This was bound to happen. Sens. Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jim Bunning of Kentucky have asked the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative to investigate whether China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd.’s bid for Unocal violated WTO rules because the partly state-owned firm is receiving below-market financing from state-owned banks. (CNOOC Ltd. is a subsidiary of CNOOC, created largely for legal purposes, and is placing the actual bid.) Of this $16 billion CNOOC Ltd’ will secure from outside sources, $13 billion will be provided by entities owned by the Chinese government. As much as $7 billion of … Continue reading ‘Rules-Based’ Trade