主题：【半导体】中国停止对半导体的增值税的补贴；猜猜看这个让步换回来什么？ -- 西风陶陶

U.S. and China Resolve Semiconductor Trade Dispute (Update4)

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world's fastest-growing semiconductor market, bowed to pressure from the Bush administration and agreed to drop a tax break that U.S. chipmakers said put them at a disadvantage.

China agreed to end its rebate of a value-added tax on chips by April 1, after the U.S. filed the first complaint against China at the World Trade Organization to protest the policy. Groups representing U.S. companies like Intel Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and LSI Logic Corp. argued the subsidy curbed their exports to China, the world's third-largest chip market.

Manufacturers in China were eligible for rebates from a 17 percent value-added tax on semiconductors, a break the U.S. said cost its exporters $344 million last year and violated rules prohibiting nations from favoring domestic producers. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick called the WTO case, meant to open China's $18 billion chip market to more imports, a ``slam dunk.''

``It levels the playing field for semiconductors,'' said Jennifer Greeson, a spokeswoman for Santa Clara, California-based Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker.

Zoellick said at a news conference that China's acquiescence on this issue ``will ensure that high-tech firms have full access to one of our fastest growing markets.'' The agreement will also prevent China from using similar tax breaks to help nurture investment in other industries, U.S. industry officials said.

``If the line wasn't drawn here, that would clearly be a sign to China that they could apply this kind of tax break as an industrial policy,'' said Frank Vargo, vice president for international affairs at National Association of Manufacturers.

Chinese Companies

China adopted the rebates in 1999 before it entered the WTO, as part of a broader program to spur the industry's development.

The decision to scrap the tax break, only available for domestic sales, could force some Chinese manufacturers to seek out sales in the export market. Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in Shanghai said earlier this year it was applying to qualify for the tax rebate, as did Shanghai Belling Co.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's largest chipmaker, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

U.S. Trade Strategy

Ending the rebates logs a victory for U.S. President George W. Bush who has been under election-year pressure by unions and manufacturers to be more aggressive in countering what they say is China's disregard for trade rules.

U.S. manufacturers blame a 50 percent surge in industrial imports from China from 2000 to 2003 as part of the reason why the U.S. economy has shed 2.7 million factory jobs, and Democratic lawmakers have said the Bush administration should bring more WTO complaints against China and other nations.

The Bush administration said the agreement shows that its approach toward China is working.

``This shows that our multifaceted approach can bring real results,'' Zoellick said at a press conference in Washington to announce the agreement. ``Our overall trade strategy is about a lot more than just bringing lawsuits.''

WTO Rules

Democrats argue that the success today demonstrated the need for the Bush administration to bring more WTO complaints. On March 31, Michigan Democratic Congressman Sander Levin, the chairman of the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, and 12 colleagues wrote Bush and listed seven new WTO complaints the U.S. should bring.

``They've been very lax,'' Levin said in an interview today. ``This vindicates what we've been saying all along, which is to use all the tools at your disposal. They litigated, and as a result they got what appears to be a real result.''

Under WTO rules for resolving disputes, the U.S. and China held consultations before a WTO panel was put in place. During those talks the two sides worked out a settlement, Zoellick said. If no settlement had been reached, the U.S. would have petitioned for a panel to be set up today, he said.

Semiconductors are the second-largest U.S. export to China and China's biggest import, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which says it represents 85 percent of the U.S. industry. The U.S. exported $2 billion of integrated circuits to China last year, the U.S. trade office said.

No Chinese officials attended the event, and a Chinese embassy spokesman did not immediately return a telephone message.

To contact the reporter on this story:

Mark Drajem in Washington at [email protected]

To contact the editor of this story:

Glenn Hall at [email protected]

Last Updated: July 8, 2004 16:18 EDT

布什的捐精女儿千万里追寻而来，欲谈朝核未果，反而被中央各级领导们上了好几堂“和平统一，一国两制”的课，当然也要给她点面子。税收优惠取消也不算什么，按WTO规则再设计点别的，不就“堤内损失堤外补“了吗？再说，“投桃报李“，看看布什选前还要不要做点买卖也挺好.