Trade Expert Says US Paper Industry Is Cynically Using a 'Green' Cover to Block Low-Cost Paper Imports from China, Threatening Free Trade and Economic Development

SHANGHAI -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --

At an industry conference in Shanghai today, pro-development NGO World Growth released new research, exposing extreme trade barriers in the global pulp and paper market. World Growth Chairman Alan Oxley -- former Chairman of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the predecessor of the World Trade Organization -- cautioned that American industry is joining forces with one of the most protectionist forces in the US, the National Farmers Union (NFU), to unfairly stymie forest and agricultural imports.

According to the findings of "Green Protectionism: The New Tool Against Forestry in Developing Countries," the environmental justifications employed by Western activists conflict with the facts:

• China has increased its forest area by 50 million hectares, over the past decade;
• Officials have set aside more than 30% of the country's forests for conservation or environmental protection -- a higher percentage than that of the US; and
• Countries such as Indonesia, where China sources many raw materials, have designated as much as 40% of its forest area for protection and conservation.

"Paper manufacturers in China are under threat from rising trade protectionism in the United States," explained Chairman Oxley. "Several American industry lobbies have cynically mounted 'green' campaigns criticising paper imports on environmental grounds in order to prop up unprofitable companies.

"In addition to their long-term lobbying for tariffs against paper imports, groups like NFU have collaborated with radical environmental campaigners and trade unions like the 'Blue Green Alliance' to block imports from China, Indonesia and other developing countries. China's paper and paperboard industry employs more than 760,000 people in more than 3,600 firms in mainland China.

"Though China's paper exports to the US are relatively small, protectionist US interests are doing everything they can to keep those exports out and buttress their own, more expensive products. Their dubious propaganda argues that the competitive advantage developing countries have over the US in producing food, timber and paper needs to be artificially curbed by imposing unfounded 'green' restrictions.

"Calls for regulatory focus on already thriving forestlands in other countries are simply intended to distract from their true protectionist aim."

To speak with World Growth's experts or find out more about its work, please email Media@WorldGrowth.org or call +1-202-320-3965.

World Growth is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established with an educational and charitable mission to expand the education, information and other resources available to disadvantaged populations to improve their health and economic welfare. At World Growth, we embrace and celebrate the new age of globalization and the power of free trade to eradicate poverty and improve living conditions for people in the developing world. For more information on World Growth, visit www.worldgrowth.org

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