Financial Times: Tax move by Brazil risks US trade war

[seafan]

Thom Hartmann brought this to attention today. As usual, it requires a foreign source coupled with a dedicated progressive to get real news.

This news will have serious consequences.



Tax move by Brazil risks US trade war

By James Politi in Washington and Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo
Published: March 8 2010 21:53

Brazil moved to raise tariffs on a wide range of American goods on Monday, potentially igniting a trade war with the US over cotton subsidies after eight years of litigation at the World Trade Organisation.
The decision takes effect next month, starting a 30-day period during which US and Brazilian officials will attempt to negotiate a solution to the dispute.

.....

Under the Brazilian plan, duties would rise most steeply on cotton products. Many that are currently taxed at between 6 per cent and 35 per cent would be taxed at 100 per cent.
The tariffs on beauty products would double, from 18 per cent to 36 per cent. Duties on household goods such as cookers, refrigerators, TVs and video cameras would also double, from 20 per cent to 40 per cent. Duties on cars would rise from 35 per cent to 50 per cent.

Brazil is allowed to impose the tariff increases – worth $560m – after winning a case at the WTO last year. Brazil challenged the legality of direct subsidies to US cotton farmers to protect them against fluctuations in global prices and a loan guarantee programme for international buyers of US cotton.
Brazil could also impose further penalties – known as “cross-retaliation” – on US intellectual property rights, potentially breaking patents in the pharmaceuticals, technology and media industries.

.....

It is unclear how much room for manoeuvre US officials have. Significant changes to the cotton subsidy programme would require changes to the farm bill – and securing congressional approval might be difficult.

“The only way this is not going to turn into a train wreck is if Brazil is offered something meaningful,” says Jon Huenemann, an adviser at Miller & Chevalier. “There are potential ways out of this, but they require a lot of creativity because of the political situation in both countries.”

The US is the world’s largest exporter of cotton.

.....

How about keeping much more of our cotton HERE IN THE U.S.; reopening our own textile mills and bringing jobs back to our own grievously unemployed people?


Nah. That would not be good for the multinational corporations' bottom lines. And beyond that, it would make too much sense.


:sarcasm:

[upi402]

1. I like your ideas. And destroy NAFTA and GATT

If we don't grow jobs we are sunk quick-fast. All this celebrating quasi-recovery over slower job loss si making me furious.
Thanks for the post, and grateful for Hartman.
:patriot:

[lonestarnot]

2. eee gads. Do we just suck ass or what...

[blue97keet]

3. We subsidize cotton growing but offshore the textile mills

That shows our trade policy is contradictory nonsense.

[seafan]

4. More news about cotton, from Cornell researchers

With a hat tip to DU'er OKIsItJustMe over in the Environment/Energy forum, here is more important news about cotton just hitting the wires.


From researchers at Cornell:

FOR RELEASE: March 3, 2010

Contact: Joe Schwartz
Phone: [phone]
Cell: [phone]
[e-mail]


Cotton is the fabric of your lights . . . your iPod . . . your MP3 player . . .
your cell phone . . .

ITHACA, N.Y. — Consider this T-shirt: It can monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyze your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer’s day. What about a pillow that monitors your brain waves, or a solar-powered dress that can charge your ipod or MP4 player? This is not science fiction – this is cotton in 2010.

Now, the laboratory of Juan Hinestroza, assistant professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, has developed cotton threads that can conduct electric current as well as a metal wire can, yet remain light and comfortable enough to give a whole new meaning to multi-use garments. This technology works so well that simple knots in such specially treated thread can complete a circuit – and solar-powered dress with this technology literally woven into its fabric will be featured at the annual Cornell Design League Fashion Show on Saturday, March 13 at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.

Using multidisciplinary nanotechnology developed at Cornell in collaboration with the universities at Bologna and Cagliari, Italy, Hinestroza and his colleagues developed a technique to permanently coat cotton fibers with electrically conductive nanoparticles. “We can definitively have sections of a traditional cotton fabric becoming conductive, hence a great myriad of applications can be achieved,” Hinestroza said.

“The technology developed by us and our collaborators allows cotton to remain flexible, light and comfortable while being electronically conductive,” Hinestroza said. “Previous technologies have achieved conductivity but the resulting fiber becomes rigid and heavy. Our new techniques make our yarns friendly to further processing such as weaving, sewing and knitting.”

This technology is beyond the theory stage. Hinestroza’s student, Abbey Liebman, was inspired by the technology enough to design a dress that actually uses flexible solar cells to power small electronics from a USB charger located in the waist. The charger can power a smartphone or an MP3 player.

“Instead of conventional wires, we are using our conductive cotton to transmit the electricity -- so our conductive yarns become part of the dress,” Hinestroza said. “Cotton used to be called the ‘fabric of our lives’ but based on these results, we can now call it ‘The fabric of our lights.’”

For more information about the Cornell Design League annual fashion show, visit: http://www.rso.cornell.edu/CDesignL/shows.php

We must restore the gutted textile industry in the U. S., along with the many others lost to outsourcing, for the recovery of our country.



This deliberate farce of job outsourcing by the greed-driven global corporate elitists has hollowed out our country's ideals and the quality of life for our people.



BRING BACK OUR INDUSTRIES AND OUR RAW MATERIALS TO OUR SOIL.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. If Brazil can break pharma patents...

can we get our meds from there, please?

Gee...Brazil raising tariffs AND BP wanting Brazilian offshore oil fields....

It's not nice to piss off the CIA, Brazil.