WASHINGTON,
Jan. 11--Facing stiff competition from China and the European Union, the United States is rapidly losing economic clout in Asia, with its export share dropping in most of 34 countries surveyed in the region, the US commerce secretary said Thursday.
“America’s relative position in East Asia is being challenged“ as its exports are nudged out in the region by more competitive players, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was quoted by AFP as saying.
“Of 34 Asian economies surveyed for which we have data, the US market share has decreased in 27 since 1990,“ he said, without naming the countries or those that managed to capture the US market share.
China is gaining ground as an exporter to the region, experts say. It has already overtaken the United States as the top trading partner of Japan and South Korea and is nearly on par with America in trade with Southeast Asia.
The Europeans are also asserting themselves with talks to forge free trade pacts in Asia.
“We must actively engage in the region, breaking down barriers to US exports,“ Gutierrez said at a forum of the Washington-based Korea Economic Institute.
“We must compete with our other major trading partners, all of whom are working to enhance their own competitive position in the region.“
The commerce chief warned that if Washington was unable to enact “strong and comprehensive“ free trade agreements that benefited the United States, its credibility in Asia “could be seriously compromised.“
The East Asian region accounts for more than 37 percent of total world gross domestic product, 26 percent of global trade flows and 29 percent of US exports, US trade officials say.
In Asia, the United States has struck FTAs with Singapore and Australia but has not been able to achieve other breakthroughs.

Graphic on China's trade surplus, which hit a record 262.2 billion dollars last year, up 47.7 percent from 2006, according to state media.

BEIJING, Jan. 11--China’s trade surplus soared nearly 50 percent in 2007 to a record, despite safety worries about Chinese products and a slowdown in export growth late in the year, according to government data released Friday.
The sharp rise could add to pressure on Beijing to act on currency controls and import barriers, possibly giving ammunition to US lawmakers who are calling for trade sanctions, AP reported.
The country’s annual trade surplus ballooned to $262.2 billion, up 47.7 percent from 2006, the General Administration of Customs said.
That was below the $300 billion figure forecast by some economists but reflected strong demand for low-cost Chinese exports at a time of concern about the safety of products, ranging from toothpaste and seafood to tires and toys.
China’s politically-sensitive trade surplus with the United States rose 19 percent to $163.3 billion, according to customs data.
The United States reported a $232.5 billion trade deficit with China in 2006 and last year’s gap is on track to pass that. Data reported by the two governments on their bilateral trade often differ widely.
The 2007 trade gap with the European Union, Beijing’s biggest trading partner, rose much faster, expanding by 46 percent to $134.3 billion, according to customs data.
The communist government says it is not intentionally pursuing a large trade surplus, and the flood of cash pouring into the economy from export revenues is straining the central bank’s ability to control pressure for prices to rise.
The United States and other trading partners are pressing Beijing to ease controls that they say keep its currency, the yuan, undervalued and give Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage, adding to China’s trade gap.
Beijing has allowed the yuan to rise gradually against the dollar but some American lawmakers are pushing for punitive tariffs on imported Chinese goods unless it takes quicker action.

Lounging by the hotel pool in one of Kenya’s storied nature reserves, Debbie Shillito sees one small advantage to the travel warnings issued after a presidential election here sparked violence.
“You get all the attention,“ Shillito, a Canadian tourist, told The Associated Press in the Samburu National Reserve, where only 15 percent of the rooms at her upscale hotel were occupied this week, leaving the staff at her beck and call. Last year at this time, the start of the high season, the hotel was 80 percent full.
Kenya, one of the most prosperous and tourist-friendly countries in Africa, has seen up to one billion dollar in losses linked to the bloody turmoil following President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election, officials said.
The United States and Britain warned their citizens against all but essential travel to Kenya, where tourism usually brings in $900 million a year and is among the top five foreign currency earners. More than 5,000 tourists who had been expected to arrive at the coast this week canceled trips at the last minute, according to an official of the Kenya Tourism Federation who asked that his name not be used because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
“These travel advisories are what are stopping people coming here,“ said Jake Grieves-Cook, spokesman for the tourism federation. The image of Kenya has changed from ’giraffes, welcoming people and stability’ to ’the lunatic with a machete sharpening it on the road,’ he said. “So we have a lot of work to counter that image.“
Tourism’s high seasons are December to March and then July to September.
“At the time when we had the worst riots, we had over 30,000 tourists,“ on the Kenyan coast, which has a total bed capacity of 32,000, said Grieves-Cook. “Everything as far as the tourists were concerned proceeded without a problem at all.“
He said that no tourist has been injured or killed during the violence.
The effects stretch far beyond tourism. The turmoil also has driven up prices of staple foods such as bread, maize flour and some vegetables because of roadblocks along main roads. The transport problems also led to temporary fuel shortages in the region because supplies got stuck at the port in Mombasa. Kenya is the transit point for a quarter of the gross domestic product of Uganda and Rwanda, and one-third of Burundi’s GDP, according to the World Bank.
Uganda at one point suspended domestic flights for lack of fuel.
The United Nations has long used Kenya as a logistics center for providing aid to neighboring countries, including Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Congo. Now stockpiled aid was being used for Kenyans who fled their homes because of the political violence.
Kenyan business owners, many of whom saw their shops looted or burned in the chaos, said they will try to rebuild.
“They’ve paralyzed me,“ said Francis Maina, whose three-year-old furniture shop was looted and burned.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11--Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke has said that the outlook for the US economy in 2008 has worsened.
His comments in Washington come after leading investment banks warned that the US was heading for a recession, BBC reported.
However, Bernanke said the central bank was willing to act in a decisive and timely manner to ensure the economy remained on an even keel.
Analysts said this was a strong sign that the Fed would cut interest rates again when it meets later this month.
The bank has cut rates three times since last summer, most recently in December to 4.25 percent--the lowest level in two years.
During his speech on Thursday, Bernanke said the Fed was prepared to “take substantive additional action as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks“.
David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities International, said Bernanke’s remarks came as little surprise.
“It is probably likely to solidify expectations...that the Fed will (cut rates by) 50 basis points...now more people will think that way,“ he said.
US stocks were boosted by the news as investors were buoyed by the prospect of future interest rate cuts.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 117.78 points, or 0.92 percent, at 12,853.09. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.79% and Nasdaq rose 0.56 percent.
Bernanke said recent information suggested “that the baseline for real activity in 2008 has worsened and the downside risks to growth have become more pronounced“.
The US is facing the twin threats of how to tackle a slowing housing market and lower consumer spending while at the same time addressing inflation as oil and food prices rise.
In particular, Bernanke highlighted the impact the slowing housing market, and specifically the sub-prime mortgage crisis, was having on the wider economy.

Tata Company Chairman Ratan Tata announces the newly launched Tata Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi, India, Jan. 10.

NEW DELHI, India, Jan. 11--For millions of people in the developing world, Tata Motors’ new $2,500 four-door subcompact--the world’s cheapest car--may yield a transportation revolution as big as Henry Ford’s Model T.
The potential impact of Tata’s Nano has given environmentalists nightmares, with visions of the tiny cars clogging India’s already-choked roads and collectively spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air, AFP reported.
Industry analysts, however, say the car may soon deliver to India and the rest of the developing world unprecedented mobility.
“It is a potentially gigantic development if it delivers what has been promised,“ said John Casesa, managing partner for the Casesa Shapiro Group, a New York-based auto industry financial advisory firm.
“I think there is immense unmet demand for a vehicle of this type, because it effectively eliminates the great leap currently required to go from a two-wheel to a four-wheel vehicle,“ Casesa said. “They are creating something that has never existed before, the utility of a car with the affordability of a motorcycle.“
The basic model, expected to roll off assembly lines later this year, will sell for 100,000 rupees, or about $2,500, but analysts estimate customers could pay 20 percent to 30 percent more to cover taxes, delivery and other charges.
Company chairman Ratan Tata, who introduced the new car at India’s main auto show, has long promised a $2,500 “People’s Car“ for India--a country of some 1.1 billion where only seven of every 1,000 people own a car. That vow has been much-derided by the global industry which said it would be impossible without sacrificing safety and quality.
“A promise is a promise,“ Tata told the crowd after driving onstage stage in a white, luxury edition Nano, his head nearly touching the roof. Four company executives emerged from another. Tata says the Nano can seat five.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 11--Indonesia’s president on Friday called for justice for his country’s workers who have been abused by their Malaysian employers, after a string of cases has soured relations between the neighbors.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke after talks with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, during a visit that has been dominated by the issue of mistreatment of Indonesian workers here, AFP said.
“Our aim is justice must be upheld, and we also need to work together and get help from Malaysia for Indonesian workers who are working here,“ Yudhoyono told a joint press conference.
“We must determine that their safety, security and rights are protected well,“ he said. “Whenever there is a case, whoever is in the wrong must be prosecuted.“
Malaysia is home to some 1.2 million documented Indonesian workers, as well as an illegal workforce estimated to take the figure up to two million.
Relations have been dogged by a series of spats including the labor issue as well as the beating of an Indonesian referee here, and a row over the origins of a folk song popular in both countries.

TOKYO, Jan. 11--Top Japanese finance officials gave conflicting economic assessments Friday, with the central bank chief predicting a slowdown in Japan while the economy minister said she saw no sign of one.
But both said that downside risks were growing for Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, amid soaring oil prices, volatile markets and an uncertain outlook for the US economy, a key export market, AP reported.
“The Japanese economy is slowing due to the drop in housing investment and will likely keep slowing for the time being,“ Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui told a parliament panel.
“Still, the economic recovery cycle is still intact and the economy is expanding as a trend,“ Fukui said.
Fukui’s remarks came after bearish comments made Thursday by the central bank’s deputy governor, Toshiro Muto, and further cemented expectations the Japanese central bank will not raise interest rates soon.
The BOJ last raised its key policy interest rate in February, from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent. The central bank was widely expected to raise rates further, but held off to monitor the economy as problems from defaults on risky mortgages in the US spread around the globe.
Speaking to reporters earlier in Tokyo, Economy Minister Hiroko Ota said she doesn’t foresee stinted growth.
“At this moment, I don’t think the economy is slowing down,“ Ota told regular press conference, saying she saw “no indicators show a clear sign of slowing, and the economy is recovering.“
Ota acknowledged, however, that careful monitoring of the economy is necessary.
Recent economic figures out of Japan have been mixed. Industrial production has been uneven, falling in November after rising in October. The jobless rate is at 3.8 percent and core consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in November, the biggest rise in almost a decade. Sentiment at major companies has fallen to a two-year low, a recent central bank survey found.