US and Japan Want to End EU Technology Tariffs
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Japan and the US said they would use the World Trade Organization to overturn European Union tariffs on consumer technology items such as computer screens, multifunctional printers and TV set-top boxes capable of accessing the Internet.
“The EU should be working with the United States to promote new technologies, not finding protectionist gimmicks to apply new duties to these products,” US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said to Thomson Reuters.
“Investors may have fled the US dollar, and watched the eurozone grow relatively fast against its lagging American counterpart,” says Jody Clark in Money Week, “but they’ve ignored the hidden weaknesses on this side of the Atlantic.
“This year’s first-quarter GDP growth across the eurozone flipped up a good 0.7%, but that figure was skewed upwards by the rollicking performance of the German economy. German GDP growth climbed 1.5% on the back of a roaring manufacturing base oiled by booming exports. In contrast, Italy only managed expansion of 0.4% and Spain 0.3%, while in Portugal, growth actually fell by 0.2%.
“Meanwhile, inflation is on the rise, led by a good 4.6% in Spain and 5% in Ireland. Both are well outside the ECB’s 2% target. The spectre of stagflation – a stagnant economy plus rising inflation – is rearing its ugly head. Indeed, ’stagflation is a situation that we experienced some years ago, it could return,’ said Spain’s Economy Minister Pedro Solbes earlier this month.”
The US should get its house in order too, says Chuck Butler in The Daily Reckoning.
“The currency markets do not like any form of protectionism, and a country that puts protectionism in place usually sees the currency suffer.
“So, think about this for a minute… We have an election process going on in the United States that will come to a head in November, which is six months away. During that six months there will be candidates taking shots at OPEC and China (the two main ‘outside’ culprits of the trade deficit… But we would never go after the US consumer and tell him to save instead of spend now would we?)”