EU, U.S., Japan launch rare earth WTO case against China
Source: Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-trade-eubre82c0ju-20120313,0,71244.story
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States, Europe and Japan joined forces on Tuesday against China's restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals that are critical to production of advanced technology and clean energy goods expected to provide the jobs of the future.
"We want our companies building those products right here in America. But to do that, American manufacturers need to have access to rare earth materials which China supplies," President Barack Obama said at the White House.
"Now, if China would simply let the market work on its own, we'd have no objections. But their policies currently are preventing that from happening and they go against the very rules that China agreed to follow," Obama said.
He cast the decision to take action with the European Union and Japan at the World Trade Organization as part of stepped-up U.S. effort to make sure countries play by global trade rules.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-china-trade-eubre82c0ju-20120313,0,71244.story
= new reply since forum marked as read
... to enforce their so-called "threat" to the other wanna-be consumers of
said resources but they also have time on their side - they aren't going to
run out of raw materials no matter how desperate anyone else gets ...
It might not be so amusing if it didn't involve the two most regular violators of
"the WTO rules that they agreed to" but at the moment it is just a pointless
p*ssing match on a par with North Vietnam "threatening" California.
