Pure Business, Law Enforcement or Sheer Politics? The EU’s WTO Complaints against Chinese Export Restrictions on Raw Materials. EU Diplomacy Paper 06/2013

In light of the growing international competition among states and globally operating companies for limited natural resources, export restrictions on raw materials have become a popular means for governments to strive for various goals, including industrial development, natural resource conservation and environmental protection. For instance, China as a major supplier of many raw materials has been using its powerful position to both economic and political ends. The European Union (EU), alongside economic heavyweights such as the US, Japan and Mexico, launched two high-profile cases against such export restrictions by China at the WTO in 2009 and 2012. Against this background, this paper analyses the EU’s motivations in the initiation of trade disputes on export restrictions at WTO, particularly focusing on the two cases with China. It argues that the EU's WTO complaints against export restrictions on raw materials are to a large extent motivated by its economic and systemic interests rather than political interests. The EU is more likely to launch a WTO complaint, the stronger the potential and actual impact on its economy, the more ambiguous the WTO rules and the stronger the internal or external lobbying by member states or companies. This argumentation is based on the analysis of pertinent factors such as the economic impact, the ambiguity of WTO law on export restrictions and the pressure by individual member states on the EU as well as the role of joint complaints at the WTO and political considerations influencing the EU’s decision-making process.

Chemical compositions of rocks and minerals from an underwater volcano of the Kuril deep-sea basin

Mineralogy and geochemistry of low-temperature hydrothermal manifestations occurring on the surface of basalts and in their cracks within a submarine volcano in the north-eastern part of the Kuril deep-sea basin have been studied. The following order of isolation of mineral phases has been found out: Fe-rich sulphides (pyrite) - Fe-rich layered silicates (hydromica of celadonite-nontronite type) - amorphous silica (opal) - Fe-oxyhydroxides (goethite) - Mn-oxyhydroxides (vernadite). Sulphide mineralization is of the phenocryst-stockwork type. Finding of pure barite fragments does not exclude presence of hydrothermal exhalations (smokers) on this volcanic structure.

Magnesium concentrations of individual shells of Globorotalia truncatulinoides

Recent work has provided useful Mg/Ca to water temperature calibrations for shallow-dwelling planktonic foraminifer species. Globorotalia truncatulinoides (right coiling (R)) is a deep-dwelling species that can serve as a source of information about the temporal variability in the water characteristics of the thermocline. We present a temperature calibration for the Mg/Ca in the shell of G. truncatulinoides (R) and examine some of the practical issues associated with evaluating the usefulness of the technique. The Mg/Ca in the primary and the secondary calcite of individual G. truncatulinoides (R) correlates exponentially with water column temperatures, showing a change of ~10% in the Mg/Ca per 1°C (R**2 = 0.92). A limited comparison with plankton tow samples demonstrates that the average Mg/Ca temperature was offset +1°C from the average temperature calculated using the d18O calibration of O'Neil et al. (1969, doi:10.1063/1.1671982), and the Mg/Ca temperatures have a range similar to the ?18O temperatures. Comparisons of the [Mg] in the core top samples to water depth of deposition indicates that dissolution does not alter the measured value of Mg in the primary calcite.