U.S.
U.S. probing tire imports from South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-probing-tire-imports-south-033605140.html
By David Shepardson and Eric Beech
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it had opened investigations into vehicle tire imports from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam to determine whether the tires are being sold at less than fair value.
The department said it was also investigating whether tire producers in Vietnam were receiving unfair subsidies for passenger vehicle and light truck (PVLT) tires.
The investigations were in response to petitions filed in May by the United Steelworkers (USW) representing workers at U.S. tire plants.
"Even though demand for PVLT tires increased, domestic producers were still forced to grapple with reduced market share, falling profits and lost jobs," USW International President Tom Conway said earlier.
The union won orders on imported vehicle tires from China in 2015, and Chinese imports have since shrunk dramatically, allowing the domestic industry to invest in new capacity, the union said.
The United States imported almost $4 billion in tires from the four nations, including nearly $2 billion from Thailand and $1.2 billion from Korea, in 2019. The USW said tire imports from the four countries have risen nearly 20% since 2017, reaching 85.3 million tires.
The Commerce Department said the alleged dumping margins range from 43% to 195% for Korea, 21% to 116% for Taiwan, 106% to 217.5% for Thailand and 5% to 22% for Vietnam.
The USW represents workers at Michelin , Goodyear , Cooper , Sumitomo and Yokohama tire plants in Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kansas, Indiana, Virginia New York and Alabama.
This month, Hankook Tires urged the Commerce Department not to investigate, saying the U.S. domestic tire industry "is in robust health and growing." In a filing it said, domestic vehicle tire producers "as a whole have not been materially injured and are not threatened with material injury by reason of subject imports."
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade told Commerce its economy is "heavily dependent on light vehicles and passenger cars for transportation, logistics and travel and the PVLT tire industry is crucial for our continued economic advancement."
(Reporting by Eric Beech and David Shepardson; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Tom Brown)
World
HSBC at centre of political storm over Hong Kong crackdown
The diplomatic crisis engulfing HSBC escalated on Wednesday amid mounting tensions between China and the West over an authoritarian crackdown in Hong Kong.
Senior figures in Beijing and Washington clashed publicly over the bank's decision to support a new Hong Kong security law which has drawn condemnation from human rights campaigners and pro-democracy activists around the world.
China's Communist leadership hit back after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the regime of bullying HSBC into backing the law banning criticism of the Government in the former British colony.
Mr Pompeo said America stood with its allies against Beijing’s "coercive bullying tactics", and added that the "browbeating of HSBC, in particular, should serve as a cautionary tale".
He warned that going public with its support "seems to have earned HSBC little respect in Beijing, which continues to use the bank’s business in China as political leverage against London".
In response, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said it was "narrow minded" to assume people who support the country "must have been coerced by China".
She said: "The world is diverse and everyone should have the right to make independent decisions and choices."
Matthew Henderson, Asia studies director at the Henry Jackson Society, said: "This highlights Hong Kong’s threatened status as a bridge between the rules-based world and the Chinese Communist party-state, where HSBC now makes most of its money, and hence feels obliged to do as Beijing demands."
America's intervention is likely to concern senior executives at HSBC. The bank was fined $1.9bn (£1.5bn) in 2012 over money laundering for Mexican drug cartels and came perilously close to losing its vital US licence.
The row came after Aviva Investors said it was deeply concerned that HSBC and Standard Chartered had thrown their weight behind China's Communist regime. Aviva is a major shareholder in both banks and is the first City institution to publicly condemn their actions.
The two lenders spoke up in favour of the security law last week, days after Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing former leader Leung Chun-ying demanded that HSBC state its position.
London-listed HSBC relies on Hong Kong and mainland China for about 80pc of its profits, but a majority of its investors are based in the US and UK.
Shares fell 1.2pc to 400.5p. The stock was almost 600p at the start of the year.
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World
China Trade Surplus Surges to Record as Medical Exports Jump
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| China Trade Surplus Surges to Record as Medical Exports Jump |
(Bloomberg) -- China’s trade surplus surged to a record in May as exports fell less than expected, helped by an increase in medical-related sales, and imports slumped along with commodity prices.
Exports decreased 3.3% in dollar terms from a year earlier, beating economists’ estimates, while imports plunged 16.7%. That resulted in a trade surplus of $62.93 billion.
The record surplus comes as the price of commodities China buys such as crude oil, natural gas and soy beans declined. Exports, meantime, have come off their lows, helped in part by sales of masks and other medical supplies as countries around the world battle to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“The recent acceleration in export growth of anti-epidemic materials contributed considerably to China’s exports,” CICC analyst Liu Liu wrote in a note. “China’s full-year export growth in 2020 may be better than our previous expectations.”
Net exports of goods and services in the second quarter will increase substantially from a year earlier, swinging to a “large positive contribution” to GDP growth after dragging in the first quarter, Liu wrote. Exports of medical devices increased 88.5%, according to CICC.
Cheaper Imports
While China increased commodities imports, the average price has fallen, according to a statement from the customs bureau. The average purchase price of crude oil slumped 21.2% in yuan terms in the first five months of the year, although the volume of purchases rose 5.2%, it said.
The price for coal, natural gas, soy bean and other commodities also dropped. The value of auto imports shrunk by 31.3%.
“The slump in imports is mainly due to a high base from last year and the fall in commodities prices,” said Xing Zhaopeng, an economist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Shanghai. “The volume of most major import items rose, showing China’s economy is gradually recovering.”
The export of textile products including masks jumped 25.5% in yuan terms in the first five months, the second-largest export item after mechanical products, according to the customs.
Slow Recovery
China’s economy continued its slow recovery from the coronavirus slump in May, the earliest indicators showed, with domestic demand gaining momentum while globally it remained sluggish. But the rising risk of an escalation in U.S.-China tensions threatens the outlook for China’s foreign trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump promised to revoke Hong Kong’s special trade status in response to Beijing’s security law, while Beijing has told major state-run agricultural companies to pause purchases of some American farm goods as it evaluates the potential U.S. response over Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the situation.
“China has always opposed the politicization of economic and trade issues,” Gao Feng, spokesman of China’s commerce ministry, said at a briefing Thursday. “In the light of the present situation, there are still many uncertain and unstable factors” weighing on China’s trade outlook, he said.
Exports to the U.S. slipped 1.2% from a year earlier, while those to India slumped 51% and Brazil’s were down 26% amid those countries’ battle to stem the spread of Covid-19. Imports slumped 13.5% from the U.S., 43.5% from Hong Kong and 29% from the European Union.
Exports remained resilient as industrial output continued to recover to normal levels and manufacturers benefit from the shift in supply chains as industrial hubs in the E.U. and U.S. were shut down during the time, according to Rajiv Biswas, APAC Chief Economist at IHS Markit in Singapore.
“With lockdowns ending across the E.U. and U.S., new orders for Chinese exports should gradually recover during the third and fourth quarters as Christmas season supports a rebound in new orders,” he said.
(Adds economist comment in fourth paragraph.)
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