Task 6. Choose the correct answer to complete the following statements about the text.

1. Belinda Robertson’s company

a) Sold more than 60% of its production last year to department stores.

b) is usually very busy during the first few months of the year.

c) Produces more than 50% of Europe’s cashmere.

2. Belinda Robertson has had to make some of her staff redundant because of

a) The competition from China.

b) The introduction of US sanctions.

c) A shortage of US orders.

3. If the EU doesn’t change its trade policy, the US will

a) Apply restrictions on the imports of fruit to America.

b) Import more cashmere from Italy.

c) Import certain goods from non-European sources instead.

4. The US

a) Exports more to China than it imports.

b) Imports more from China than it exports.

c) Imports as much as it exports to China.

5. The negotiations

a) will determine which goods are subject to sanctions.

b) are not expected to be difficult.

c) involve some complex questions.

Read the text again and answer the following questions:

What is the market situation in the fashion business?

Why are producers of cashmere clothing low on work at the moment?

What do officials fear?

Why does the US threaten cross-sanctions against European exports?

When is Washington to introduce punitive tariffs?

What do they depend on?

Why is this threat alone enough to damage the cashmere industry?

What could force the company into bankruptcy?

How can the Americans fill the gap if the sanctions go through?

What do the weavers of Hawick hope for?

Why were negotiators pessimistic on prospects of a compromise?

Summarise the story of the trade war.

Task 7.

Vocabulary. Use the letters in brackets to from a word to complete each sentence.

1. Companies will be penalised if they exceed the________ (SAOQTU) that have been imposed on imports of certain categories of goods.

2. When you export to India, you must conform to the administrative procedures that are required by the government_________(CUBCAUREARY).

3. We have decided to appoint Mr. Carver who will represent us as our sole ____________(GATEN) for the South African market.

4. All goods coming into the country are subject to customs_______(IDESTU).

5. The EU has agreed that__________________(CISNATNOS) will only be lifted when the country has agreed to respect the international trade agreement that it signed two years ago.

6. We have agreed to allow two Taiwanese companies manufacture our products under_________________________(CELNICE).

7. The _________________(NOTRCATC) contains several clauses referring to the conditions concerning the transfer of technology.

8. The goods were delivered two months ago but we are still waiting for our customer to pay the_________________________(CONIVEI).

Task 8. Language Focus

The future

Complete the following conversations with the appropriate future form of the verbs in brackets.

1. A: Hannah Rottman, our German agent, called earlier. She wants to know when she ______(receive) confirmation of the delivery date for her latest order.

B: She should know that we __________(get) it to her on time, after all we have never missed a delivery so far!

A: Yeah. Well, in any case, she ________________(call) back at three. ________________(speak) to her?

B: No. I’m afraid I ___________________(not be able to) as I _______________(visit) the warehouse this afternoon. But tell her that I __________________(call) her tomorrow morning.

2. S: Hi Janet it’s Sylvia. I’m calling about the conference in Geneva. Remember?_____________(you come)?

J: No, I’m afraid I can’t. Mike Johnson ________________(represent) us with two other people from the Swiss office.

S: That’s a shame. In that case, I ____________________(not see) you until the meeting in Birmingham next month. Oh by the way, could you ask Mike to bring me a copy of the Indonesian survey that he’s been working on? I ___________(visit) Jakarta in July.

J: Ok. I ________________(ask) him when I see him tomorrow. I’m sure he _______________(want) to give you a call himself.