B (2:24)

Sounds like someone should go to jail.

A (2:25)

Oh, but they are, Des. Four Yamazaki executives have been sentenced to two years in a U.S. jail.

B (2:33)

Wow. Well, I hope they like the food.

A (2:36)

No sushi in US prisons. However, this problem isn't limited to just the car parts market.

B (2:43)

Though I'm guessing electronics would be an area where this practice would flourish.

A (2:48)

Well done, Mr. Morgan. The two big Korean electrical and electronics giants, LG and Samsung, are being fined by the Korean antitrust authorities for price fixing. But that fine is for a mere $39 million.

B (3:06)

Yes, almost nothing.

A (3:09)

The Korean regulators found that the two firms had held secret meetings in 2008 and 2009 to agree on prices for washing machines, flat screen TVs as well as laptop computers.

B (3:22)

I have an LG washing machine. I feel cheated.

A (3:25)

But there is another related unfair trading practice that has been in the news recently.

B (3:30)

Okay, go ahead.

A (3:31)

When a government subsidizes an independent company or sector, what they are in fact doing is making that company or industry unfairly competitive for rivals who don't receive a similar subsidy.

B (3:46)

Boeing has been accusing Airbus of this practice for years.

A (3:49)

Maybe because Airbus has been doing it for years.

B (3:53)

Never proven, though.

A (3:54)

True. But returning to the auto parts industry, the alliance for American Manufacturing, or aam, has accused the Chinese government of providing unfair subsidies to tire makers and auto, electrical and electronics suppliers at the expense

B (4:14)

of US companies, no doubt.

A (4:16)

Exactly. The AAM claims that this practice has resulted in the loss of 400,000American jobs since 2000 and is asking the US government to take action and impose tariffs on imported Chinese auto parts.

B (4:34)

And as we discussed in a show way back in November of 2010, China is already fixing its currency at an artificially low rate, which gives its industries an unfair advantage.

A (4:45)

U.S. and Chinese relations continue to deteriorate as America tries to level the playing field, which makes this entire story not only a business topic, but a hot political issue as well.

B (5:00)

That it does. And now it's time for us to get D2V down to vocabulary.

A (5:19)

I will start things off today with the adjective cutthroat, which is used to describe when a competition or market is really intense. Imagine two people cutting each other's throats because the competition between them is so strong they are literally willing to kill the other to survive.

B (5:39)

Wow, strong image.

A (5:41)

Yes, it should help listeners to remember cutthroat. Now, in the story I talked about the cutthroat PC market to show how intense the competition is between manufacturers. Can you give another example, Des?

B (5:56)

Yes. A further example would be how cutthroat the competition is between drug companies, with all of them trying desperately to come out with the next big drug.

A (6:05)

Of course, the pharmaceutical industry is intensely cutthroat.

B (6:10)

Now, I have the key adjective to understanding the story.

A (6:14)

Antitrust, which can of course be divided into the prefix anti and the root trust.

B (6:20)

Yes, and it means to maintain free competition by stopping businesses agreeing on product supply or pricing. In the story, I say that the US has strong antitrust laws, meaning it fights this type of corruption.

A (6:34)

A good example would be in October 2008 when Dole, an international Fluchtimport, were fined 60 million euros for fixing banana prices in several northern European states.

B (6:49)

Bananas really is nothing safe, it seems

A (6:52)

not Now I'd like to talk about the phrase to throw the book at someone, which means to give someone the most serious penalty that can be applied to a crime. In the story, I say that the Antitrust division imposed really strict penalties or threw the book at the two Japanese companies.

B (7:14)

You hear it a lot in police dramas where the police officer will threaten to throw the book at a criminal unless he or she cooperates.

A (7:22)

My co worker threw the book at me last week because I didn't refill the copy machine when it ran out of paper.

B (7:30)

Well, that is a bit of an annoying thing to do, I suppose. Anyway, moving on, I have the noun a subsidy and the verb to subsidize, which both mean to make something unnaturally cheaper than it really should be, which

A (7:42)

in the case of exports can be considered an unfair practice.

B (7:47)

In the story, Skip talked about how the Chinese government is unfairly subsidizing the Chinese auto parts industry.

A (7:54)

That's right. But not all subsidies are unfair. Doesn't the UAE government subsidize basic foods in the UAE market?

B (8:03)

It does. Yes. It subsidizes the basics that people need to live across all the makers of that product.

A (8:10)

I see. Now I have the countable noun tariff, which is an additional tax that a country applies to an importance to limit its supply. In the story, I say that the AAM wants the US Government to put tariffs on imported Chinese auto parts. In other words, they want to raise the price of Chinese auto parts being imported.

B (8:36)

We have talked about tariffs before, but it's such a common business word that it's worth reviewing. In India Part 1, which we released in August last year, I talked a lot about how prior to 1991, India had lots of quotas and tariffs on imported goods.

A (8:54)

I remember that story.

B (8:57)

My final item is the phrase to have a level playing field or to level the playing field, which means when competition is fair or equal. In the story, Skip says that the competition between the US and China is unfair. So the US is trying to make it fair or to level the playing field.

A (9:16)

It's kind of like when we used to play chess together when you lived in Japan. Remember how I used to give you a two piece advantage to level the playing field between us?

B (9:28)

Actually, I remembered exactly the other way around.

A (9:31)

Well, anyway, that is all the vocabulary for today.

B (9:48)

Thanks to everyone for downloading down to Business English today. We hope you enjoyed today's topic on different antitrust practices.

A (9:55)

Yes, thanks everyone. Before we sign off, I'd like to mention that if you have any additional questions about the words and phrases used in today's episode. Please feel free to post a question on either the down to Business English Facebook page or our group.

B (10:14)

Or you can send us an email@downtobusinessenglishmail.com that's downtobusinessenglishmail.com thanks again, everyone.

A (10:24)

And thank you, Des. See you next time.

B (10:27)

Thank you, Skip. Take care. Bye.

A (10:34)

The music in today's show comes from Mivio's Music Alley. Check it out@music miyo.com.