WCA September 2010

From the americas

The action and reaction – penalty followed by denunciation – are an old story by now, and after many repetitions it is difficult not to detect an element of stagecraft here. Further instalments may be expected probably for as long as China makes and exports products made of steel. This latest episode is perhaps notable for its timing, coming as it did just a week after the two big powers concluded high-level strategic and economic talks that were hailed for their progress in improving ties. It also preceded by only weeks the G-20 summit in Toronto at which China and the US drew closer to each other on fiscal issues. Trade remedy cases by the United States against China ❖ ❖ originate with industry and consumer groups such as the United Steelworkers union, which repeatedly has claimed that low-priced imports from China cause job losses at home. Experts in both nations expected the number of these cases to grow this year; but, given the developing prospects for China-US trade, they saw little likelihood of a trade war erupting between the two. “[2010] will continue to be hard for Chinese exporters,” said He Weien, a World Trade Organization expert with the China Society for American Economy Studies, in the beginning of the year. “Trade remedy cases from the US will surge as the unemployment rate will remain high [there]. But a trade war cannot easily happen.” (“Cases Won’t Spark US-China Trade War,” reported by Ding Qingfen, China Daily , 23 rd January) The expansion of high-speed wireless broadband services in the US has a booster in high places: one Barack Obama The Obama administration hopes to nearly double the wireless communications spectrum available for commercial use in the US over the next 10 years, an effort that could greatly enhance the ability of consumers to send and receive video and data with smart phones and other hand-held devices. Mr Obama on 28 th June signed a presidential memorandum aimed at making available for auction some 500 megahertz of spectrum now controlled by the federal government and private companies. Roughly 45% of the spectrum to be auctioned would come from federal agencies that will be asked to give up allocations that they are not using or could share. Most of that would be slated for commercial use in mobile broadband and similar applications. Lawrence H Summers, the director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy, looks for great things from the initiative. “[It] will catalyze private sector investment, contribute to economic growth, and help to create hundreds of thousands of jobs,” Mr Summers said in a statement. “This policy is a win three times over. It creates prosperity and jobs while at the same time raising revenue for public purposes like public safety and increasing our ability to compete internationally.” Telecom

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2010