clipping â negociações internacionais
26.04.2018
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL NEGINT Brasília, 26 de abril de 2018
Índice I. OMC _______________________________________________ 2 Resistance to joint proposal to WTO leaves UK and EU divided ____________ 2 China will continue to safeguard multilateral trade system: MOC___________ 4 II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS _________________ 5 Macron and Trump Can Team Up on Trade ____________________________ 5 III. OUTROS ____________________________________________ 7 Hogan stands firm on Mercosur as EU delists Brazilian suppliers ___________ 7 Former Brazil finance minister Palocci strikes plea deal __________________ 9
1
26.04.2018
I. OMC Resistance to joint proposal to WTO leaves UK and EU divided The Guardian (Reino Unido) Resistance to a joint UK-EU proposal to the World Trade Organization on trade after Brexit – which was once celebrated by the trade secretary, Liam Fox, as “real progress” – has triggered a break down in unity, with London and Brussels divided on a way forward. Fox had described the plan on how much meat, butter and wheat the rest of the world could export to the UK and the 27 member states on low or zero tariffs as a sign of the country “forging ahead”, and boasted: “It’s a sign we can make progress when both sides choose to do so.” Yet, in recent months the united EU and UK front has splintered in the face of a strident rejection of their proposals from the US, Australia and New Zealand, among others, the Guardian understands. Brussels has proposed another way forward. But London has yet to agree and has left open the prospect that ithe UK could go its own way in talks with the world’s biggest trading powers. To add to the tensions, the UK is also seeking to speak during the 21-month transition period after Brexit with an independent voice at the WTO, where large multilateral trade deals are negotiated, something the European commission is resisting. Until Brexit, the EU has a schedule spelling out how much of each agricultural product from each country that can be imported into the bloc without attracting high tariffs. After Brexit, the plan had been for the UK and EU, as independent WTO members, to divide the current quotas between the two according to historical flows of trade in each product. This plan was described as a “technical rectification”. However, EU sources said an initial objection from the US, Argentina, Brazil and New Zealand over the joint plan, hammered home in a fiery letter last October, had not gone away, proving Brussels’ initial belief that the plan would “not fly”.
2
26.04.2018
Brussels is now pushing for a new tactic under which they would go through the more arduous procedure of a full renegotiation with WTO members over key agriculture products, offering compensation where necessary, via what is called an article 28 procedure. The UK is insisting that the EU sticks with the original plan. British negotiators working in the WTO in Geneva believe that for 95% of the schedules there is no need for negotiation. The UK also insists it could unilaterally liberalise its tariff regime from Australia and elsewhere, in a move that could be damaging to EU trade flows, but would receive immediate agreement from those countries resisting the original joint plan. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is understood to have told MEPs during a recent private meeting that “unsurprisingly a number of [WTO] members do not agree” with the plan, adding: “They are reluctant to discuss and are reserving their position in Geneva.” A senior EU official told the Guardian: “We think we will we have to go through a more difficult procedure. The UK wants to go for the simplest way we are saying we are not against it but politically it will not fly at all and we will have to do it the other way and even then it will be contested. “I think some have a case. With New Zealand and their lamb, they might say that we send our meat via Rotterdam or elsewhere to Britain, and you are making our trade arrangements more rigid. “For the first plan to work, the changes have to be perceived as technical adjustments for which there are no political issues. The other is a real correction, a real adjustment when you go through an approval process. And they take their time.” Alan Matthews, a professor of agricultural policy at Trinity College Dublin, said: “Rectification was always a crazy idea which would never be accepted as clearly what the UK and EU propose goes way behind what is covered by rectification.” The Department for International Trade, which Fox heads, said: “As we leave the EU we need to create a new UK goods schedule at the WTO, covering tariffs on our imports from other WTO members. We have engaged all 164 WTO members, and they understand our intention to establish our goods schedule by rectification. 3
26.04.2018
“As a part of the process, we also agreed an approach with the EU to apportion tariff rate quotas covering certain imported goods, based on historic trade flows, and wrote to WTO members on this last year. We are continuing to speak to them about next steps to secure an outcome with is fair and avoids disruption to existing trade.”
China will continue to safeguard multilateral trade system: MOC Xinhua (China) China said Thursday it will work with other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to safeguard the multilateral trade system and protect their own rights and interests. U.S. Section 232 and Section 301 measures hurt the multilateral trade system, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, at a press conference. WTO members have jointly opposed the Section 232 measures, which imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Gao said. Members including the European Union, Russia and India will join China in consultations under the WTO dispute settlement framework with the United States regarding the measures, according to Gao. China has also filed a request for similar consultation over the U.S. tariff hike proposals based on the Section 301 investigation. "We
hope
the
U.S.
side
takes
concrete
action
to
abandon
unilateralism
and
protectionism, respect WTO rules, and resolve differences through equal dialogue and consultations based on mutual respect," Gao said. He also criticized "individual members" of the WTO for obstructing the appointment of new members to the WTO appellate body. If the problem remains unresolved, the normal operations of the appellate body and the dispute settlement mechanism will be affected, Gao told reporters.
4
26.04.2018
China calls on "individual members" to stop hindering the appointment, accept their international responsibility to the WTO, and protect the multilateral trade system, he said.
II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS Macron and Trump Can Team Up on Trade Bloomberg (Estados Unidos) Trade may look like an issue where Donald Trump and his recent French guest, Emmanuel Macron, can never see eye-to-eye. The French President pointedly took swipes at his host during his address to a Joint Session of Congress Wednesday, denouncing trade wars and saying that trade imbalances can only be solved through multilateral means -- exactly the opposite of what Trump habitually says about trade. But the picture of Macron as a ga-ga globalist, and of Trump as a protectionist ideologue, is too simplistic. Indeed, for all their very real differences, they also share priorities, which offers a way for them to work together. It is as unusual for France that its president be an outspoken free trader as it is for the United States that its president be a fierce trade critic. French presidential cycles feature a time-honored tradition where candidates vow to prevent factory closures to prevent jobs moving overseas. Macron departed from the script and took the political risk of saying he wouldn’t bail out failing businesses; it paid off since even those who disagreed had to admit that he had been honest. Meanwhile, Trump has lambasted trade agreements and threatened steel tariffs that have Europe horrified. A top item on Macron’s agenda is lobbying for an EU exemption from the tariffs. Trump keeps complaining about U.S. trade deficits and one of the biggest such deficits is with Germany.
5
26.04.2018
Still, while Trump gets angry about most of America’s trade relationships, there is one that he sees as a threat above all others: China. He stunned the world by asking his economic adviser Larry Kudlow--a free-trader’s free-trader -- to review the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with a view to potentially re-entering a deal he constantly excoriated. One motivation was probably the realization that TPP was meant to counter China’s questionable trade practices by creating an Asian trading bloc that would exclude it. Trump the dealmaker has shown himself to be boundlessly flexible, and the idea of trade alliances -- possibly with the EU -- to counter China should have obvious intuitive appeal to him. Meanwhile, Macron’s views on trade are more nuanced than they appear. In multiple speeches and interviews, he has shown awareness of how economic disruptions from trade, real and imagined, have fed into Europe’s populist movements, which in turn threaten the idea of an open, prosperous Europe he seeks to defend. For Macron this is part of his deep-seated belief that the liberal-internationalist framework represented by institutions like the EU must demonstrate to skeptical, justifiably-angry citizens that they care about them and can and will defend them from the worst excesses of globalization. Macron knows rhetoric isn't enough; he will keep making the case for trade but also seek significant changes to existing trade regimes to make them fairer. Macron’s trade agenda can actually seem quite Trumpish in many respects, both in tone and in its China focus. Within the EU, Macron has made specific demands that EU trade policy include robust “anti-dumping” measures, largely to screen Chinese investments, and reciprocity with the Chinese market in public procurement. On a state visit to China earlier this year, Macron smilingly talked up the two countries’ economic partnership -but he also brought his economy minister along to warn that France will not allow Chinese investors to “pillage our technology.” He has expanded the so-called Montebourg decree that requires prior government approval for foreign investment in sectors deemed strategic. Macron clearly believes in multilateralism, and Trump clearly distrusts it. This difference makes sense given the gap in economic and political clout between their two countries. But it is largely a difference that about approach, not the end goal. But both men clearly share the belief that Chinese trade practices are unfair and hurtful to their respective countries’ middle classes, and want to change the status quo. An agreement between the U.S. and the EU to put their trade differences aside and instead 6
26.04.2018
join efforts to pressure China to change at least some of its protectionist trade practices would enable both men to claim victory. It would also happen to be good policy.
III. OUTROS Hogan stands firm on Mercosur as EU delists Brazilian suppliers Independent (Irlanda) European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan insisted there would be "no deal" on Mercosur unless negotiators are fully satisfied strong standards will apply to all produce. It comes as another round of the negotiations on Mercosur got under way in Brussels this week. "There will be no deal on Mercosur unless we are satisfied there will be good standards and that we will have a good sanitary and phytosanitary agreement," said Hogan, adding they needed to see "movement" on many of the demands made in recent negotiations with the South American bloc. "There is no evidence that Brazil are serious about doing a deal at the moment because they are in election mode. So the ball is in their court." He pointed out anyone who does a deal on a free-trade agreement with the European Union has to observe EU standards as negotiations continued in Brussels this week. It comes as the European Commission confirmed that Member States had voted in favour of delisting 20 Brazilian meat and poultry plants from the list of suppliers. Mr Hogan said the delisting of the 20 establishments "clearly shows" the controls and traceability systems that the EU has in place are working. Philip Tallon, Dawn Meats operations manager, said they remained "nervous" about Mercosur.
7
26.04.2018
"What we are really talking about is 70,000t of steaks coming in," he said. "They are coming in to continental EU where the likes of Ireland need to sell their steaks in the summer to maximise the value to the carcase." Brazil The IFA's Angus Woods said the decision to delist the 20 plants backed up calls to reject any increase in meat imports from Brazil under Mercosur. He said the Commission is going "too easy" on Brazil. "The only thing we have seen from Commissioner Malmström in these negotiations is giveaway after giveaway of the European meat sector, with little or nothing in return. The commissioner has already capitulated to the Brazilians in these negotiations, moving from an offer of 45,000t to 70,000t and now the Brazilians are looking for way more," said Mr Woods. ICMSA president Pat McCormack (pictured) said the decision to delist the plants highlighted the "commercial and environmental absurdity" of continuing with the process. He said the Commission was announcing that "emissions and sustainability" must become even more important in deciding CAP yet it was continuing to negotiate with a trade bloc that held "irresponsible attitudes" to the environment. With both Mr Hogan and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed shortly leading trade missions to China following the opening of the market to Irish beef, Mr Hogan said it was "very significant" as it takes effect immediately. "If anything happened on Mercosur, it will be in 10 to 15 years' time," added the commissioner. Mr Tallon said the China deal is "key", particularly in light of Brexit, as firms were reluctant to have "all their eggs in one basket". "It is a small step, China is open and we need to grow that and open other markets. It is not going to be all of a sudden an answer to all our ills," he said.
8
26.04.2018
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Trade Pat Breen believes the new free-trade deal struck between the EU and Mexico would benefit "agricultural exports". "Ireland is a significant exporter to Mexico of powdered milk and milk derivatives, the removal of tariffs should boost this trade significantly," he said.
Former Brazil finance minister Palocci strikes plea deal Reuters (Reino Unido) Former Brazilian Finance Minister Antonio Palocci has struck a plea deal with federal police, newspaper O Globo reported on Thursday, raising the stakes in a corruption scandal engulfing high-ranking politicians and prominent businessmen. Representatives for Palocci and the federal police were not immediately available for comment. Palocci served as Finance Minister under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is currently serving time for taking bribes, and as chief of staff under Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff. He was arrested in September 2016 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering. His testimony could fuel new investigations and lead to arrests, O Globo said, citing an unnamed source close to the matter.
9
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL NEGINT Brasília, 26 de abril de 2018
Índice I. OMC _______________________________________________ 2 Resistance to joint proposal to WTO leaves UK and EU divided ____________ 2 China will continue to safeguard multilateral trade system: MOC___________ 4 II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS _________________ 5 Macron and Trump Can Team Up on Trade ____________________________ 5 III. OUTROS ____________________________________________ 7 Hogan stands firm on Mercosur as EU delists Brazilian suppliers ___________ 7 Former Brazil finance minister Palocci strikes plea deal __________________ 9
1
26.04.2018
I. OMC Resistance to joint proposal to WTO leaves UK and EU divided The Guardian (Reino Unido) Resistance to a joint UK-EU proposal to the World Trade Organization on trade after Brexit – which was once celebrated by the trade secretary, Liam Fox, as “real progress” – has triggered a break down in unity, with London and Brussels divided on a way forward. Fox had described the plan on how much meat, butter and wheat the rest of the world could export to the UK and the 27 member states on low or zero tariffs as a sign of the country “forging ahead”, and boasted: “It’s a sign we can make progress when both sides choose to do so.” Yet, in recent months the united EU and UK front has splintered in the face of a strident rejection of their proposals from the US, Australia and New Zealand, among others, the Guardian understands. Brussels has proposed another way forward. But London has yet to agree and has left open the prospect that ithe UK could go its own way in talks with the world’s biggest trading powers. To add to the tensions, the UK is also seeking to speak during the 21-month transition period after Brexit with an independent voice at the WTO, where large multilateral trade deals are negotiated, something the European commission is resisting. Until Brexit, the EU has a schedule spelling out how much of each agricultural product from each country that can be imported into the bloc without attracting high tariffs. After Brexit, the plan had been for the UK and EU, as independent WTO members, to divide the current quotas between the two according to historical flows of trade in each product. This plan was described as a “technical rectification”. However, EU sources said an initial objection from the US, Argentina, Brazil and New Zealand over the joint plan, hammered home in a fiery letter last October, had not gone away, proving Brussels’ initial belief that the plan would “not fly”.
2
26.04.2018
Brussels is now pushing for a new tactic under which they would go through the more arduous procedure of a full renegotiation with WTO members over key agriculture products, offering compensation where necessary, via what is called an article 28 procedure. The UK is insisting that the EU sticks with the original plan. British negotiators working in the WTO in Geneva believe that for 95% of the schedules there is no need for negotiation. The UK also insists it could unilaterally liberalise its tariff regime from Australia and elsewhere, in a move that could be damaging to EU trade flows, but would receive immediate agreement from those countries resisting the original joint plan. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is understood to have told MEPs during a recent private meeting that “unsurprisingly a number of [WTO] members do not agree” with the plan, adding: “They are reluctant to discuss and are reserving their position in Geneva.” A senior EU official told the Guardian: “We think we will we have to go through a more difficult procedure. The UK wants to go for the simplest way we are saying we are not against it but politically it will not fly at all and we will have to do it the other way and even then it will be contested. “I think some have a case. With New Zealand and their lamb, they might say that we send our meat via Rotterdam or elsewhere to Britain, and you are making our trade arrangements more rigid. “For the first plan to work, the changes have to be perceived as technical adjustments for which there are no political issues. The other is a real correction, a real adjustment when you go through an approval process. And they take their time.” Alan Matthews, a professor of agricultural policy at Trinity College Dublin, said: “Rectification was always a crazy idea which would never be accepted as clearly what the UK and EU propose goes way behind what is covered by rectification.” The Department for International Trade, which Fox heads, said: “As we leave the EU we need to create a new UK goods schedule at the WTO, covering tariffs on our imports from other WTO members. We have engaged all 164 WTO members, and they understand our intention to establish our goods schedule by rectification. 3
26.04.2018
“As a part of the process, we also agreed an approach with the EU to apportion tariff rate quotas covering certain imported goods, based on historic trade flows, and wrote to WTO members on this last year. We are continuing to speak to them about next steps to secure an outcome with is fair and avoids disruption to existing trade.”
China will continue to safeguard multilateral trade system: MOC Xinhua (China) China said Thursday it will work with other members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to safeguard the multilateral trade system and protect their own rights and interests. U.S. Section 232 and Section 301 measures hurt the multilateral trade system, said Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, at a press conference. WTO members have jointly opposed the Section 232 measures, which imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Gao said. Members including the European Union, Russia and India will join China in consultations under the WTO dispute settlement framework with the United States regarding the measures, according to Gao. China has also filed a request for similar consultation over the U.S. tariff hike proposals based on the Section 301 investigation. "We
hope
the
U.S.
side
takes
concrete
action
to
abandon
unilateralism
and
protectionism, respect WTO rules, and resolve differences through equal dialogue and consultations based on mutual respect," Gao said. He also criticized "individual members" of the WTO for obstructing the appointment of new members to the WTO appellate body. If the problem remains unresolved, the normal operations of the appellate body and the dispute settlement mechanism will be affected, Gao told reporters.
4
26.04.2018
China calls on "individual members" to stop hindering the appointment, accept their international responsibility to the WTO, and protect the multilateral trade system, he said.
II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS Macron and Trump Can Team Up on Trade Bloomberg (Estados Unidos) Trade may look like an issue where Donald Trump and his recent French guest, Emmanuel Macron, can never see eye-to-eye. The French President pointedly took swipes at his host during his address to a Joint Session of Congress Wednesday, denouncing trade wars and saying that trade imbalances can only be solved through multilateral means -- exactly the opposite of what Trump habitually says about trade. But the picture of Macron as a ga-ga globalist, and of Trump as a protectionist ideologue, is too simplistic. Indeed, for all their very real differences, they also share priorities, which offers a way for them to work together. It is as unusual for France that its president be an outspoken free trader as it is for the United States that its president be a fierce trade critic. French presidential cycles feature a time-honored tradition where candidates vow to prevent factory closures to prevent jobs moving overseas. Macron departed from the script and took the political risk of saying he wouldn’t bail out failing businesses; it paid off since even those who disagreed had to admit that he had been honest. Meanwhile, Trump has lambasted trade agreements and threatened steel tariffs that have Europe horrified. A top item on Macron’s agenda is lobbying for an EU exemption from the tariffs. Trump keeps complaining about U.S. trade deficits and one of the biggest such deficits is with Germany.
5
26.04.2018
Still, while Trump gets angry about most of America’s trade relationships, there is one that he sees as a threat above all others: China. He stunned the world by asking his economic adviser Larry Kudlow--a free-trader’s free-trader -- to review the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with a view to potentially re-entering a deal he constantly excoriated. One motivation was probably the realization that TPP was meant to counter China’s questionable trade practices by creating an Asian trading bloc that would exclude it. Trump the dealmaker has shown himself to be boundlessly flexible, and the idea of trade alliances -- possibly with the EU -- to counter China should have obvious intuitive appeal to him. Meanwhile, Macron’s views on trade are more nuanced than they appear. In multiple speeches and interviews, he has shown awareness of how economic disruptions from trade, real and imagined, have fed into Europe’s populist movements, which in turn threaten the idea of an open, prosperous Europe he seeks to defend. For Macron this is part of his deep-seated belief that the liberal-internationalist framework represented by institutions like the EU must demonstrate to skeptical, justifiably-angry citizens that they care about them and can and will defend them from the worst excesses of globalization. Macron knows rhetoric isn't enough; he will keep making the case for trade but also seek significant changes to existing trade regimes to make them fairer. Macron’s trade agenda can actually seem quite Trumpish in many respects, both in tone and in its China focus. Within the EU, Macron has made specific demands that EU trade policy include robust “anti-dumping” measures, largely to screen Chinese investments, and reciprocity with the Chinese market in public procurement. On a state visit to China earlier this year, Macron smilingly talked up the two countries’ economic partnership -but he also brought his economy minister along to warn that France will not allow Chinese investors to “pillage our technology.” He has expanded the so-called Montebourg decree that requires prior government approval for foreign investment in sectors deemed strategic. Macron clearly believes in multilateralism, and Trump clearly distrusts it. This difference makes sense given the gap in economic and political clout between their two countries. But it is largely a difference that about approach, not the end goal. But both men clearly share the belief that Chinese trade practices are unfair and hurtful to their respective countries’ middle classes, and want to change the status quo. An agreement between the U.S. and the EU to put their trade differences aside and instead 6
26.04.2018
join efforts to pressure China to change at least some of its protectionist trade practices would enable both men to claim victory. It would also happen to be good policy.
III. OUTROS Hogan stands firm on Mercosur as EU delists Brazilian suppliers Independent (Irlanda) European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan insisted there would be "no deal" on Mercosur unless negotiators are fully satisfied strong standards will apply to all produce. It comes as another round of the negotiations on Mercosur got under way in Brussels this week. "There will be no deal on Mercosur unless we are satisfied there will be good standards and that we will have a good sanitary and phytosanitary agreement," said Hogan, adding they needed to see "movement" on many of the demands made in recent negotiations with the South American bloc. "There is no evidence that Brazil are serious about doing a deal at the moment because they are in election mode. So the ball is in their court." He pointed out anyone who does a deal on a free-trade agreement with the European Union has to observe EU standards as negotiations continued in Brussels this week. It comes as the European Commission confirmed that Member States had voted in favour of delisting 20 Brazilian meat and poultry plants from the list of suppliers. Mr Hogan said the delisting of the 20 establishments "clearly shows" the controls and traceability systems that the EU has in place are working. Philip Tallon, Dawn Meats operations manager, said they remained "nervous" about Mercosur.
7
26.04.2018
"What we are really talking about is 70,000t of steaks coming in," he said. "They are coming in to continental EU where the likes of Ireland need to sell their steaks in the summer to maximise the value to the carcase." Brazil The IFA's Angus Woods said the decision to delist the 20 plants backed up calls to reject any increase in meat imports from Brazil under Mercosur. He said the Commission is going "too easy" on Brazil. "The only thing we have seen from Commissioner Malmström in these negotiations is giveaway after giveaway of the European meat sector, with little or nothing in return. The commissioner has already capitulated to the Brazilians in these negotiations, moving from an offer of 45,000t to 70,000t and now the Brazilians are looking for way more," said Mr Woods. ICMSA president Pat McCormack (pictured) said the decision to delist the plants highlighted the "commercial and environmental absurdity" of continuing with the process. He said the Commission was announcing that "emissions and sustainability" must become even more important in deciding CAP yet it was continuing to negotiate with a trade bloc that held "irresponsible attitudes" to the environment. With both Mr Hogan and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed shortly leading trade missions to China following the opening of the market to Irish beef, Mr Hogan said it was "very significant" as it takes effect immediately. "If anything happened on Mercosur, it will be in 10 to 15 years' time," added the commissioner. Mr Tallon said the China deal is "key", particularly in light of Brexit, as firms were reluctant to have "all their eggs in one basket". "It is a small step, China is open and we need to grow that and open other markets. It is not going to be all of a sudden an answer to all our ills," he said.
8
26.04.2018
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Trade Pat Breen believes the new free-trade deal struck between the EU and Mexico would benefit "agricultural exports". "Ireland is a significant exporter to Mexico of powdered milk and milk derivatives, the removal of tariffs should boost this trade significantly," he said.
Former Brazil finance minister Palocci strikes plea deal Reuters (Reino Unido) Former Brazilian Finance Minister Antonio Palocci has struck a plea deal with federal police, newspaper O Globo reported on Thursday, raising the stakes in a corruption scandal engulfing high-ranking politicians and prominent businessmen. Representatives for Palocci and the federal police were not immediately available for comment. Palocci served as Finance Minister under former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is currently serving time for taking bribes, and as chief of staff under Lula’s successor Dilma Rousseff. He was arrested in September 2016 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering. His testimony could fuel new investigations and lead to arrests, O Globo said, citing an unnamed source close to the matter.
9
