Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The head of Russia's space agency on Saturday accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of predatory pricing for space launches, which is pushing Russia to cut its own prices. "Instead of honest competition on the market for space launches, they are lobbying for sanctions against us and use price dumping with impunity," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter.
Rogozin, who is often outspoken on Twitter and previously engaged in online banter with Elon Musk, on Friday raised the issue during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
He said the Roscosmos space agency "is working to lower prices by more than 30 percent on launch services to increase our share on the international markets." "This is our answer to dumping by American companies financed by the US budget," he said. The market price of a SpaceX launch is $60 million, but NASA pays up to four times that amount, he said.
Musk responded to the criticism Saturday by saying on Twitter: "SpaceX rockets are 80% reusable, theirs are 0%. This is the actual problem."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Monday April 13 2020, @10:46PM (5 children)
I would think it is illegal under WTO rules that the US currently sabotage. https://www.dw.com/en/wto-judge-blockage-could-prove-the-beginning-of-the-end/a-51613082 [dw.com]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 14 2020, @01:29AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday April 14 2020, @02:58AM (2 children)
The US government can buy thing from private sector, but in general it can not prefer American over the foreign within WTO agreement.
For example, the US can not discriminate, let alone sanction, Chinese 5G. The only reason it can now is that US blocks appointment of WTO judges effectively sabotaging the world trade agreements - all of them at once,
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 14 2020, @03:53AM
"In general." National security is one such exception (which covers a lot of aerospace business and China 5G too).
Let us also note that there is no launch service from Russia which presently can compete with SpaceX without substantial subsidies. It's not just the 80% reusability. SpaceX has a supply chain and manufacturing technology advantage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 14 2020, @08:51AM
Yes, they can. And yes, they do, all the time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/us/politics/coronavirus-defense-production-act.html [nytimes.com]
Unless you are completely ignorant, US has favoured their own suppliers vast majority of the time. What you say about WTO, is completely bullshit. But ignorance is high these days and I fear we will be killing ourselves over something that we could have just bought few months ago. All thanks to nationalistic bullshit and *ignorant populations*. Happened before and so it probably will happen again.
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday April 14 2020, @03:02AM
Note that I do not place any moral judgement. I actually believe the US does the right thing. What I am saying is that the US violates and disregards the whole world trade system as it should at this point simply because we have to crash China all the laws be damned.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.