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CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL NEGINT Brasília, 25 de maio de 2018

Índice I. OMC _______________________________________________ 2 U.S.-China spat poses serious hazard for WTO _________________________ 2 II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS _________________ 3 Europe can expect only modest trade deal with U.S.: EU trade chief ________ 3 Nigeria's reservation on Africa's free trade deal ________________________ 5 III. OUTROS ____________________________________________ 5 Comisaria Comercio UE: El acuerdo con Mercosur es difícil pero nos acercamos ______________________________________________________________ 5 Brazil only gets bid from Shell for its pre-salt oil _______________________ 6 Brazil trucker strike will paralyze all auto production lines ________________ 6

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I. OMC U.S.-China spat poses serious hazard for WTO Reuters (Reino Unido) A trade fight between the world’s two biggest powers is a hazard to the World Trade Organization. The United States and China are sparring at the Geneva-based body about how it should handle Beijing’s brand of state capitalism. An American threat to veto the appointment of judges could paralyse the trading body’s dispute resolution mechanism – and hold the outfit to ransom. The U.S. ambassador to the WTO on May 8 complained that the People’s Republic’s attempt to portray itself as an upholder of the global trading system entered “the realm of Alice in Wonderland”. His Chinese counterpart accused the United States of holding the judicial appointment process “hostage” and last week asked if it and the EU could bend the organisation’s rules to its whim. The war of words revolves around a concern about China’s status within the WTO. The administration of President Donald Trump has refused to let the WTO appoint judges to its Appellate Body, a key part of its system for resolving trade disputes among members. If the U.S. hold-up continues, the court might grind to a standstill by the end of next year. Members could pursue some creative options to keep the system moving, but these have significant drawbacks. U.S. diplomats believe judges have been effectively writing new rules without the consent of members. That claim has some merit but also looks like an attempt to threaten the WTO into siding with America against China on key issues, especially whether to award the latter “market economy” status. The decision could change how some countries calculate anti-dumping duties, with tens of billions of dollars on the line. Some sort of reckoning would probably have come even without Trump. His predecessor also rejected China’s bid for market economy status; many diplomats from the European Union and elsewhere also find the People’s Republic request unacceptable. The difference now is that the Trump administration seems especially ready to fight its case. Years before taking his current post, now-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer questioned whether the WTO is institutionally capable of handling China’s 2

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blend of state capitalism and weak rule of law. The current round of name-calling may be comical, but this time it might end in a bitter gridlock.

II. NEGOCIAÇÕES REGIONAIS E BILATERAIS Europe can expect only modest trade deal with U.S.: EU trade chief Reuters (Reino Unido) The European Union’s trade chief described on Thursday the lack of a full trade accord between the bloc and the United States as ridiculous, but said the best that could be expected now was only a very modest agreement. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom also rebuffed suggestions that the EU should simply seek to settle its differences over tariffs with the United States at the World Trade Organization, questioning whether the WTO’s appeals process could survive in the longer term. EU leaders agreed last week to discuss opening their markets wider to U.S. imports, including cars, to avert a trade war with President Donald Trump. After Trump’s 2016 election victory, the EU shelved negotiations towards an ambitious agreement called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that had aimed to set global trading standards for others to follow. Malmstrom said she still believed TTIP was a good idea, but added that “taking TTIP out of the freezer is not on the agenda”. “To not have a trade agreement between the EU and the U.S. is ridiculous when we have trade agreements with the whole world, but the elements are not there to revive TTIP as it was,” she told the European Business Summit conference. Reducing tariffs on industrial goods would result in a “very limited agreement”, she added. 3

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Since Trump became president, the EU has focused on championing open markets and sealing trade accords with like-minded countries. It has struck deals with Japan and Mexico, and is in talks with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Negotiations with Australia and New Zealand are due to start in July. The offer of trade discussions with the United States is dependent on Washington continuing to exempt EU producers from import tariffs on steel and aluminum beyond a June 1 deadline. Philippe Lamberts, who co-chairs the Greens group in the European Parliament, said EU leaders and senior officials were “rushing to Washington and begging” and said the bloc should cut off talks and just threaten a legal challenge at the WTO. Malmstrom disagreed. “We are not begging. We are asking, we are demanding to be excluded (from the tariffs),” she said, adding the EU could not simply rely on the WTO to intervene. The European Commission has said that if Trump imposes metals tariffs on EU producers it will go to the WTO and also respond with its own import duties on U.S. products, including motor bikes and whisky. However, a WTO process could take two years. “During these two years, our companies will suffer immensely ... and the problem with the WTO right now is that the appellate function in two years might not exist,” she said. Trump has effectively engineered a crisis in the WTO’s system of settling global disputes by vetoing all appointments of judges to its appeals chamber. This has reduced what is supposed to be the seven-strong Appellate Body as members’ terms expire. By September four seats will be vacant, leaving only three judges, the number required to hear each appeal. If one judge needs to recuse themselves for any legal reason, the system will break down.

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Nigeria's reservation on Africa's free trade deal BBC News (Reino Unido) Almost 50 African nations signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in March but Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari decided not to, saying he could not agree to anything that would undermine the country's manufacturers and entrepreneurs. The BBC's Ijeoma Ndukwe went to the south-eastern town of Nnewi to see how growing intra-African trade would affect Nigerian brands.

III. OUTROS Comisaria Comercio UE: El acuerdo con Mercosur es difícil pero nos acercamos La Vanguardia (Espanha) La comisaria europea de Comercio, Cecilia Malmström, ha asegurado hoy que el acuerdo con Mercosur es difícil pero se está "cerca" y se ha progresado mucho en el último año, aunque todavía queda negociar sobre vehículos, reglas de origen, agricultura y servicios, entre otras cuestiones. En el EFE Fórum Europa "Diálogo Ciudadano" celebrado hoy en la ciudad española de Valencia, Malmström ha manifestado que la llave para alcanzar el acuerdo comercial la tienen tanto los países de Mercosur como la Unión Europea en un contexto en que ha cambiado la economía, la situación global y la de Argentina, ahora con un régimen más abierto. Preguntada sobre el acuerdo, la comisaria ha avanzado que la semana del 4 de junio habrá una nueva ronda formal de negociaciones, y todas las semanas se está en contacto con los ministros de los países del Mercosur.

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Las negociaciones con Mercosur se han relanzado en los últimos dos años y se ha progresado más en este periodo que en veinte años, según Malmström, quien ha señalado que la situación de la economía argentina es difícil y también la de Brasil, y ha destacado el papel clave de las relaciones históricas y culturales de España con países de importancia estratégica. En la misma línea, el presidente autónomo valenciano, Ximo Puig, ha afirmado que Latinoamérica es un mercado fundamental y ha considerado que desde España se puede hacer "mucho más", ya que es "un puente fundamental" con los países latinoamericanos.

Brazil only gets bid from Shell for its pre-salt oil Reuters (Reino Unido) An auction of oil by the Brazilian government from coveted offshore pre-salt fields has only attracted the interest of one bidder, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The auction, scheduled for May 30, is the first time the government will sell its share of oil in the pre-salt, where billions of barrels of crude are trapped beneath a thick layer of salt under the ocean floor. Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazil trucker strike will paralyze all auto production lines Reuters (Reino Unido) Brazil’s Anfavea automakers association said on Thursday that all production lines in the country would halt work on Friday because of a nationwide truckers’ strike that has paralyzed many sectors in Latin America’s largest economy. [nL2N1SV0EJ]

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In an emailed statement, Anfavea did not indicate when the auto industry, which accounts for roughly one-fourth of Brazil’s industrial gross domestic product, would resume production.

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