The European Union issued the following releases on December 7, 2010:
Greenpeace investigations have found widespread environmental degradation, including high concentrations of heavy metals, and instances of child labor, in Xintang and Gurao, two textile factory towns in China’s Guangdong province.
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Castro stated on December 6, 2010 that he expects the Costa Rican congress to ratify the Free Trade Agreement with China in the coming weeks. Castro stated that Costa Rica just ratified an FTA with Singapore and is negotiating a free trade pact with South Korea.
China's Ministry of Commerce has posted an overview of its campaign against intellectual property rights infringement and counterfeits, which was launched on October 19, 2010 by China's State Council.
In the World Trade Organization dispute brought by China, “European Communities: Definitive AD Measures on Certain Iron or Steel Fasteners from China” (DS397), the dispute settlement panel ruled against numerous European Union antidumping practices involving the fasteners from China.
On December 3, 2010, the World Bank Group announced it is taking anti-corruption enforcement to another level. It also announced the debarment of a U.S.-based company for 12 years and another company for three years, and, separately, the first-ever World Bank cross-debarments of firms, for engaging in corrupt and fraudulent practices in development projects. The announcement comes just before the International Corruption Hunters Network meeting, which takes place December 6-8, 2010 at the World Bank’s headquarters.
China's Ministry of Commerce welcomed the recent ruling from the World Trade Organization that the European Union antidumping duties on Chinese screws and bolts were discriminatory and are in violation of global commerce rules. In particular, the WTO ruled the EU's single duty requirements and practices are discriminatory and violated WTO rules.
China's Ministry of Commerce states that it is unfair for China to take the blame for causing trade imbalances, when U.S. companies with operations in China are actually the biggest winners in U.S.-China trade. MOFCOM illustrates its point with the example of an Apple iPod in which U.S. corporate headquarters would get $163 dollars and Chinese laborers $4 dollars for the final product, but $150 would be added to China's trade surplus with the U.S. According to China, most of its trade surplus comes from cases like these.
The World Trade Organization posted the following notices for December 6, 2010 (may have to click twice on source documents for proper viewing):
The Government of Canada issued the following releases on Dec 3, 2010: