Category: Economics & Trade

Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner who oversaw negotiations to resolve the EU-China textiles spat, told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that attempts to impose trade quotas are bound to fail, describing it as "intrinsically difficult." Caught between the interests of European retailers and producers, Mandelson said it had been impossible to please all parties. […]

Google has launched its local search engine in China, only the fifth country to receive the service, reported the Wall Street Journal. Google Local (called Google Bendi in China) plots the locations of individual businesses in particular cities through keyword searches. More than 100 Chinese cities are included and 70 of them have a map […]

Following apparent deadlock, Europe and China made a deal for future limits on Chinese textile exports to Europe, reported the Wall Street Journal. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai reached agreement Monday that some 75 million China-made garments would be allowed into the EU. While this year's quota will be […]

As the government encouraged domestic companies to send capital overseas to balance off large foreign capital inflows, Chinese direct investment abroad increased to US$5.5 billion in 2004 from US$2.9 billion the year before. But it remained less than one-tenth the amount of foreign investment coming into China. The top destinations for Chinese capital were the […]

China and the EU failed to reach agreement Monday on how to resolve their textiles dispute, the Financial Times reported. The continuing dispute casts a shadow over the EU-China summit taking place in Beijing. France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Poland all opposed a compromise deal outlined by Peter Mandelson, EU trade commissioner. Mandelson wanted […]