GHY Tradelines

(William McQuillen — Boomberg Businessweek)

The U.S. may impose duties of as much as 30.34 percent on refrigerator-freezers imported by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. and Sweden’s Electrolux AB, the Commerce Department ruled.

The case decided today goes back to the U.S. International Trade Commission, which is scheduled to make its final ruling on the duties by April 30.

The complaint was brought by Benton Harbor, Michigan-based Whirlpool Corp., which said the foreign rivals were selling their products in the U.S. at an unfair discount. The models covered by the decision have the freezer below the refrigerator section. Read more here.
 

(The Economic Times)

The US ambassador to China on Monday called on Beijing to end its “distorting” currency practices and stop discrimination against US firms, amid growing trade frictions between the two countries.

In a strongly-worded speech in Shanghai, Gary Locke called for fairness in the US-China economic relationship, reiterating criticism of Beijing’s exchange rate policy, which Washington says makes the yuan currency artificially cheap.

“Fairness… means ending discrimination against US companies, ending unfair trade preferences for domestic firms, ending what we see as unfair, distorting currency practices,” Locke told US and Chinese business and government leaders. Read more here.
 

(Steve Gelsi — MarketWatch)

Executive speaks out for free trade in face of complaint from SolarWorld AG’

Cheaper solar panels could do more to create jobs than setting up a tariff to protect manufacturing positions in the U.S., Canadian Solar Inc. CEO Shawn Qu said in an interview on Monday.

While Canadian Solar Inc.’s corporate headquarters is located in West Guelph, Ontario, most of its manufacturing of solar panels takes place in Suzhou, China, putting the company in the crosshairs of a trade complaint filed last year with American regulators by SolarWorld AG’s U.S. unit.

“The customer doesn’t care where their solar panels comes from, they just want to get a return on their investment,” Qu said.

Keeping tariffs out of the U.S. market will allow the cost of solar panels to continue to drop, thereby encouraging more American jobs for solar panel installation, sales and system design, he said.

When solar power reaches “grid parity” – equal in cost to traditional retail electricity rates – it’ll become much more widely used and possibly create more jobs in the long turn than using trade rules to protect some solar panel manufacturing positions, he said. Read more here.
 

(The Canadian Press)

Thailand is planning a major pitch to open free trade talks with Canada, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper begins his second Asia trip in three months.

Thailand will sweeten its offer by positioning itself as a comfortable and safe entry point from which Canada could make further inroads throughout South Asia — raising the potential of a broader trade deal with the region’s emerging, 10-country bloc, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

China is not an ASEAN member, so any economic gains with the bloc would represent a significant broadening of the Harper government’s pro-Asia trade aspirations.

Harper has said increasing trade with Asia is a major economic priority after a series of economic hurdles soured relations with Canada’s largest trading partner, the United States.
 

(Industry Week – Michael Lyle)

 “When you drink water, remember the spring.”

This Chinese proverb reminds us of the connection between the spring, the water and the drinker. The slightest variation in the source affects the quality of water that either quenches our thirst or sends us searching for another source. Similarly, the products made in China depend on the quality habits of the manufacturer, and ultimately impact a global customer base.

Chinese manufacturing is often considered synonymous with a large, focused workforce that produces goods with a premium on cost and convenience, perhaps at the expense of quality. However, the reality today is that China, like all industrialized nations, has a spectrum of quality that ranges from poor to superior. In the past, heightened demands for products allowed for quality discrepancies, but now a shift in consumer and production quality expectations creates new standards to reverberate through the manufacturing community. Read more here.
 

(Material Handling & Logistics)

Importers who sell to America’s major retailers are preparing for a significant uptick in consumer spending this spring and summer according to a recent survey conducted by Capital Business Credit (CBC), a non-bank lender that services the retail sector.

According to the quarterly Global Retail Manufacturers and Importers Survey, 43.2% of respondents believe that the 2012 spring season will be stronger than 2011, and 40% believe that the 2012 summer season will surpass last year’s sales. Fears of a double dip seem to be declining, as an additional 40% of respondents believe that the spring and summer retail seasons will be at least as robust as last year’s.

“Retailers have played it very close to the vest for the past several years, fearful of overstocking the shelves,” said Andrew Tananbaum, executive chairman of CBC. “As consumers begin to open their pocketbooks again, importers and manufacturers are finally beginning to see increases in orders and re-orders. This is indicative that a stronger retail and economic recovery is underway.”

Forty percent of respondents indicated that retailers ordered more merchandise for the spring season as compared to last year. Twenty percent reported that orders stayed the same. An overwhelming 78.3% cited that they are receiving re-orders for spring merchandise—demonstrating stronger consumer demand than was initially anticipated. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

In a March 16 letter, 188 members of the House and Senate called on President Obama to “use all existing authority under the law” to prosecute “China’s unfair practices in the auto parts sector.” Speculation about possible enforcement action in this sector has been growing for several months and was reinforced by the early February issuance of three reports asserting that China’s policies have had a detrimental effect on U.S. employment. Read more here.