WCA September 2012

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From theamericas
Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2012
In 2011, China won a WTO complaint similar to the one
lodged this May against US duties on imports of Chinese
steel pipes, among other products.
China’s latest case, its seventh against the United States
since it joined the WTO in 2001, commences with a Chinese
“request for consultations” with the US on an amicable
settlement. But it could move to arbitration if agreement
is not reached, and the US could be compelled to lift
its duties and even compensate China if it is found to have
broken the rules.
Reporting from Geneva for Reuters, Tom Miles observed
that the dispute “adds more heat to a trade relationship that
has barely stopped simmering despite the United States
seeing signs of China ‘making progress’ towards easing
restrictions on its currency” — one of the main causes of
friction between the two. (“China’s WTO Suit Hits Back At
US Duties,” 25th May).
Two other Chinese-US trade disputes were already under
consideration by WTO dispute panels when China lodged
its latest complaint. One of these, concerning Chinese
imports of electrical steel, was decided in favour of the US
on 15th June.
The panel accepted objections raised by the US to
Chinese countervailing duties on potentially hundreds
of millions of dollars worth of grain-oriented flat-rolled
electrical steel made by AK Steel Corp. (West Chester,
Ohio) and ATI Allegheny Ludlum (Pittsburgh) for use in the
power sector.
❖ Although the overall pace of China’s export growth
has slumped to single digits this year, its trade surplus
with the United States set a record of more than
$295 billion in 2011. This has put additional pressure on
US manufacturers whose markets are still recovering
from the global financial crisis.
Automotive
Nissan has high hopes for enlarging its
already impressive share of the US market
— but ‘the competition is fierce’
“The pieces are falling into place. Ten per cent of the market
would be an historic level, but it’s not a plateau. We won’t
sit there. We’ll keep deploying new products. Reaching ten
per cent share is a moment to savour, but not the end.”
So said Bill Krueger, vice chairman of Nissan Americas,
in an interview with the Detroit Free Press. It is a measure
of his ambition that the dismissable 10 per cent of the US
market has yet to be achieved.
Nissan hopes to ride the wave of fuel-efficient new cars
and crossovers to that record percentage by 2015 or
2016. According to WardsAuto.com, the Yokohama-based
company’s share was 7.4 per cent last year.
Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan acknowledged
that Nissan could indeed be primed for unprecedented
success as, over the next 15 months, it launches five
vehicles whose current models account for 70 per cent of
its US sales.
Notably, he wrote, Nissan will present a new version of
its best-selling Altima mid-size sedan (“the automaker’s
first entry in the hot market for family-hauling crossovers,
replacing the old-style Pathfinder SUV”) in September.
(“Nissan Primed for Record Share,” 23rd June).
Nissan, which already builds more cars and trucks in North
America than any other foreign-based automaker, plans to
add a third shift at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant this fall to
meet demand for the new Altima, which boasts a highway
fuel economy rating of 38 miles per gallon.
Together with other new-version models in the works for
this year and next, the Altima programme prompted analyst
Rebecca Lindland of IHS Automotive to pronounce Nissan’s
future “very, very bright, product-wise.”
Even so, Mr Phelan reported, IHS is much more restrained
about Nissan’s prospects than the automaker is. The
consultancy expects the brand’s share of the US market to
peak at 7.8 per cent in 2013 and decline to 7.1 per cent in
2015.
As it happens, the Atima is not the only retooled mid-size
sedan soon to become available to American buyers. The
Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Fusion, and Honda Accord also hit
the dealerships this year: new models, all.
“Consumers are very open to new brands and products
right now,” Ms Lindland told the Free Press. “But the
competition is fierce.”
Telecom
Radio spectrum cannot be created but
only apportioned. With demand on the
rise, how is spectrum used efficiently?
Wireless carriers in the US have been warning the
government about the impending exhaustion of their
resources, brought on by rising demand for wireless data
transmission.
AT&T and Verizon, among others, say a spectrum crisis
could slow mobile devices and retard the national economy.
Martin Cooper, the former vice president of Motorola
who helped create the first working cellphone, is of the
contrarian view that technology offers the solution to
satisfying the insatiable American appetite for wireless
capacity.
Recently a presidential advisory committee concurred,
urging President Obama to promote methods of using radio
spectrum more efficiently. On 31st May, the New York-based
“Bits” blogger Brian S Chen conducted an extensive
interview with Mr Cooper. Here, abridged and lightly edited,
are some highlights of the question-and-answer session: