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions. The bank's $139.5 million in deposits will be acquired by MVB Bank Inc. of Fairmont, W. Va. The four branches of The First State Bank were set to reopen as branches of MVB Bank on Saturday, the FDIC said.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fdic-announces-first-bank-failure-of-coronavirus-crisis-2020-04-03
Virtual currency
- http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0OJ23X20150603?irpc=932 New York state issued on Wednesday extensive new rules for companies that operate in virtual currencies such as bitcoin but did little to accommodate complaints that overly tight regulation could hamper the nascent industry. The new rules, the first by a state, create comprehensive guidelines for regulating digital currency firms, according to the state's Department of Financial Services, which developed the regulations. It means that digital currency companies operating in New York state that hold customer funds and exchange virtual currencies for dollars or other currencies are required to apply for what is known as a state "BitLicense." "There is a basic bargain that when a financial company is entrusted with safeguarding customer funds and receives a license from the state to do so, it accepts the need for heightened regulatory scrutiny to help ensure that a consumer's money does not just disappear into a black hole," Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York state regulator, said in a speech Wednesday at the BITS Emerging Payments Forum in Washington. The "BitLicense" rules include consumer protection, anti-money laundering and cybersecurity protections.
prepaid card
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/10/04/regulators-target-pre-paid-cards/16vxdqc1WikIlpyTtOa9lO/story.html The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued final rules Wednesday to regulate the prepaid card industry, among the fastest-growing financial products aimed at consumers who don’t have access to traditional credit or debit cards or who want to limit their spending. Under the new guidelines, protections offered to traditional credit and debit cards will be extended to prepaid cards, including limiting losses to consumers if the cards are lost or stolen, providing easier access to account information, and curbing overdraft fees. The rules will take effect starting October 2017. American consumers loaded nearly $65 billion onto prepaid cards in 2012, up from $1 billion in 2003. The amount is expected to nearly double to $112 billion by 2018, according to the federal regulator.
Ipo
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21653670-new-era-begins-americas-securities-markets-open-season On June 19th Title IV of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act of 2012 goes into effect. It will change how small companies raise money. Those seeking $20m-50m will be able to offer their shares to the public while skipping some of the most costly regulatory requirements that normally involves, including being vetted by state officials, issuing quarterly reports and listing their shares on an exchange. In the past, firms that did not meet those requirements could only raise money from investors with a net worth in excess of $1m or $200,000 in annual income. Ten thousand people who did pass that test have signed on to SeedInvest’s system. With the lifting of the rules on income, any adult American can now invest in small share offerings, according to Ryan Feit, SeedInvest’s chief executive. A wide range of companies could benefit. Last year 14% of conventional initial public offerings were for less than $50m; so far this year it is 22%, according to Renaissance Capital, a research and fund-management firm. Such companies can now benefit from crowdfunding, the raising of capital from a large numbers of investors, each contributing small amounts. SeedInvest is among a handful of new electronic platforms that are designed to facilitate the process. In its brief existence, it has already channelled $25m to 40 firms. Qualifying companies must meet certain standards, such as having a functional prototype of any planned product (not just an idea), customers, and reasonable investment terms. Only 1% of applicants pass the test.
listed company
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-20/volcker-rule-revamp-takes-shape-marking-big-win-for-wall-street Wall Street watchdogs handpicked by President Donald Trump eased the Volcker Rule’s controversial ban on banks making speculative investments, wrapping up a top deregulatory priority that’s long been sought by the financial industry. The changes, approved Tuesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., seek to provide lenders a much clearer picture of which trades are prohibited, giving them confidence to engage in transactions without fear of violating Volcker. But one Democratic FDIC board member warned the rollback could again endanger the financial system by allowing lenders to recklessly trade hundreds of billions of dollars in assets like they did before the 2008 financial crisis.
- A small bank in West Virginia has become the first institution to fail during the coronavirus crisis, though the bank had been experiencing difficulties since 2015 and its 2019 capital levels were too low, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Friday. The First State Bank of Barboursville, with $152 million in total assets, was closed Friday by the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions. The bank's $139.5 million in deposits will be acquired by MVB Bank Inc. of Fairmont, W. Va. The four branches of The First State Bank were set to reopen as branches of MVB Bank on Saturday, the FDIC said.https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fdic-announces-first-bank-failure-of-coronavirus-crisis-2020-04-03
Virtual currency
- http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0OJ23X20150603?irpc=932 New York state issued on Wednesday extensive new rules for companies that operate in virtual currencies such as bitcoin but did little to accommodate complaints that overly tight regulation could hamper the nascent industry. The new rules, the first by a state, create comprehensive guidelines for regulating digital currency firms, according to the state's Department of Financial Services, which developed the regulations. It means that digital currency companies operating in New York state that hold customer funds and exchange virtual currencies for dollars or other currencies are required to apply for what is known as a state "BitLicense." "There is a basic bargain that when a financial company is entrusted with safeguarding customer funds and receives a license from the state to do so, it accepts the need for heightened regulatory scrutiny to help ensure that a consumer's money does not just disappear into a black hole," Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York state regulator, said in a speech Wednesday at the BITS Emerging Payments Forum in Washington. The "BitLicense" rules include consumer protection, anti-money laundering and cybersecurity protections.
prepaid card
- https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/10/04/regulators-target-pre-paid-cards/16vxdqc1WikIlpyTtOa9lO/story.html The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued final rules Wednesday to regulate the prepaid card industry, among the fastest-growing financial products aimed at consumers who don’t have access to traditional credit or debit cards or who want to limit their spending. Under the new guidelines, protections offered to traditional credit and debit cards will be extended to prepaid cards, including limiting losses to consumers if the cards are lost or stolen, providing easier access to account information, and curbing overdraft fees. The rules will take effect starting October 2017. American consumers loaded nearly $65 billion onto prepaid cards in 2012, up from $1 billion in 2003. The amount is expected to nearly double to $112 billion by 2018, according to the federal regulator.
Ipo
- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21653670-new-era-begins-americas-securities-markets-open-season On June 19th Title IV of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act of 2012 goes into effect. It will change how small companies raise money. Those seeking $20m-50m will be able to offer their shares to the public while skipping some of the most costly regulatory requirements that normally involves, including being vetted by state officials, issuing quarterly reports and listing their shares on an exchange. In the past, firms that did not meet those requirements could only raise money from investors with a net worth in excess of $1m or $200,000 in annual income. Ten thousand people who did pass that test have signed on to SeedInvest’s system. With the lifting of the rules on income, any adult American can now invest in small share offerings, according to Ryan Feit, SeedInvest’s chief executive. A wide range of companies could benefit. Last year 14% of conventional initial public offerings were for less than $50m; so far this year it is 22%, according to Renaissance Capital, a research and fund-management firm. Such companies can now benefit from crowdfunding, the raising of capital from a large numbers of investors, each contributing small amounts. SeedInvest is among a handful of new electronic platforms that are designed to facilitate the process. In its brief existence, it has already channelled $25m to 40 firms. Qualifying companies must meet certain standards, such as having a functional prototype of any planned product (not just an idea), customers, and reasonable investment terms. Only 1% of applicants pass the test.
listed company
- The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is a nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies and other issuers in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate and independent audit reports. The PCAOB also oversees the audits of broker-dealers, including compliance reports filed pursuant to federal securities laws, to promote investor protection. All PCAOB rules and standards must be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).In creating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act required that auditors of U.S. public companies be subject to external and independent oversight for the first time in history. Previously, the profession was self-regulated. Congress vested the PCAOB with expanded oversight authority over the audits of brokers and dealers registered with the SEC in 2010 through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.The PCAOB has four primary functions in overseeing these auditors: registration, inspection, standard-setting and enforcement.
- 美國上市企業會計監督委員會（PCAOB）主席杜恩克（William Duhnke）前日表示，曾與四大會計師行積極磋商，謀求在無法接觸資料的情況下，確保美國上市中資企業的審計質素，但美國無辦法在中國核證，PCAOB在這領域上是「無望」。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200711/00180_008.html
derivatives
- 美國商品期貨交易委員會(CFTC)主席賈恩卡洛於美國時間昨日，公佈修訂前總統奧巴馬時期通過的《多德－弗蘭克法案》，放寬對金融衍生產品市場的監管，以提升美國金融機構的競爭力。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/10/02/a24-1002.pdf
ico
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20170727/00202_013.html 美國證交會（SEC）日前表示，首次公開募幣（ICO, Initial Coin Offering）屬於該局管轄範圍，須遵從聯邦證券法監管。美國證交會調查報告重申，任何在美國境內提供的證券銷售，不論發行機構屬傳統金融公司或其他組織，以美元或虛擬貨幣進行交易，均列入當局監管，所有ICO發行人於市場集資前，必須先向政府提交申請。事實上，在今年以來，全球至少有90隻ICO進行集資，規模高逾10億美元。有報道指，有銀行家為追逐ICO市場發展，不惜放棄七位數字的薪金，轉投虛擬貨幣市場。
Insurance
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b1229cb8-edc6-11e4-90d2-00144feab7de.html Global insurance rules face a revolt in the US as Republicans spearhead complaints that international regulators who they say lack accountability are imposing inappropriate standards on American companies. The financial crisis and the government rescue of US insurer AIG prompted a new regulatory regime for insurance, but the Republican takeover of Congress has brought to the surface deep unease over their development in the US. While the discontent in Washington is not universal, it signals trouble for the Financial Stability Board, a group of regulators and central bankers set up by the Group of 20 leading economies in 2009 to fortify the global financial system. At the head of the Republican attacks is Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate banking committee, who used a hearing on Tuesday to showcase a range of concerns about the FSB’s influence.
m&a
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f72bf0b8-57d6-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html A New York businessman has been criminally charged with using “reverse mergers” between Chinese firms and US shell companies to make millions of dollars in illicit profits, which he used to finance his lavish lifestyle, according to an indictment unsealed on Thursday. Benjamin Wey, founder of New York Global Group, which also has an office in Beijing, was arrested at his home in Manhattan on Thursday. His Geneva-based banker, Seref Dogan Erbek, was also charged and remains at large, the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan said.
- 5g
- 英國《金融時報》報道，主管研究及發展的美國國防部官員波特（Lisa Porter）要求國內電訊設備製造商合作，研發「開放源代碼」5G技術，即要求美國電訊設備製造商在無線接入網絡整合研發力量，屆時便可讓美國電訊商購買現成設備硬件，而毋須額外各自定制。華府期望「開放源代碼」技術，可容許本土企業可與華為競爭。但有意見認為，該做法猶如強制要求企業互相技術轉讓。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20191224/00180_011.html
- The White House and Pentagon presented plans on Monday to help US telecoms companies build out new ultra-fast 5G networks by allowing commercial use of airwaves previously reserved for military radar. The move will open 100 megahertz of spectrum to be auctioned by the US Federal Communications Commission for sharing with companies. The Pentagon will continue to use the bandwidth, balancing commercial use with military needs, according to Dana Deasy, the Defence Department’s chief information officer.The sale of rights in the 3450-3550 megahertz band could begin in December next year, allowing the wireless industry to offer 5G services on the frequencies as soon as mid-2022, said Michael Kratsios, the US chief technology officer.https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3096827/pentagon-share-spectrum-us-telecoms-firms-help
telecommunications
- The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States. The FCC established the fund in 1997 in compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The FCC is a government agency that implements and enforces America's communication regulations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and other U.S. territories.[1] The Universal Service Fund's budget ranges from $5–8 billion per year depending on the needs of the telecommunications providers. These needs include the cost to maintain the hardware needed for their services and the services themselves.
- By 1913, AT&T had favored status from U.S. government, allowing it to operate in a noncompetitive economic environment in exchange for subjection to price and quality service regulation. The government asserted that a monopolistic telephone industry would best serve the goal of creating a "universal" network with compatible technology country-wide for telephone consumers. Regulators emphasized limits on profits, enforcing "reasonable" prices for service, setting levels of depreciation and investment for new technology and equipment, dependability and "universality" of service. "Universal" was originally used by AT&T to mean, "interconnection to other networks, not service to all customers". After years of regulation, the term came to include infrastructural development of telephony and service to everyone at a reasonable price.The Willis Graham Act of 1921 was called into action in order to resolve pressing issues in the debate about the merits of interconnectivity of telecommunication.The Communications Act of 1934 includes in its preamble a reference to universal service. It calls for "rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges" to "all the people of the United States." There was a push for deregulating the telecommunications industry in the 1980s. Under President Ronald Reagan, the FCC shifted its focus from "social equity to an economic efficiency objective," which it claimed was a primary purpose of the Communications Act of 1934.[12] After AT&T was split up in 1984, universal service was still "supported by a system of above-cost access charges paid to local exchange companies." This system was administered by the National Exchange Carrier Association. Increased competition and universal service were later legislatively addressed and codified with the Telecommunications Act of 1996.The Universal Service Fund was first codified in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major rewrite of the Communications Act of 1934.
- 美國對中國科技企業打壓升級，聯邦通訊委員會（FCC）前日宣布，將中國科技巨企華為及中興通訊列入威脅國家安全名單，意味美企無法使用「通用服務基金」（USF）採購上述兩間公司服務及設備。中國外交部敦促美方停止泛化國家安全概念，停止無理打壓華企，提供公平公正非歧視環境。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200702/00180_002.html
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21632511-barack-obama-jumps-debate-about-how-regulate-broadband-not-neutral-about-net
- https://www.ft.com/content/c44c3ace-ffc6-3f23-a35f-6dc77bc92b9f The Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission has followed through on its pledge to scrap US net neutrality rules adopted in the final years of the Obama administration. The end came on Thursday afternoon in Washington, as commissioners voted 3-2, on party lines, to jettison the regulations. The expected decision signals a major victory for cable and telecoms companies, who will be freed to charge internet companies higher prices for guaranteed delivery of their services.
The Department of Justice said it is filing a lawsuit against the state of California over its new net neutrality protections, hours after Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on Sunday. The California law would be the strictest net neutrality protections in the country, and could serve as a blueprint for other states. Under the law, internet service providers will not be allowed to block or slow specific types of content or applications, or charge apps or companies fees for faster access to customers. The Department of Justice says the California law is illegal and that the state is "attempting to subvert the Federal Government's deregulatory approach" to the internet.https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/30/technology/california-net-neutrality-law/index.html
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/bdbc7ee2-bc3b-11e4-a6d7-00144feab7de.html The US communication watchdog’s proposed new regulatory regime for the internet has “unnecessary risks” for internet providers, according to Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, America’s largest internet provider. The Federal Communications Commission will vote on Thursday on whether to regulate the internet as a public utility, much like commercial telephone networks. The vote, which is expected to pass, is likely to trigger legal challenges from large internet providers.
Defend trade secrets act
Online sales tax exemption
- http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3c7e71e2-7900-11e4-b518-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Ki7pUTp8 Alibaba is taking on Amazon’s habitual role as public enemy number one for traditional US retailers, after being dragged into a political fight over a tax exemption for online sales.
- 美國最高法院周四裁定，網上商家即使在某些州份沒有實體商店，仍可被徵收銷售稅，有關判決勢將再一次改變零售業生態。最高法院以五比四票數，推翻一九九二年奎爾公司起訴北達科他州案（Quill Corporation v. North Dakota）。當年高院裁定，州政府不能要求本州沒實體店的網上零售商繳交銷售稅。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180623/00180_016.html
aviation
- 美國政府自一九七三年起逐步禁止超音速客機在境內飛行，以免突破音障時產生的音爆影響地面民居。但聯邦航空局有望獲國會授權並修改有關法例，不但為超音速客機在境內飛行解禁，更為超音速旅行普及化鋪路。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180926/00180_036.html
- 美國參議院商務委員會兩名跨黨派議員近日提出草案，擬容許聯邦航空局（FAA）在批出新建客機飛行許可時有更大權力，特別是限制及加強管制波音現時自己審批飛行許可的權力，以免重蹈波音737 MAX客機懷疑因為監管不足接連發生空難的覆轍。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20200614/00180_022.html
Drones
- http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/15/politics/drones-faa-rules-commercial-flights/, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/15/us-usa-drones-regulations-idUSKBN0LJ0S120150215, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/us/faa-rules-would-limit-commercial-drone-use.html?_r=0
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21644153-americas-new-rules-drones-will-keep-some-businesses-grounded-tethers-loosen LIKE driverless cars, pilotless aircraft also promise to be a huge business if regulatory obstacles can be overcome. This week, after years of delay, America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) came out with its draft rules for commercial drones. Although not as draconian as some had feared, unmanned aircraft will continue to have their wings clipped.
- http://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/1787220/us-aviation-regulators-face-heat-over-corporate-use-drones - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/us-to-announce-drone/2198994.html the Obama administration, faced with a surge in unauthorised drone flights, will announce a new initiative on Monday aimed at registering the owners of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The announcement is expected to be made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Anthony Foxx and Michael Huerta, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, at a news conference attended by members of the drone industry. Two sources who were informed of the plan said the administration will announce the formation of an independent advisory committee with the goal of creating the structure of a federal drone registry by December.
- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36584515 The rules regarding flying drones in the United States have been greatly relaxed, paving the way for thousands of businesses to fly legally in the country's airspace.
Existing Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) rules had meant commercial operators needed a pilot's licence in order to fly even small drones - a stipulation industry advocates said was unnecessarily restrictive.
In addition to the licence, commercial drone operators had to apply to the FAA on a case-by-case basis to gain permission. To date, only 5,300 commercial applicants were successful in gaining permission from the FAA, a tiny fraction of drones owned in the US.
Solar energy
- https://www.ft.com/content/b03cf23a-8040-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb3ff
US solar power companies will this week be battling over threatened new tariffs on imported panels that the industry has said could bring growth to a halt and cost tens of thousands of jobs. The US International Trade Commission will on Tuesday hold hearings in its investigation of the market for silicon photo-voltaic cells and panels, brought following a complaint from Suniva, a Georgia-based manufacturer that went into bankruptcy in April. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) hopes to have hundreds of workers outside the hearing, to give a sense of the jobs that could be lost in activities such as installation, system design and the manufacturing of components if the price of panels is increased by new duties.
- 美國加州能源委員會前日一致通過規定，要求從2020年1月1日起，所有三層及以下的新建住宅樓宇，必須安裝太陽能板，除非房屋位於陰暗處或屋頂太小無法安裝，是美國首個州份實施有關規定。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/05/11/a22-0511.pdf
Driverless cars
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d77834c-cf9b-11e5-92a1-c5e23ef99c77.html
electric scooters
- https://www.ft.com/content/48d635b0-46de-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb A new wave of electric-scooter rental start-ups is facing a legal reckoning, as city authorities across the US race to tame the “dockless” two-wheelers that have flooded the streets. New regulations proposed in several cities could place a cap on the number of scooters a single company can operate, as regulators demand that fast-growing start-ups Bird, LimeBike and Spin do more to educate and police their customers about safety. The companies have launched thousands of app-controlled, GPS-tracked electric scooters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and other US cities, with riders able to pick them up and drop them off wherever they like. Fuelled by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital, the start-ups are racing to launch in as many cities as quickly as possible.
fisheries
- 美國華盛頓州一間海鮮公司的店東官南勳（Hoon Namkoong，音譯），上周五承認過度捕撈海參，再將十一萬三千公斤海參轉售予主要來自亞洲的買家，被判處兩年有期徒刑，及罰款一百五十萬美元（約一千一百七十萬港元）。案件成為美國西部歷來第二大的非法海參交易。
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181002/00180_028.html
food traceability
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/feds-new-traceability-rules-would-cut-down-illegal-seafood/2016/02/13/41cb141e-d266-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html Federal authorities say they want feedback from the public about proposed rules they hope would take a bite out of illegal fishing imports that jeopardize the country’s multibillion dollar commercial fishing industry. Proposed new rules about seafood traceability would protect the public from fraud and help keep unsustainable fish products from reaching American shores, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The proposed rules come as U.S. seafood importers face increased scrutiny about their supply chains after a series of media and human rights reports found Southeast Asian fishermen and shrimp processers were abused and enslaved. An expose by The Associated Press last year found Thai companies ship seafood to the U.S. that was caught and processed by trapped and enslaved workers. The government’s proposed new system would apply to key food fish like cod, swordfish, shrimp and tuna that NOAA has recognized as vulnerable to illegal fishing, NOAA administrator Kathryn D. Sullivan said.
soyabean
- https://www.ft.com/content/8614dc98-8815-11e7-8bb1-5ba57d47eff7 The price of soyabean oil jumped on the US government’s preliminary ruling that Argentina and Indonesia were allegedly subsidising their biodiesel exporters. The ruling, which comes ahead of a final decision in November, could pave the way for backdated duties. Soyabean oil futures contracts rallied as much as 2.7 per cent to 35.01 cents a pound before trading at 34.60 cents. If import duties are imposed, it will make biodiesel imports more expensive and increase demand for domestically produced biodiesel, which is mainly sourced from soyabeans. In 2016, the US imported just under 2m tonnes of plant-based biodiesel fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats from Argentina and Indonesia, about 80 per cent of the total.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a rule revoking the right of companies to say soy protein protects the heart, while potentially allowing a more circumspect health claim.The agency, which to date has never revoked a health claim, said studies published since it authorized the soy protein claim in 1999 had shown inconsistent results. “Our review of that evidence has led us to conclude that the relationship between soy protein and heart disease does not meet the rigorous standard for an FDA-authorized health claim,” the agency said in a statement. The FDA said that if its proposed rule is finalized, it would consider allowing the use of a qualified health claim, which requires a lower scientific standard of evidence than an authorized claim.
大麻
Drones
- http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/15/politics/drones-faa-rules-commercial-flights/, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/15/us-usa-drones-regulations-idUSKBN0LJ0S120150215, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/us/faa-rules-would-limit-commercial-drone-use.html?_r=0
- http://www.economist.com/news/business/21644153-americas-new-rules-drones-will-keep-some-businesses-grounded-tethers-loosen LIKE driverless cars, pilotless aircraft also promise to be a huge business if regulatory obstacles can be overcome. This week, after years of delay, America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) came out with its draft rules for commercial drones. Although not as draconian as some had feared, unmanned aircraft will continue to have their wings clipped.
- http://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/1787220/us-aviation-regulators-face-heat-over-corporate-use-drones - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/us-to-announce-drone/2198994.html the Obama administration, faced with a surge in unauthorised drone flights, will announce a new initiative on Monday aimed at registering the owners of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The announcement is expected to be made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Anthony Foxx and Michael Huerta, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, at a news conference attended by members of the drone industry. Two sources who were informed of the plan said the administration will announce the formation of an independent advisory committee with the goal of creating the structure of a federal drone registry by December.
- http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36584515 The rules regarding flying drones in the United States have been greatly relaxed, paving the way for thousands of businesses to fly legally in the country's airspace.
Existing Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) rules had meant commercial operators needed a pilot's licence in order to fly even small drones - a stipulation industry advocates said was unnecessarily restrictive.
In addition to the licence, commercial drone operators had to apply to the FAA on a case-by-case basis to gain permission. To date, only 5,300 commercial applicants were successful in gaining permission from the FAA, a tiny fraction of drones owned in the US.
Solar energy
- https://www.ft.com/content/b03cf23a-8040-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb3ff
US solar power companies will this week be battling over threatened new tariffs on imported panels that the industry has said could bring growth to a halt and cost tens of thousands of jobs. The US International Trade Commission will on Tuesday hold hearings in its investigation of the market for silicon photo-voltaic cells and panels, brought following a complaint from Suniva, a Georgia-based manufacturer that went into bankruptcy in April. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) hopes to have hundreds of workers outside the hearing, to give a sense of the jobs that could be lost in activities such as installation, system design and the manufacturing of components if the price of panels is increased by new duties.
- 美國加州能源委員會前日一致通過規定，要求從2020年1月1日起，所有三層及以下的新建住宅樓宇，必須安裝太陽能板，除非房屋位於陰暗處或屋頂太小無法安裝，是美國首個州份實施有關規定。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2018/05/11/a22-0511.pdf
Driverless cars
- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d77834c-cf9b-11e5-92a1-c5e23ef99c77.html
Google passes significant barrier in its plan for driverless cars
electric scooters
- https://www.ft.com/content/48d635b0-46de-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb A new wave of electric-scooter rental start-ups is facing a legal reckoning, as city authorities across the US race to tame the “dockless” two-wheelers that have flooded the streets. New regulations proposed in several cities could place a cap on the number of scooters a single company can operate, as regulators demand that fast-growing start-ups Bird, LimeBike and Spin do more to educate and police their customers about safety. The companies have launched thousands of app-controlled, GPS-tracked electric scooters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and other US cities, with riders able to pick them up and drop them off wherever they like. Fuelled by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital, the start-ups are racing to launch in as many cities as quickly as possible.
fisheries
- 美國華盛頓州一間海鮮公司的店東官南勳（Hoon Namkoong，音譯），上周五承認過度捕撈海參，再將十一萬三千公斤海參轉售予主要來自亞洲的買家，被判處兩年有期徒刑，及罰款一百五十萬美元（約一千一百七十萬港元）。案件成為美國西部歷來第二大的非法海參交易。
http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181002/00180_028.html
food traceability
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/feds-new-traceability-rules-would-cut-down-illegal-seafood/2016/02/13/41cb141e-d266-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html Federal authorities say they want feedback from the public about proposed rules they hope would take a bite out of illegal fishing imports that jeopardize the country’s multibillion dollar commercial fishing industry. Proposed new rules about seafood traceability would protect the public from fraud and help keep unsustainable fish products from reaching American shores, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The proposed rules come as U.S. seafood importers face increased scrutiny about their supply chains after a series of media and human rights reports found Southeast Asian fishermen and shrimp processers were abused and enslaved. An expose by The Associated Press last year found Thai companies ship seafood to the U.S. that was caught and processed by trapped and enslaved workers. The government’s proposed new system would apply to key food fish like cod, swordfish, shrimp and tuna that NOAA has recognized as vulnerable to illegal fishing, NOAA administrator Kathryn D. Sullivan said.
soyabean
- https://www.ft.com/content/8614dc98-8815-11e7-8bb1-5ba57d47eff7 The price of soyabean oil jumped on the US government’s preliminary ruling that Argentina and Indonesia were allegedly subsidising their biodiesel exporters. The ruling, which comes ahead of a final decision in November, could pave the way for backdated duties. Soyabean oil futures contracts rallied as much as 2.7 per cent to 35.01 cents a pound before trading at 34.60 cents. If import duties are imposed, it will make biodiesel imports more expensive and increase demand for domestically produced biodiesel, which is mainly sourced from soyabeans. In 2016, the US imported just under 2m tonnes of plant-based biodiesel fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats from Argentina and Indonesia, about 80 per cent of the total.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a rule revoking the right of companies to say soy protein protects the heart, while potentially allowing a more circumspect health claim.The agency, which to date has never revoked a health claim, said studies published since it authorized the soy protein claim in 1999 had shown inconsistent results. “Our review of that evidence has led us to conclude that the relationship between soy protein and heart disease does not meet the rigorous standard for an FDA-authorized health claim,” the agency said in a statement. The FDA said that if its proposed rule is finalized, it would consider allowing the use of a qualified health claim, which requires a lower scientific standard of evidence than an authorized claim.
大麻
- [hemp revolution guide] Once upon a time, hemp was a main agricultural crop in the U.S. The era of prohibition brought on by the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 has forced many to re-learn how to grow the plant and to invest in new machinery and equipment.
- 美國參議院上周四以八十六票支持對十一票反對，大比數通過容許大麻類植物可以成為合法農產品的草案，並會納入農業法。該草案一旦與眾議院協調、經總統特朗普簽署成為法律，便會將大麻類植物從受管制物質的名單上移除，而且可以作為商品在市場上出售。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180701/00180_011.html
- 美國伊利諾伊州州長普利茲克周二簽署法案，令當地成為全國首個通過立法程序，令消閒用大麻合法化的州。當地執法機構將消除逾七十五萬名銷售、吸食大麻人士的犯罪紀錄。法案將於明年生效，但僅允許現存的醫療大麻種植、生產和分銷企業持執照進入市場。普利茲克承諾將大麻銷售稅收的25%，用於建設和發展貧困社區。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190627/00180_032.html
drugs
- [美國總統特朗普早前簽署備忘錄，宣布國內濫用鴉片類止痛藥問題嚴重，並提出關注中國出口大量「芬太尼」等鴉片類止痛藥。美國國務院官員周三表示，美方近日再促請中方協助加強管制，防止鴉片類止痛藥繼續流入北美。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20171208/00180_018.html
- 美國食品及藥物管理局，周一批准由大麻成分製造的處方藥物「Epidiolex」，用以治療兩種罕見的兒童癲癇症。「Epidiolex」成為首款獲美國批准的含大麻成分藥物。「Epidiolex」由英國GW製藥研發，用作治療兩歲或以上的小兒重度肌痙攣腦癇症候群以及雷葛氏綜合症病人，能夠減少患者的抽搐發作。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180627/00180_024.html
Tourism
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20160206/00180_002.html應動物保護組織的呼聲，美國紐約考慮管制市內馬車遊覽業，大幅縮減馬車數量，且不准再在街上行走。由於改革方案限制甚多，惹來馬車業工會反對，紐約市議會取消表決，馬車暫時可繼續營業。
steel
- 小布殊時代曾發起對鋼材徵收懲罰性關稅，結果被世貿組織裁定為非法，但國內製造商已提高價格，對產業造成了損害，惟特朗普沒有吸取歷史教訓，對黨內主流派的「進諫」不屑一顧，部分參議員甚至對媒體抱怨，自己並未從白宮方面得到任何訊息。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180304/00192_001.html
- 美國參議院上周四以八十六票支持對十一票反對，大比數通過容許大麻類植物可以成為合法農產品的草案，並會納入農業法。該草案一旦與眾議院協調、經總統特朗普簽署成為法律，便會將大麻類植物從受管制物質的名單上移除，而且可以作為商品在市場上出售。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180701/00180_011.html
- 美國伊利諾伊州州長普利茲克周二簽署法案，令當地成為全國首個通過立法程序，令消閒用大麻合法化的州。當地執法機構將消除逾七十五萬名銷售、吸食大麻人士的犯罪紀錄。法案將於明年生效，但僅允許現存的醫療大麻種植、生產和分銷企業持執照進入市場。普利茲克承諾將大麻銷售稅收的25%，用於建設和發展貧困社區。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190627/00180_032.html
drugs
- [美國總統特朗普早前簽署備忘錄，宣布國內濫用鴉片類止痛藥問題嚴重，並提出關注中國出口大量「芬太尼」等鴉片類止痛藥。美國國務院官員周三表示，美方近日再促請中方協助加強管制，防止鴉片類止痛藥繼續流入北美。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20171208/00180_018.html
- 美國食品及藥物管理局，周一批准由大麻成分製造的處方藥物「Epidiolex」，用以治療兩種罕見的兒童癲癇症。「Epidiolex」成為首款獲美國批准的含大麻成分藥物。「Epidiolex」由英國GW製藥研發，用作治療兩歲或以上的小兒重度肌痙攣腦癇症候群以及雷葛氏綜合症病人，能夠減少患者的抽搐發作。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180627/00180_024.html
Tourism
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20160206/00180_002.html應動物保護組織的呼聲，美國紐約考慮管制市內馬車遊覽業，大幅縮減馬車數量，且不准再在街上行走。由於改革方案限制甚多，惹來馬車業工會反對，紐約市議會取消表決，馬車暫時可繼續營業。
steel
- 小布殊時代曾發起對鋼材徵收懲罰性關稅，結果被世貿組織裁定為非法，但國內製造商已提高價格，對產業造成了損害，惟特朗普沒有吸取歷史教訓，對黨內主流派的「進諫」不屑一顧，部分參議員甚至對媒體抱怨，自己並未從白宮方面得到任何訊息。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180304/00192_001.html
- US farmers have launched a fresh campaign to push back against President Donald Trump's upcoming tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, fearing foreign retaliation would seriously hurt their export-dependent industry. Farmers for Free Trade, a nonprofit campaign, released a TV ad on Tuesday calling on Trump to protect the trade policies US farmers depend on. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201803/15/WS5aa9ce6ca3106e7dcc141c6a.html
- U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily excluded six countries, including Canada and Mexico, and European Union states from higher U.S. import duties on steel and aluminum meant to come into effect on Friday. In a presidential proclamation published late on Thursday, Trump said he would suspend tariffs for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and the European Union, the U.S.’s biggest trading partner, until May 1, 2018 as discussions continue. After May 1, Trump would decide whether to permanently exempt the countries based on the status of talks, the White House said in a statement. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-steel/trump-temporarily-excludes-eu-six-other-allies-from-steel-tariffs-idUSKBN1GZ0ET- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/31/us-fires-opening-salvo-in-trade-war-with-eu-canada-and-mexico The United States and its traditional allies are on the brink of a full-scale trade war after European and Canadian leaders reacted swiftly and angrily to Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium producers.
paper products
- The American government is imposing more anti-dumping duties on Canadian newsprint.
press/media
- RT, the Russian state-backed English-language news organisation, was recently ordered by the US Justice Department to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), but one of China’s biggest government-controlled news outlets has not registered its Washington operation. In 2012, China Central Television (CCTV), the Chinese state broadcaster, launched an English-language affiliate headquartered in Washington. CCTV America – recently rebranded as CGTN America – has been described as an attempt by China to spread its soft power globally. Its coverage of US domestic issues is professional and not clearly slanted in one direction or another. But any China-related reports strictly follow Communist Party media guidelines, presenting China as a positive, peaceful force whose geopolitical interests are righteous. While CGTN America has not registered as a foreign agent, a public relations company that worked on behalf of the network’s US division did. In late 2011, just ahead of the channel’s American launch, CCTV signed a US$15,000-a-month contract with Ogilvy Public Relations to “communicate to the American public that CCTV America will provide compelling, comprehensive, and balanced news programming from an Asian perspective that is relevant to a global audience”. In forms filed with the Justice Department in 2012, Ogilvy said CCTV America was supervised, owned, directed, controlled, financed, and subsidised by a foreign principal.FARA was first passed in 1938 to counter Nazi propaganda in the US, and it is meant to provide some basic disclosure about an outlet’s operations. The law was intended “not to stymie that speech, but to make it so that people could know that it was a foreign government behind that speech”, said Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the non-profit Centre for International Policy. FARA registration could be onerous to media outlets, Freeman said: “It is a lot of information you have to file. It’s a lot of record-keeping.” Registration may also interfere with a media outlet’s operations. In RT’s case, the congressional press office stripped the outlet of its media credentials, which reduces its access to American lawmakers.http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2125051/chinas-flagship-tv-network-has-not-registered-foreign
massage
- http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20170817/20124272華人聚居的洛杉磯聖蓋博市（San Gabriel）於4月份通過新例，限制兩家按摩店之間的距離不能少於1,000英呎（約304米），與民宅距離不能少於150英呎（約45米）。對此，全美華人按摩師協會主席劉澄宇（Fernardo）認為，從事色情業僅少數不良從業員，但估計新例將導致店主員工均陷入困境，市內近30家按摩店面臨停業，600名技師將失業，店主亦有機會遭業主控告違約賠償。
education
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170510/PDF/a11_screen.pdf 韓國濟州道政府近期與美國大學入學考試（ACT ）機構達成合作 ，決定每年在濟州島舉行五場ACT考試 ，首場預計將於今年6月至 9月間舉行。據悉，中國每年有超過八萬名考生考入美國大學，其中有三萬多人參加過ACT考試 。由於內地沒有ACT考點 ，應試者多選擇前往港澳等地參加考試。而濟州島具備地理位置靠近和免簽入境的優勢，將以北京以及中國東北部地區的考生為主要吸引對象，預計每年會吸引1.5萬名中國考生前往。
environment
- 紐約市政府周三宣布雙管齊下向石油石化工業宣戰，控告五大石油企業。市政府並宣布退休基金，將不再投資石油石化工業，涉及金額達五十億美元（約三百九十億港元）。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180112/00180_006.html
Made in USA
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-02/04/content_19482345.htm Many American companies are finding that manufacturing in China is no longer the bestoption.
- 周一，特朗普在白宫展示了“美国製造”的产品，并充满激情地为“美国优先”政策辩护。“我们将为美国企业、或许最重要的是为美国工人提供支持……是时候採取新政策了，关键是两个简单的原则：我们将购买美国商品；而且我们将僱用美国工人。”http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170719/PDF/a6_screen.pdf
trade sanctions against russia and china regarding north korea
- 美國財政部前日公佈新一輪針對北韓導彈計劃的制裁，對象包括16個中國和俄羅斯為主的企業或個人，其中包括於香港註冊的明正國際貿易有限公司。中國對制裁表示反對，認為此舉無助推進中美合作。http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20170824/20130676
Issues with China
- http://ca.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idCAKBN0LG26420150212 The Obama administration sees planned new cybersecurity rules in China as a "major barrier" to trade and has raised concerns with Beijing at the highest level, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Robert Holleyman said the new regulations, which would force technology vendors to Chinese banks to hand over secret source code and adopt Chinese encryption algorithms, ran counter to Beijing's moves to open its markets and economy. hkej 14feb15 a18
- laminated flooring
Investors from China
- 華南美國商 會 2 日發佈了其年度報告《2015 中國營商環境白皮 書》以及《2015年華南地區經濟情況特別報告》。報 告顯示，在 2014年初，該商會會員企業計劃用於擴大 中國業務的再投資額達到 2.5億美元或以上的企業為 8.4%，而最終只有6.4%的企業實際進行了該額度的投 資。華南美國商會稱，這是「特別報告」發佈 10年以 來，首次出現企業實際再投資額低於預算再投資額這 一現象。 據了解，華南美國商會目前有 2,300多家企業及個 人會員，華南美國商會會員企業的生意額約佔美中商 務、貿易以及投資總額的 40%。http://pdf.wenweipo.com/2015/03/03/a32-0303.pdf
- http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2066497/trumps-tax-cuts-may-lure-manufacturers-move-worlds-workshop-us Donald Trump’s plan to slash corporate taxes may be a magnet for many Chinese manufacturers, who have been labouring under a combination of rising tax and wage burdens at home, according to a recruiter who helped bring thousands of jobs from China to the United States. “If Trump lowers the business tax rate from 35 to 15 per cent as he promised, it’s almost beyond question that more Chinese manufacturers will consider coming to America,” John Ling, the man responsible for attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of Chinese manufacturing investments into South Carolina over the past decade, told the South China Morning Post.
history
- 美國第31任總統胡佛於一九二八年競選總統時，承諾提高農產品進口關稅，協助經濟拮据的農民。當時農民受商品及地價下跌影響，導致負債纍纍。胡佛上場之後兌現承諾，國會於一九三○年通過斯姆特霍利關稅法案（Smoot-Hawley law），法案要保護農民，也保護美國製造商。但此法案有超過1,000位經濟學家反對，亦有被質疑是否漠視美股健康狀況，而美股早在一九二九年十月已開始崩圍。斯姆特霍利關稅法案向900種進口貨品加徵關稅，牽涉到糖、蛋、衣夾、油桶等。單看數字已夠嚇人，關稅由最初15至20%，一再提高至40%，但原來實際影響更甚。關稅定為貨品重量之百分比，而非進口價之百分比，所以在當時大幅通縮的情況下，某些貨品關稅可高於貨品價格。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20180729/00202_006.html
paper products
- The American government is imposing more anti-dumping duties on Canadian newsprint.
The U.S. Department of Commerce says a preliminary investigation has found Canadian exporters underpriced uncoated groundwood paper by between 0 and 22.16 per cent. Uncoated groundwood paper includes newsprint, as well as paper for book publishing, printing and writing. The department says it calculated a dumping rate of 22.16 per cent for Catalyst Paper Corp. of British Columbia. It says Resolute Forest Products and White Birch were both found to have dumping rates of 0 per cent. The department says it's instructing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from Canadian newsprint importers based on the findings. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/us-duties-newsprint-1.4575237
press/media
- RT, the Russian state-backed English-language news organisation, was recently ordered by the US Justice Department to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), but one of China’s biggest government-controlled news outlets has not registered its Washington operation. In 2012, China Central Television (CCTV), the Chinese state broadcaster, launched an English-language affiliate headquartered in Washington. CCTV America – recently rebranded as CGTN America – has been described as an attempt by China to spread its soft power globally. Its coverage of US domestic issues is professional and not clearly slanted in one direction or another. But any China-related reports strictly follow Communist Party media guidelines, presenting China as a positive, peaceful force whose geopolitical interests are righteous. While CGTN America has not registered as a foreign agent, a public relations company that worked on behalf of the network’s US division did. In late 2011, just ahead of the channel’s American launch, CCTV signed a US$15,000-a-month contract with Ogilvy Public Relations to “communicate to the American public that CCTV America will provide compelling, comprehensive, and balanced news programming from an Asian perspective that is relevant to a global audience”. In forms filed with the Justice Department in 2012, Ogilvy said CCTV America was supervised, owned, directed, controlled, financed, and subsidised by a foreign principal.FARA was first passed in 1938 to counter Nazi propaganda in the US, and it is meant to provide some basic disclosure about an outlet’s operations. The law was intended “not to stymie that speech, but to make it so that people could know that it was a foreign government behind that speech”, said Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the non-profit Centre for International Policy. FARA registration could be onerous to media outlets, Freeman said: “It is a lot of information you have to file. It’s a lot of record-keeping.” Registration may also interfere with a media outlet’s operations. In RT’s case, the congressional press office stripped the outlet of its media credentials, which reduces its access to American lawmakers.http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2125051/chinas-flagship-tv-network-has-not-registered-foreign
massage
- http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20170817/20124272華人聚居的洛杉磯聖蓋博市（San Gabriel）於4月份通過新例，限制兩家按摩店之間的距離不能少於1,000英呎（約304米），與民宅距離不能少於150英呎（約45米）。對此，全美華人按摩師協會主席劉澄宇（Fernardo）認為，從事色情業僅少數不良從業員，但估計新例將導致店主員工均陷入困境，市內近30家按摩店面臨停業，600名技師將失業，店主亦有機會遭業主控告違約賠償。
education
- http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170510/PDF/a11_screen.pdf 韓國濟州道政府近期與美國大學入學考試（ACT ）機構達成合作 ，決定每年在濟州島舉行五場ACT考試 ，首場預計將於今年6月至 9月間舉行。據悉，中國每年有超過八萬名考生考入美國大學，其中有三萬多人參加過ACT考試 。由於內地沒有ACT考點 ，應試者多選擇前往港澳等地參加考試。而濟州島具備地理位置靠近和免簽入境的優勢，將以北京以及中國東北部地區的考生為主要吸引對象，預計每年會吸引1.5萬名中國考生前往。
environment
- 紐約市政府周三宣布雙管齊下向石油石化工業宣戰，控告五大石油企業。市政府並宣布退休基金，將不再投資石油石化工業，涉及金額達五十億美元（約三百九十億港元）。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180112/00180_006.html
Made in USA
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-02/04/content_19482345.htm Many American companies are finding that manufacturing in China is no longer the bestoption.
- laminated flooring
- http://www.cnbc.com/id/102466810#. , http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawmakers-want-answers-after-60-minutes-report-on-lumber-liquidators/ The "60 Minutes" report that found high levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde in flooring sold by Lumber Liquidators brought a call on Capitol Hill Wednesday for a federal investigation. Understandably, homeowners whose families walk on that flooring every day want to know what they should do. In Las Vegas, environmental consultant Steve Havens used formaldehyde monitors in a home with newly installed Lumber Liquidators flooring manufactured in China. The test will cost about $600. Homeowner Noah Bennett said it's worth it.
- http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20160206/00178_019.html 美國外資審議委員會（CFIUS）近日以威脅國家安全為由，否決中資財團Go Scale Capital以二十九億美元（約二百二十六億港元），收購歐洲電器生產商飛利浦旗下LED和汽車照明組件生產商Lumileds多數股權。美國傳媒報道，對中國在芯片領域的野心存在擔憂，這是美國官員拒絕批准的主要原因。而該委員會擔心飛利浦這筆交易，主要是因為Lumileds生產一種叫氮化鎵的半導體材料，可用於製造用途廣泛、性能強大的新一代微芯片。報道指，氮化鎵在軍事和太空領域應用廣泛，美國反導雷達和美國空軍用來追蹤空間碎片的雷達系統都使用了氮化鎵芯片。
- http://big5.ftchinese.com/story/001066224/en China’s flourishing appetite for acquiring overseas companies has been dealt a sharp setback as regulatory fears hindered two potential takeovers and highlighted the obstacles to striking deals with Chinese companies. In the space of a day, two separate takeovers involving Fosun International, one of China’s most acquisitive private conglomerates, and state-backed China Resources have collapsed — with the latter being spurned despite it offering a higher bid for its US target. These challenges undermine what is expected to be a driving force in dealmaking in 2016, with Chinese companies already on course to shatter a record for outbound mergers and acquisitions. So far this year, the value of Chinese mergers and acquisitions overseas has topped $75bn, more than any other year on record except for 2015, when a total of $112bn in deals was attempted, according to Dealogic. Yesterday the rush to acquire overseas assets continued as Zoomlion pushed ahead with its $3.3bn takeover bid for US crane maker Terex. The Chinese construction equipment maker’s attempt at gatecrashing a planned deal between Terex and Finland’s Konecranes not only underscores the aggressiveness of some recent Chinese outbound deals, but also the level of debt these companies are taking on in order to outbid competitors.
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2016-02/24/content_23614514.htm For the third year in a row, Chinese planned acquisitions of US companies constituted the largest number of those reviewed by a US panel for national security implications.In its annual report to Congress filed on Friday, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States said it reviewed 147 purchases of US businesses by foreign interests in 2014. Deals involving investors from China, totaling 24, topped those from any other nation. Second was the UK with 21, while Canada was third with 15. "The US is a prime destination for foreign investment," Chris Griner, an attorney with the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in Washington, said on Monday. "With the deals that were announced in 2015, I don't think China will be surpassed anytime soon." The foreign investment committee, made up of representatives from several federal agencies, including the Treasury, Defense, State and Homeland Security departments, reviews foreign acquisitions, mergers and takeovers of US businesses that might raise national security concerns. The committee's deliberations are confidential, and except for its annual report to Congress, it does not comment on its work. The Chinese cases mainly concerned manufacturing, including that of computers and electronics, said Anne Salladin of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, which specializes in assisting multinational corporations, investment banks and venture capital firms. Transactions requiring mitigation measures after investigation by the committee declined to 6 percent of cases, from 11 percent in 2013. The types of transactions requiring mitigation focused on deals involving US companies in the software, services and technology sectors.
- http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/tech/2016-02/25/content_23633920.htm Beijing-based tech company Unisplendour Corp Ltd has pulled out of a proposed$3.8 billion investment in the US disk drive maker Western Digital Corp because theChinese firm deems the US government would not approve the deal. Unisplendour, a subsidiary of State-owned conglomerate Tsinghua Holdings CoLtd, said on Wednesday the decision was made after the Committee on ForeignInvestment in the United States, a government organization that reviews foreigninvestments in US businesses, announced it will investigate the deal for securityreasons. The Chinese company had been attempting to purchase a 15 percent stake inWestern Digital since September. The deal would have made Unisplendour WesternDigital's largest shareholder and given it a board seat in the California-basedcompany which sells hard drives to a long list of US government agencies.Unisplendour is still finding ways to work with Western Digital. The companies saidthey will set up a $158 million software joint venture, with the Chinese firm holdinga 51 percent stake. The collapse of the deal sent the Shenzhen-listed Unisplendour stock down,dropping 5.78 percent to close at 66.52 yuan ($10.18) on Wednesday. The move had a greater impact on Western Digital, which is bidding for flash-memory giant SanDisk Corp. The company trimmed its offer to $15.8 billion in cashand stock, sharply down from the original offer of $19 billion.
- http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2066497/trumps-tax-cuts-may-lure-manufacturers-move-worlds-workshop-us Donald Trump’s plan to slash corporate taxes may be a magnet for many Chinese manufacturers, who have been labouring under a combination of rising tax and wage burdens at home, according to a recruiter who helped bring thousands of jobs from China to the United States. “If Trump lowers the business tax rate from 35 to 15 per cent as he promised, it’s almost beyond question that more Chinese manufacturers will consider coming to America,” John Ling, the man responsible for attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of Chinese manufacturing investments into South Carolina over the past decade, told the South China Morning Post.
history
- 美國第31任總統胡佛於一九二八年競選總統時，承諾提高農產品進口關稅，協助經濟拮据的農民。當時農民受商品及地價下跌影響，導致負債纍纍。胡佛上場之後兌現承諾，國會於一九三○年通過斯姆特霍利關稅法案（Smoot-Hawley law），法案要保護農民，也保護美國製造商。但此法案有超過1,000位經濟學家反對，亦有被質疑是否漠視美股健康狀況，而美股早在一九二九年十月已開始崩圍。斯姆特霍利關稅法案向900種進口貨品加徵關稅，牽涉到糖、蛋、衣夾、油桶等。單看數字已夠嚇人，關稅由最初15至20%，一再提高至40%，但原來實際影響更甚。關稅定為貨品重量之百分比，而非進口價之百分比，所以在當時大幅通縮的情況下，某些貨品關稅可高於貨品價格。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/finance/20180729/00202_006.html
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