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CORRUPTION

ThyssenKrupp paid for plush trade unionist trips

German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp came on Friday under fire after it emerged it had sent trade union representatives first class on trips to exotic locations such as Brazil and Formula 1 races.

Published: 11 January 2013 11:54 CET
ThyssenKrupp paid for plush trade unionist trips
Photo: DPA

A trip to an over-budget, delayed new steel factory in Brazil included a separate flight to Rio de Janeiro especially to see the Sugarloaf Mountain, financial daily paper Der Handelsblatt reported after seeing internal ThyssenKrupp documents.

The company also invited supervisory board vice chairman Bertin Eichler to the Formula One racing in Shanghai, where ThyssenKrupp splashed out on a private box for its guests.

Eichler has, according to the paper, had at least five first class flights paid for by ThyssenKrupp but accepting them was, he said, a mistake. The company had a policy of sending members of the supervisory board first class on overseas flights.

“Looking at it now, it would be sensible to review this policy and set out strict criteria,” Eichler told the paper.

ThyssenKrupp shareholders announced that they would not be letting the board of directors get off lightly in the upcoming general meeting.

They could well come under fire not only for expensive travel budgets but also the poor management of overseas factories.

The revelations are reminiscent of German carmaker Volkswagen’s pampering of works council members a few years ago. That scandal, however, included paying for visits to prostitutes.

The Local/jcw

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FARMING

WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules

A US decision to slap steep import duties on Spanish olives over claims they benefited from subsidies constituted a violation of international trade rules, the World Trade Organisation ruled Friday.

Published: 22 November 2021 11:34 CET
WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules
Farmers had just begun harvesting olives in southern Spain when former US President Donald Trump soured the mood with the tariffs' announcement. Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Former US president Donald Trump’s administration slapped extra tariffs on Spain’s iconic agricultural export in 2018, considering their olives were subsidised and being dumped on the US market at prices below their real value.

The combined rates of the anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties go as high as 44 percent.

The European Commission, which handles trade policy for the 27 EU states, said the move was unacceptable and turned to the WTO, where a panel of experts was appointed to examine the case.

In Friday’s ruling, the WTO panel agreed with the EU’s argument that the anti-subsidy duties were illegal.

But it did not support its stance that the US anti-dumping duties violated international trade rules.

The panel said it “recommended that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations”.

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis hailed the ruling, pointing out that the US duties “severely hit Spanish olive producers.”

Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid, called by the olive sector
Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid called by the olive sector to denounce low prices of olive oil and the 25 percent tariff that Spanish olives and olive oil faced in the United States. (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
 

“We now expect the US to take the appropriate steps to implement the WTO ruling, so that exports of ripe olives from Spain to the US can resume under normal conditions,” he said.

The European Commission charges that Spain’s exports of ripe olives to the United States, which previously raked in €67 million ($75.6 million) annually, have shrunk by nearly 60 percent since the duties were imposed.

The office of the US Trade Representative in Washington did not immediately comment on the ruling.

According to WTO rules, the parties have 60 days to file for an appeal.

If the United States does file an appeal though, it would basically amount to a veto of the ruling.

That is because the WTO Appellate Body — also known as the supreme court of world trade — stopped functioning in late 2019 after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges.

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