Toma nota.../Take note...

The global trade system and the international investment system face significant turning points at the end of this year, one that was postponed when China joined the World Trade Organization almost 15 years ago.  The United States (US) and the European Union (UE) must decide whether they will begin to treat China as a “market economy” in their trade and investment policies.  Unfortunately, even as the battle escalates over the course of this year, the terms of the choice ensure that nothing will be done to address the global trade and international investment regimes’ deeper flaws.

China’s WTO accession agreement, signed in December 2001, permitted the country’s trade partners to deal with China as a “non-market economy” (NME) for a period of up to 15 years.  NME status made it a lot easier for importing countries to impose special tariffs on Chinese exports, in the form of antidumping duties.  In particular, they could use production costs in more expensive countries as a proxy for true Chinese costs, increasing both the likelihood of a dumping finding and the estimated margin of dumping.

Today, though many countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Korea, have already rewarded China with market-economy status, the world’s two biggest economies, the US and the EU, have not.  But, regardless of whether they do, antidumping measures are ill-suited to the task of addressing concerns about unfair trade – not because such concerns are ungrounded, but because they go well beyond dumping.  Antidumping facilitates protectionism of the worst kind, while doing nothing for countries that need legitimate policy space.

China's latest proposed list of industries that would be off-limits to foreign investors shows more work is needed to agree on a new investment treaty with the United States, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in an interview on Monday (on June 27).

La excesiva dependencia de los recursos naturales ha sido un mal endémico en la economía de los países de América Latina. Esto provoca situaciones de opulencia temporal que no aprovechan los gobiernos para industrializar ni para ahorrar con una política presupuestaria discreta de prevención para el futuro, alternadas con otras situaciones de derrumbe económico y grandes e impagables deudas como resultado del derroche y de la corrupción administrativa. En las épocas de desplome económico las inversiones extranjeras suelen evaporarse, al tiempo que se producen notables fugas de capital autóctono. En estos momentos, esta realidad cíclica ha empeorado debido al populismo desenfrenado que no ofrece garantía alguna al capital, mientras trata de maquillar el desastre con un mayor derroche de recursos y un creciente endeudamiento.

La Inversión Extranjera Directa en América Latina y el Caribe 2016

La fase decreciente del precio de las materias primas afectó la composición sectorial de la inversión extranjera

Santiago, Jun.15 (CEPAL).─ Las entradas de inversión extranjera directa (IED) en América Latina y el Caribe disminuyeron un 9,1% entre 2014 y 2015, llegando a 179.100 millones de dólares, el nivel más bajo desde 2010. Este desempeño ha sido el resultado de la disminución de la inversión en sectores vinculados a los recursos naturales, principalmente minería e hidrocarburos, y de la desaceleración del crecimiento económico, sobre todo en el Brasil.

A.- La inversión extranjera directa en América Latina y el Caribe

En 2015, los flujos mundiales de IED aumentaron un 36%, alcanzando un monto estimado de casi 1,73 billones de dólares, el nivel más alto desde 2007. La mayor parte de este crecimiento se explica por una intensa ola de fusiones y adquisiciones transfronterizas focalizada en los países desarrollados, principalmente en los Estados Unidos. 

The IRS added 128 groups to the original contested list of 298 conservative and Tea Party groups. 

The newly added, mostly socialist leaning groups, just appeared during the last few weeks preceding the court action. This appears to be a last minute effort to balance the previously biased IRS targeting.

The IRS Hit List

Washington, DC, June 7.─ Three years on, the Internal Revenue Service has finally handed over its list of the organizations the agency’s tax-exempt division targeted for their political views. All it took to shake the disclosure from the agency were dozens of lawsuits and a federal appeals-court order.

In a court filing last month, the IRS produced a list of 426 groups that were singled out for special scrutiny and in some cases had approval of their application for tax-exempt status delayed. The filing was in response to a lawsuit by NorCal Tea Party Patriots, which has struggled for three years to get the agency to acknowledge the names of those it mistreated, so that the targets have the option of joining the litigation. The targets run the gamut from big outfits such as the Tea Party Patriots to local groups that used the “tea party” moniker.

"Hasta ahora la regla, lo que ha prevalecido en la región, ha sido más bien el silencio, un silencio que yo me atrevería a decir que ha sido cómplice frente a los abusos que se cometen en Venezuela", dijo Vivanco a Efe tras la presentación en Bogotá del libro "Preso pero libre" del opositor venezolano Leopoldo López.

El director de HRW se refirió al pronunciamiento público formulado ayer por Almagro en el que acusó al presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, de traicionar a su pueblo y afirmó que si impide el referendo revocatorio será "un dictadorzuelo más".