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Project Dory Monitoring 9 August 2017
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North Korea Considers Missile Strike on Guam After Trump's 'Fire and Fury' Warning
Aug 8, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
North Korea said on Wednesday it is considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury". -
Exclusive: As sanctions loom, seafood trade slows on China-North Korea border
Aug 9, 2017 | Reuters
By Philip Wen
A thriving trade in seafood across the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea has dramatically slowed, traders said, although there is still nearly a month to go for a United Nations deadline to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang as punishment for its missile tests. -
Dalian Container Terminal to acquire two container terminal subsidiaries
Aug 8, 2017 | Ship Technology
China-based Dalian Port (PDA) Company's subsidiary Dalian Container Terminal Company (DCT) has signed agreements to acquire the total assets, liabilities, interests, and businesses of two container terminal subsidiaries, Dalian Port Container Terminal (DPCT) and Dalian International Container Terminal (DICT). -
Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ Against North Korea if It Endangers U.S.
Aug 8, 2017 | Reuters
By Peter Baker and Choe Sang-Hun
President Trump threatened on Tuesday to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it endangered the United States, as tensions with the isolated and impoverished nuclear-armed state escalated into perhaps the most serious foreign policy challenge yet of his administration. -
U.S. finds China aluminum foil subsidized, imposes duties
Aug 9, 2017 | Reuters
By Eric Walsh
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it made a preliminary finding that imports of aluminum foil from China are subsidized, and it imposed countervailing duties ranging from 16.56 percent to 80.97 percent. -
U.S. Trade Actions in China Lag as North Korea Takes Precedence
Aug 9, 2017 | The Wall Street Journal
By Jacob M. Schlesinger
A U.S. plan to crack down on Chinese intellectual property policies is delayed as the Trump administration tries to win Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea’s nuclear program, the second time this summer that a White House attempt to impose new trade pressure on China has stalled. -
Panama OKs new canal tolls aimed at big ships
Aug 8, 2017 | Journal of Commerce
By Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor |
Panamanian authorities have set an Oct. 1 start date for new Panama Canal tolls designed to entice container lines into sending more big ships on Atlantic-to-Pacific backhauls through the canal’s new locks.
Port Mentions - There are no relevant clips to report at this time.
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North Korea Considers Missile Strike on Guam After Trump's 'Fire and Fury' Warning
Aug 8, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
GUAM/DANDONG, China — North Korea said on Wednesday it is considering plans for a missile strike on the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after President Donald Trump told the North that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury".
The sharp increase in tensions rattled financial markets and prompted warnings from U.S. officials and analysts not to engage in rhetorical slanging matches with North Korea.
Pyongyang said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, which is home to about 163,000 people and a U.S. military base that includes a submarine squadron, an airbase and a Coast Guard group.
A Korean People's Army spokesman said in a statement carried by state-run KCNA news agency the plan would be put into practice at any moment once leader Kim Jong Un makes a decision.
Guam Governor Eddie Calvo dismissed the North's threat and said the island was prepared for "any eventuality" with strategically placed defenses. He said he had been in touch with the White House and there was no change in the threat level.Continue reading the main story
"Guam is American soil ... We are not just a military installation," Calvo said in an online video message.
North Korea also accused the United States of devising a "preventive war" and said in another statement that any plans to execute this would be met with an "all-out war wiping out all the strongholds of enemies, including the U.S. mainland".
Washington has warned it is ready to use force if needed to stop North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs but that it prefers global diplomatic action, including sanctions. The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday.
Trump issued his strongest warning yet for North Korea in comments to reporters in New Jersey on Tuesday.
"North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," Trump said.
"BLACK SWAN EVENT"
North Korea has made no secret of its plans to develop a nuclear-tipped missile able to strike the United States and has ignored international calls to halt its nuclear and missile programs.
Pyongyang says its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are a legitimate means of defense against perceived U.S. hostility, including joint military drills with South Korea.
U.S. stocks closed slightly lower after Trump’s comments, while a widely followed measure of stock market anxiety ended at its highest in nearly a month. [MKTS/GLOB]
The U.S. dollar index edged down and the safe-haven yen <JPY=> strengthened against the U.S. currency after North Korea's response. Asia stocks dipped, with South Korea's benchmark index down 0.9 percent and Japan's Nikkei 1.6 percent weaker.
"Tensions will continue to mount and could eventually develop into a black swan event that the markets are not prudently considering," Steve Hanke, professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.
The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Seoul is home to roughly 10 million people and within range of massed North Korean rockets and artillery, which would be impossible to destroy in a first U.S. strike.
Tens of thousands of U.S. troops remain stationed in South Korea and in nearby Japan, the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. Wednesday marked the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city of Nagasaki by the United States.
"WAR, WAR, WAR"
In Dandong, a Chinese trading hub across the border from North Korea, residents said they were unperturbed by the escalating rhetoric.
"North Korea always talks about war, war, war, but it never happens," said a restaurant owner who asked to be identified only by her surname, Yang.
"We now live in peaceful times. But if war does break out it will be us ordinary people that suffer," she said.
Another resident, Zhang Shubin, 63, said North Korea knew that it faced economic collapse if China went significantly further with its sanctions.
"These so-called sanctions are nothing," he said. "If President Xi (Jinping) really wanted to, then China can make Kim Jong Un behave."
Tensions in the region have risen since North Korea carried out two nuclear bomb tests last year and two ICBM tests in July.
Japanese fighters conducted joint air drills with U.S. supersonic bombers in Japanese skies close to the Korean peninsula on Tuesday, Japan's Air Self Defence Force said.
On Monday, two U.S. B-1 bombers flew from Guam over the Korean Peninsula as part of its "continuous bomber presence", a U.S. official said, in a sign of Guam's strategic importance.
DEEPLY TROUBLING
Guam, popular with Japanese and South Korean tourists, is protected by the advanced U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system recently installed in South Korea, the deployment of which has angered China.
Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the U.S. Congresswoman for Guam, said she was confident U.S. forces could protect it from the "deeply troubling" North Korean nuclear threat. She called on Trump to show "steady leadership" and work with the international community to de-escalate tensions.
The Guam Visitors Bureau’s branch in Tokyo said it had not received any inquiries about the threat, and major South Korean tour agencies also reported no cancellations.
Republican U.S. Senator John McCain said Trump should tread cautiously when issuing threats to North Korea unless he is prepared to act.
"I take exception to the president’s comments because you've got to be sure you can do what you say you’re going to do," he said in a radio interview.
A Japanese government source said Japan was not asking for Trump to tone down his remarks, which were in line with his policy of not letting the other side know what the United States might actually do while keeping all its options on the table.
Former U.S. diplomat Douglas Paal, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington, said Trump should not get into a war of words with Pyongyang.
"It strikes me as an amateurish reflection of a belief that we should give as we get rhetorically. That might be satisfying at one level, but it takes us down into the mud that we should let Pyongyang enjoy alone," said Paal, who served as a White House official under previous Republican administrations.
(Additional reporting by Christine Kim and Soyoung Kim in SEOUL, Amy Miyazaki and Tim Kelly in TOKYO, James Oliphant, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, John Walcott, Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON, Rodrigo Campos in NEW YORK, Linda Sieg in TOKYO, and Divya Chowdhury in MUMBAI; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Paul Tait)
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/08/09/world/asia/09reuters-northkorea-missiles-china.html?_r=0
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Exclusive: As sanctions loom, seafood trade slows on China-North Korea border
Aug 9, 2017 | Reuters
By Philip Wen
DANDONG, China (Reuters) - A thriving trade in seafood across the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea has dramatically slowed, traders said, although there is still nearly a month to go for a United Nations deadline to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang as punishment for its missile tests.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Saturday banning North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood, intending to press the Asian state to renounce its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Countries have 30 days to enforce the tougher measures, which aim to choke off a third of the North's $3 billion annual export revenue, after the isolated country persisted with two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.
But a Reuters reporter who visited Dandong, through which about three-quarters of China's trade with North Korea flows, was told by traders and fishermen that authorities tightened enforcement on seafood coming from North Korea on Saturday itself.
Trade in other goods across the border however seemed to be unaffected, with long lines of trucks queuing on the Friendship Bridge across the Yalu.
"It has pretty much all slowed," said one worker at Dandong's small Yicuomao port, adding that of the 10 or so major operators in the seafood trade only a few still continued to operate, risking fines.
Like many of those interviewed, the worker declined to be identified.
The port is usually a hive of activity, with a steady stream of fishing vessels returning from North Korea with their hulls full of fresh seafood. On a Reuters visit in April, activity in the market was frenetic.
It is not clear how much of the trade has official permission or whether any customs duties are imposed.
But during a visit on Tuesday by a Reuters reporter, activity at the port was subdued, with idle workers saying Chinese authorities had ordered a halt since Saturday, in line with new United Nations sanctions.
Chinese trawlers and smaller vessels bring in catch from North Korean fishermen after trips into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea, buying crabs, puffer fish and mackerel in exchange for alcohol, cooking gas and vegetables, traders in Dandong say.
Some seafood traders said spot checks from Chinese customs patrols had increased in recent months.
Still, they expressed confidence they would remain unaffected by the sanctions.
DANDONG, China (Reuters) - A thriving trade in seafood across the Yalu River that separates China from North Korea has dramatically slowed, traders said, although there is still nearly a month to go for a United Nations deadline to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang as punishment for its missile tests.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Saturday banning North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood, intending to press the Asian state to renounce its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Countries have 30 days to enforce the tougher measures, which aim to choke off a third of the North's $3 billion annual export revenue, after the isolated country persisted with two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in July.
But a Reuters reporter who visited Dandong, through which about three-quarters of China's trade with North Korea flows, was told by traders and fishermen that authorities tightened enforcement on seafood coming from North Korea on Saturday itself.
Trade in other goods across the border however seemed to be unaffected, with long lines of trucks queuing on the Friendship Bridge across the Yalu.
"It has pretty much all slowed," said one worker at Dandong's small Yicuomao port, adding that of the 10 or so major operators in the seafood trade only a few still continued to operate, risking fines.
Like many of those interviewed, the worker declined to be identified.
The port is usually a hive of activity, with a steady stream of fishing vessels returning from North Korea with their hulls full of fresh seafood. On a Reuters visit in April, activity in the market was frenetic.
It is not clear how much of the trade has official permission or whether any customs duties are imposed.
But during a visit on Tuesday by a Reuters reporter, activity at the port was subdued, with idle workers saying Chinese authorities had ordered a halt since Saturday, in line with new United Nations sanctions.
Chinese trawlers and smaller vessels bring in catch from North Korean fishermen after trips into North Korean waters in the Yellow Sea, buying crabs, puffer fish and mackerel in exchange for alcohol, cooking gas and vegetables, traders in Dandong say.
Some seafood traders said spot checks from Chinese customs patrols had increased in recent months.
Still, they expressed confidence they would remain unaffected by the sanctions.
"But they (the traders) will find a covert way around the ban."
It was not clear who might have told the fishermen to begin stopping their contacts with North Koreans a month early.
Dandong government officials reached by telephone declined to comment.
Requests for comment on the seafood trade halt to China's foreign, trade and agricultural ministries, as well as the quality watchdog that overseas food imports, were not immediately answered.
While China says it strictly enforces all U.N. resolutions against North Korea, local officials sometimes take it upon themselves to interpret - or ignore - such instructions.
A U.N. diplomat said North Korea had been expected to earn an estimated $295 million from seafood in 2017, as well as $251 million from iron and iron ore, and $113 million from lead and lead ore.
Chinese customs figures show it imported $91 million worth of seafood and $86 million worth of iron ore from North Korea in the first half of the year.
In Dandong, cross-border trade companies are already reeling from China's ban on North Korean coal in February, although tourism and trade in everyday goods, including clothes and food products, appears to continue as normal.
The new sanctions also prohibit countries from increasing numbers of North Koreans working abroad, and ban new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china-exclusive-idUSKBN1AO1B5
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Dalian Container Terminal to acquire two container terminal subsidiaries
Aug 8, 2017 | Ship Technology
China-based Dalian Port (PDA) Company's subsidiary Dalian Container Terminal Company (DCT) has signed agreements to acquire the total assets, liabilities, interests, and businesses of two container terminal subsidiaries, Dalian Port Container Terminal (DPCT) and Dalian International Container Terminal (DICT).
DPCT and DICT are to be deregistered following the integration, and the shareholders of two companies will subsequently acquire stock in DCT.
All debts currently faced by DPCT and DICT will also be assumed by DCT as part of the agreement.
Dalian Port noted that the integration will allow the company to reduce management costs and boost overall operational efficiency."DPCT and DICT are to be deregistered following the integration, and the shareholders of two companies will subsequently acquire stock in DCT."
DPCT is collectively owned by Dalian Port, APM Terminals, PSA China and Cosco, while DICT is owned by Dalian Port, China Shipping and NYK.
Additionally, APM Terminals has agreed to divest its 20% stake in Dalian Port Container Terminal to DCT for a sum of $18m.
DCT currently operates seven berths at Dalian Port, while DPCT operates five berths and DICT has two berths, reported Americanshipper.com.
The completion of the integration is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities, including the Anti-monopoly Bureau of The Ministry of Commerce of China.
http://www.ship-technology.com/news/newsdalian-container-terminal-to-acquire-two-container-terminal-subsidiaries-5894716
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Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ Against North Korea if It Endangers U.S.
Aug 8, 2017 | Reuters
By Peter Baker and Choe Sang-Hun
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Trump threatened on Tuesday to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it endangered the United States, as tensions with the isolated and impoverished nuclear-armed state escalated into perhaps the most serious foreign policy challenge yet of his administration.
In chilling language that evoked the horror of a nuclear exchange, Mr. Trump sought to deter North Korea from any actions that would put Americans at risk. But it was not clear what specifically would cross his line. Administration officials have said that a pre-emptive military strike, while a last resort, is among the options they have made available to the president.
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he is spending much of the month on a working vacation. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Referring to North Korea’s volatile leader, Kim Jong-un, Mr. Trump said, “He has been very threatening beyond a normal state, and as I said, they will be met with fire and fury, and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
Undaunted, North Korea warned several hours later that it was considering a strike that would create “an enveloping fire” around Guam, the western Pacific island where the United States operates a critical Air Force base. In recent months, American strategic bombers from Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base have flown over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.Continue reading the main storyRELATED COVERAGEA Rare Round of Diplomacy From North Korea’s Top Diplomat AUG. 7, 2017North Korea Rails Against New Sanctions. Whether They Will Work Is Unclear.AUG. 7, 2017U.N. Security Council Imposes Punishing New Sanctions on North Korea AUG. 5, 2017RECENT COMMENTSjstevend 1 hour ago
Of course, nothing will happen other than Trump having no clue how to be presidential and N.K. acting tough. They have the south in mind....Alan 1 hour ago
I highly recommend watching Steven Okazaki’s 2007 documentary “White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” which is...Sean MacGregor 1 hour ago
Since Trump is so short of knowledge about foreign policies and credibility for being a dishonest person, his rhetoric on North Korea only...SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
“Will only the U.S. have option called ‘preventive war’ as is claimed by it?” the Strategic Force of the North’s Korean People’s Army, or K.P.A., said in a statement. “It is a daydream for the U.S. to think that its mainland is an invulnerable Heavenly kingdom.”
“The U.S. should clearly face up to the fact that the ballistic rockets of the Strategic Force of the K.P.A. are now on constant standby, facing the Pacific Ocean and pay deep attention to their azimuth angle for launch,” the statement said.
Mr. Trump’s stark comments went well beyond the firm but measured language typically preferred by American presidents in confronting North Korea, and indeed seemed almost to echo the bellicose words used by Mr. Kim. Whether that message was mainly a bluff or an authentic expression of intent, it instantly scrambled the diplomatic equation in one of the world’s most perilous regions.
Supporters suggested that Mr. Trump was trying to get Mr. Kim’s attention in a way that the North Korean leader would understand, while critics expressed concern that the American president could stumble into a war with devastating consequences.
“This is a more dangerous moment than faced by Trump’s predecessors,” said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a nonprofit group in Washington. “The normal nuanced diplomatic rhetoric coming out of Washington hasn’t worked in persuading the Kim regime of American resolve. This language underscores that the most powerful country in the world has its own escalatory and retaliatory options.”
But Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said it would be counterproductive. “President Trump is not helping the situation with his bombastic comments,” she said in a statement. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also took exception. “All it’s going to do is bring us closer to some kind of serious confrontation,” he told KTAR News radio.
In Guam, Governor Eddie Baza Calvo played down the North’s threat to the island in a video address on Wednesday. He said his administration had been in touch with the White House and U.S. military commanders and that there was “no change in the threat level resulting from North Korea events.”
North Korea has accelerated its progress toward a working nuclear-tipped missile force since Mr. Trump, who has vowed not to let that happen, took office. Last month, the North successfully tested for the first time an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the continental United States.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that American intelligence agencies had concluded that North Korea had miniaturized a warhead that could fit on top of one of its missiles. The Japanese government also said in an annual threat assessment on Tuesday that “it is possible that North Korea has already achieved the miniaturization of nuclear weapons and has acquired nuclear warheads.”
But experts said the main problem for North Korea is not miniaturization; the bombs are already judged small enough to fit on a ballistic missile, as a famous picture of Mr. Kim with an odd warhead resembling a disco ball seemed to make clear. The real test is whether a warhead can survive the intense heat of re-entry as it plunges through the atmosphere from space, a hurdle North Korea is not believed to have overcome.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a new sanctions resolution against North Korea over the weekend, the eighth since the country conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. Backers of the resolution said the new sanctions would cut North Korea’s meager annual export revenue by about a third, impeding its ability to raise cash for its weapons programs.
The sanctions ban the import of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood from North Korea. They also prohibit United Nations member nations from hosting any additional workers from the North above their current levels. Washington called the restrictions “the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.”
But strong doubts remain over how rigorously China and Russia, the North’s two neighboring allies, will enforce the sanctions.
Even before Mr. Trump’s comments, North Korea’s militant response to the sanctions on Tuesday was the strongest indication yet that it could conduct another nuclear or missile test, as it has often done in response to past United Nations sanctions.
“Packs of wolves are coming in attack to strangle a nation,” the North Korean statement said. “They should be mindful that the D.P.R.K.’s strategic steps accompanied by physical action will be taken mercilessly with the mobilization of all its national strength,” it added, using the initials for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Mr. Trump’s “fire and fury” response echoed the kind of language the North Koreans themselves have used in the past. In the last few years, North Korean officials and the government news agency have repeatedly warned the United States and South Korea against any pre-emptive attack, with “sea of fire” a favorite phrase.
At one point, North Korea vowed that “everything will be reduced to ashes and flames the moment the first attack is unleashed”; at another, it vowed to “turn Washington, the stronghold of American imperialists and the nest of evil, and its followers, into a sea of fire.”
This week, after the United Nations vote, North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said, “The day the United States dares tease our nation with a nuclear weapon and sanctions, the mainland United States will be catapulted into an unimaginable sea of fire.”
While Mr. Trump’s statement is among the most militant a president has made about North Korea, itmay have been aimed as much at Beijing as at Pyongyang. By discussing military options, the administration may be trying to convince China and its president, Xi Jinping, that the status quo is dangerous because it risks war.
“It may be a message to Xi Jinping that you have to be doing more than just sanctions at the U.N.,” said Joseph S. Nye Jr., a Harvard scholar who once ran the American government’s National Intelligence Council. “It may be a very rational, thought-out message,” rather than an emotional outburst, he added.
But after so many warnings of a trade war with China and other belligerent statements, Mr. Trump’s threat will probably be interpreted by Mr. Xi as “another thumping-the-table” exercise, said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing.
“I guess Xi would not believe it as more than 30 to 40 percent true,” Mr. Shi said of the possibility that Mr. Trump would unleash a nuclear strike on North Korea.
While Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has kept the door open for talkswith North Korea during his travels in the region, other administration officials have said Mr. Trump is being presented with options for war. “The president has been very clear about it,” Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser, said in an interview aired on MSNBC last weekend. “He said he’s not going to tolerate North Korea being able to threaten the United States.”
General McMaster added, however, that the administration would first explore “what can we do to make sure we exhaust our possibilities, and exhaust our other opportunities to accomplish this very clear objective of denuclearization of the peninsula short of war.”
In South Korea, some conservative politicians and analysts have called for the reintroduction of American tactical nuclear weapons to establish a “balance of terror” against the North. The United States withdrew nuclear weapons from the South in the early 1990s, but it occasionally sends nuclear-capable bombers and submarines in exercises.
But President Moon Jae-in on Monday warned against military action. “Above all, President Moon emphasized that South Korea can never accept a war erupting again on the Korean Peninsula,” his office said in a statement describing a 56-minute phone call with Mr. Trump. “He stressed that the North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved in a peaceful, diplomatic manner through a close coordination between South Korea and the United States.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/world/asia/north-korea-un-sanctions-nuclear-missile-united-nations.html
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U.S. finds China aluminum foil subsidized, imposes duties
Aug 9, 2017 | Reuters
By Eric Walsh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Commerce Department said on Tuesday it made a preliminary finding that imports of aluminum foil from China are subsidized, and it imposed countervailing duties ranging from 16.56 percent to 80.97 percent.
U.S. aluminum foil producers had filed petitions with the U.S. government accusing Chinese producers of receiving subsidies and of "dumping" the product in the United States market, the first such case since President Donald Trump took office.
In 2016, imports of aluminum foil from China were valued at an estimated $389 million, Commerce Department figures show.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement announcing the decision that the Trump administration "will not stand idly by as harmful trade practices from foreign nations attempt to take advantage of our essential industries, workers and businesses."
The Aluminum Association, a U.S. industry lobby group, applauded the move.
"This is an important step to begin restoring a level playing field for U.S. aluminum foil production, an industry that supports more than 20,000 direct, indirect and induced American jobs and accounts for $6.8 billion in economic activity,” Association President Heidi Brock said in a statement.
"U.S. aluminum foil producers are among the most competitive producers in the world, but they cannot compete against products that are subsidized by the Chinese government and sold at unfairly low prices," it said.
The Commerce Department said it calculated preliminary subsidy rates of 28.33 percent for Dingsheng Aluminum Industries (Hong Kong) Trading Co Ltd and 16.56 percent for Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co Ltd, the only two companies that participated in the probe.
Three other China-based companies that failed to provide requested information or were found to give incorrect information about their status as exporters faced higher duties, it said. Loften Aluminum (Hong Kong) Ltd, Manakin Industries LLC and Suzhou Manakin Aluminum Processing Technology Co Ltd were all slapped with 80.97 percent anti-subsidy duties.
The next step in the trade action is a preliminary anti-dumping determination by the Commerce Department expected on Oct. 5.
The case is separate from the department's Aluminum 232 investigation launched in April into whether China's aluminum overcapacity, dumping, illegal subsidies and other factors threaten U.S. economic security and military preparedness.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-aluminum-idUSKBN1AO2N5
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U.S. Trade Actions in China Lag as North Korea Takes Precedence
Aug 9, 2017 | The Wall Street Journal
By Jacob M. Schlesinger
WASHINGTON—A U.S. plan to crack down on Chinese intellectual property policies is delayed as the Trump administration tries to win Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea’s nuclear program, the second time this summer that a White House attempt to impose new trade pressure on China has stalled.
The IP delay—following a similar slip in plans to curb steel imports—worry constituents who fear President Donald Trump will avoid responding firmly to China on trade as long as he believes the country is cooperating on North Korea.
A White House official acknowledged on Tuesday that U.S. plans to crack down on China’s efforts to scoop up American intellectual property, or IP, was delayed with an unclear timetable for announcement but still on track. “We’re still moving in that direction,” the official said. “The events were postponed, but have not been canceled.”
American business groups have urged the Trump administration to take a tougher trade line with China following mounting frustration over market access and other barriers. Mr. Trump pledged during his presidential campaign to take action.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials presented plans in recent weeks to business groups to investigate Chinese IP policies to determine whether they could be branded “unfair” trade practices meriting U.S. retaliation. The probe would focus on whether Beijing and Chinese businesses are improperly pressuring multinationals to turn over valuable licenses in exchange for market access.
Administration officials said they were preparing an executive order to launch such an investigation as early as last week.
It was delayed while administration officials intensified a separate effort seeking Chinese cooperation ramping up pressure on North Korea’s nuclear program following Pyongyang’s most recent launch of an intercontinental missile on July 29. That led to Beijing’s backing Saturday for a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at cutting Pyongyang’s annual revenue by about $1 billion.
Mr. Trump had in July expressed frustration with China, tweeting that “I am very disappointed in China…they do NOTHING for us with North Korea…”
He now seems to welcome Beijing’s efforts, noting in a Saturday tweet China’s backing of the U.N. resolution and on Tuesday tweeting that “after many years of failure, countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea.”
One advocate of a crackdown on Chinese trade practices, who had been briefed on the administration’s deliberations on the IP probe, expressed concern, saying “The North Korea issue is going to get harder, not easier.” This person said he now believes the “entire trade agenda for China could be left on hold” for an extended period as the White House focuses on Pyongyang.
The delay follows a similar pattern with administration plans to crack down on cheap steel imports.
Mr. Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced in April a probe into ways to block foreign steel in the name of national security, and pledged a decision by the end of June. No decision has yet been made.
Officials say they are now honing a new plan to restrict steel imports but that timetable is also uncertain. Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal last month he wanted to wait first to complete higher-priority agenda items, like overhauling the tax code.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-trade-actions-in-china-lag-as-north-korea-takes-precedence-1502223187
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Panama OKs new canal tolls aimed at big ships
Aug 8, 2017 | Journal of Commerce
By Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor |
Panamanian authorities have set an Oct. 1 start date for new Panama Canal tolls designed to entice container lines into sending more big ships on Atlantic-to-Pacific backhauls through the canal’s new locks.
The toll changes will be the first since the canal opened new locks in June 2016. (The New Panamax locks allow transits of ships with capacities as high as about 13,000 TEU, compared with the 4,500 to 5,000 TEU of the canal’s older locks.
Panama’s Cabinet Council approved the revised tolls after a recommendation of the Panama Canal Authority, which proposed the new tolls in June. The changes will take effect Oct. 1 at the start of the canal authority’s next fiscal year.
The new tolls were set with an eye toward the container ship industry’s consolidation and global restructuring of operating alliances. The canal authority said 15 of the 29 carriers with regular services through the canal now use the new locks
Canal officials want to maximize revenue while keeping the waterway competitive with alternatives including the Suez Canal and intermodal routings via US West Coast ports. Through June, total Panama Canal tonnage was up 22.2 percent from the comparable months in the previous October-September fiscal year.
During the new locks’ first 12 months of operation, they handled more than 1,500 transits — an average of 5.9 a day, compared with the two or three the canal authority had forecast. Container ships made up 51.3 percent of the new locks’ transits.
Panama’s tolls are based on a complex formula reflecting a ship’s type, size, and cargo load. The new container ship formula will reduce backhaul tolls for New Panamax ships that were at least 70 percent full on their headhaul voyage through the canal.
To qualify for the discount, ships must return through the canal within 28 days, excluding time at anchorage or in Panamanian ports. The round-trip window initially was proposed at 25 days but was widened in response to industry comments.
Under the new toll structure, a 9,000-TEU ship carrying 6,500 loaded TEU, or 72.2 percent of capacity, would pay a regular $677,500 toll for its headhaul voyage. That same ship, carrying 4,000 TEU on the backhaul, would pay $550,000, a 6.8 percent reduction from the current $590,000 toll.
A loyalty program created in 2015 to provide discounts for high-volume container lines remains in place.
The new toll structure will reduce rates by slightly more than 8 percent for laden container-breakbulk vessels, which will be reclassified into a general cargo category with lower tolls.
Tolls will increase for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers, which have been active users of the new locks and require operational restrictions. LPG tankers made up 31.5 percent of the new locks’ traffic during their first year. LPG tankers accounted for 9.5 percent.
The Panama Canal’s enlargementhas enabled it to win back most of the all-water traffic between Asia and the US East Coast that it had lost to the rival Suez Canal route. The Central American waterway’s share of the total headhaul capacity on the route has risen to 74 percent, the level it had in 2010, after slumping to 48 percent at the beginning of 2016, according to Alphaliner.
http://www.joc.com/port-news/panama-canal-news/panama-oks-new-canal-tolls-aimed-big-ships_20170808.html
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