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French minister attacks steel tycoon, again

France's minister for industrial recovery has accused ArcelorMittal boss Lakshmi Mittal of "blackmail" and "lies", after the giant steelmaker said it would close six facilities in neighbouring Belgium.

Published: 25 January 2013 12:56 CET

Speaking late Thursday on France 2 television, Arnaud Montebourg said: "I have to tell you that when he (Lakshmi Mittal) uses blackmail, lies … that is what is happening in Belgium since he has announced that in the end he will not honour his commitments."

Blaming weak demand for cars, ArcelorMittal said it would close six cold-processing facilities in the Liege region of eastern Belgium, eliminating 1,300 jobs. Angry employees burned tyres at the news while trade unions called immediately for a strike.

The company was already embroiled in controversy in France over the closure of two blast furnaces that sent tension between Mittal and members of France's government soaring in late November.

Montebourg, regarded as a protectionist by critics, told a French newspaper then: "We don't want Mittal in France anymore", before later retracting his comments.

But on Thursday the minister said his remarks about the Indian-born steel tycoon were nonetheless widely understood and "were thus possibly necessary."

Montebourg urged the European Commission to look into ArcelorMittal's decision to close the Belgian sites.

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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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