Posted on 01/19/2005 9:49:16 AM PST by Red Badger
TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry.
While millions of Europeans are sending aid to Thailand to help its recovery, trade authorities in Brussels are demanding that Thai Airlines, its national carrier, pays £1.3 billion to buy its double-decker aircraft.
The demand will come as a deep embarrassment to Peter Mandelson, the trade commissioner, whose officials started the negotiation before the disaster struck Thailand - killing tens of thousands of people and damaging its economy.
While aid workers from across Europe are helping to rebuild Thai livelihoods, trade officials in Brussels are concluding a jets-for-prawns deal, which they had hoped to announce next month.
As the world’s largest producer of prawns, Thailand has become so efficient that its wares are half the price of those caught by Norway, the main producer of prawns for the EU.
To ensure the Thais cannot compete, EU officials five years ago removed its shrimp industry from the EU’s generalised system of preferential tariffs - designed to share Western wealth with developing countries by trade.
The EU has instead slapped a tariff of 12 per cent on its fish - three times that imposed on prawns from Malaysia, its neighbour. This is still less than the US tariff on Thai prawns: 97 per cent.
The prawn tax is one in a series of protectionist measures expected to cost east Asia some £130 million each year - money being taken from its economies while EU citizens donate millions in charity.
Five days after the tsunami struck, the EU legislated against Thailand by slapping a new tariff designed to extinguish its booming trade in cumarin, a plant extract used in perfume.
On 31 December, the EU imposed duties of €3,480 (£2,430) a tonne for Thai exports of cumarin - a move entirely designed to protect Rhodia, a French chemicals firm and the EU’s only producer of cumarin.
Oxfam has attacked the tariffs, saying: "When countries are lying prostrate before us, it is criminal to continue to tax them on what they sell."
Sri Lanka has already pleaded to be exempt from EU and US textiles tariffs as it tries to recover.
Yes! I love both farm raised fishes. Florida Lobster doesn't require much more than warm water and food to sustain it..........
Maybe the amount of time to grow a 2-3 lb lobster is a problem as well, and the amount of space? I haven't seen live crawdads for sale in a long time, I used to buy pounds of them and of maryland blue crabs, wonder what happened to that?
All your crawdads are belong to us! We have all of the crawdads here in NW Florida all the way to Louisiana! Creole and Cajun and Oriental cooking demands it!......
I googled lobster farming, it occurs but they need more breakthroughs, the larval stage is hard to collect, and they don't have enough info about it, but they are making them in Australia in one year.
I didn't say the were not good planes. I was just pointing out that it was the A-320 that crashed on a demonstration flight full of passengers. Do you think they'd have the first demonstration flight full of passengers at the Paris Airshow next year?
Plus they are cannibalistic. Of course considering how good lobster is, if I were a lobster I might be a cannibal too.
Izzat like, If I were a woman I'd be a lesbian?......
I like the tail but there's too much white, but then I've always been a Braniff fan. Is that one of the former United 747s you told me about?
Not sure, Thai picked up a few of them. I usually don't fly them, they cost too much, and for internal flights, nothing beats Bangkok Air. I got on one of their new A320's, very nice service! For transpacific, I fly EVA, good, inexpensive and good service and lounges.
Brannif #1 is the best, especially the pumpkin! Air Canada has a good new livery, but I loved Canadian's with the big goose!
I wasn't ripping on you, I was responding to the guy talking about the A300!
It looks like the A380 will be at the Paris Air Show on static this year, but not doing a flying demo. There are rumours that they are having a few problems with engines and that is why the first flight has been delayed.
I'm gonna enjoy Thai food SOOOOO much better!
Pinging ya!
I got to fly on one of the 747-123 that Braniff leased from American Airlines back to Hawaii in 1978. It just had an orange stripe replacing American's stripes on bare metal rather than the pumpkin livery. The inside was very nicely done. the coach sections had 9 abreast seating rather than the usual 10 so it was much more comfortable than Pan Am's 747-121. The meal service on the Hawaii flight was the same as a Braniff's normal first class meals on their 727s. My parents flew in the first class section on that flight, and their meals were better than many five star restaurants.
I like the upper deck, I rode on our old 747's up there a few times and in coach once on South African up top. Like a private club.
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