TPT July 2014

Re-Bo Metal cutting circular saw blades are precision tools Highest performance and best service life of our products made us famous all around the world. Because of over 60 years of experience, we can offer you top-quality products. Re-Bo saw blades can help to cut your manu- facturing costs. Give us an opportunity to convice you. Made in Germany .

3DTop-Performance-Tube.indd 1

24.05.2012 14:22:21

Tariffs and Trade (GATT), has since January 2000 been the subject of multilateral trade negotiations. As construed by the WTO, services are the largest and most dynamic component of both developed and developing country economies: “important in their own right, they also serve as crucial inputs into the production of most goods.” Of related interest . . . › It would be wrong to assume that all is smooth sailing for the US in trade matters. On the eve of another trade- related trip by the American president – to Japan in late April – the US accused Japan of blocking progress on the Trans- Pacific Partnership by not allowing open access to its markets for certain products. The trade deal among the US and 12 Pacific Rim countries is widely regarded as central to Mr Obama’s “pivot to Asia” and a centrepiece of his trade agenda. But negotiations stalled in December over provisions that would make it easier for US businesses to sell their products in Japan. Most notably, the two nations disagree on what would constitute a level playing field for the “Big Three” US carmakers – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler – in competition with Toyota, Nissan and other Japanese producers in their home market.

global economy” left them lukewarm. A joint statement issued after high-level meetings in Brussels pledged both sides only to “willingness to envisage” a broader trade deal “once the conditions are right.” The US and the EU last year launched talks toward a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, joining a series of US-led endeavours including a 12-country Pacific Rim pact. As noted by FT reporters Shawn Donnan and Andrew Byrne, all are part of a US – and to a lesser extent EU – push to get out ahead of China “in writing the rules of global trade for the 21 st Century and move beyond a multilateral stalemate” in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although David Cameron, the British prime minister, has supported a move towards a broader China-EU pact, most EU member states remain wary. Business groups are more receptive than governments, which tend to remain mindful of the EU’s trade deficit with China. › Mr Xi did not depart Europe empty-handed altogether. In what Messrs Donnan and Byrne termed “a significant victory for Beijing,” he won the endorsement of the EU for the Chinese bid to join WTO negotiations on a global trade in services agreement built upon the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) reached in 1995. China has tried to join those negotiations in Geneva but encountered resistance from the US and other participants. › The GATS, which was inspired by essentially the same objectives as its counterpart the General Agreement on

Dorothy Fabian, Features Editor (USA)

81

www.read-tpt.com

J uly 2014