The much-awaited Free Trade Agreement between India and Thailand has hit a slight bump as the two sides still disagree on key details, according to a senior Thai official. Director-General of the Trade Negotiations Department Thawatchai Sophastienphong said the points of contention included a Thai proposal to extend the talks to cover textiles and petrochemicals and India’s request to withdraw sugar and rubber gaskets from planned tariff cuts. High-ranking officials of the two countries held talks on FTA from June 15-17 last month here.

HCM CITY (VNS) — Viet Nam's cashew exports were worth US$1.1 billion in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 28.2 per cent, according to the Viet Nam Cashew Association (Vinacas). Speaking at a meeting in HCM City yesterday, Vinacas chairman Nguyen Duc Thanh said the average export price in the period was higher than a year earlier as prolonged drought in many countries pushed up the prices of many kinds of nuts, including cashew. Vietnamese exports rose by only 14 per cent in volume terms in the period.

HCM CITY  (VNS) — Fruit export turnover is expected to reach US$2 billion by the end of this year when businesses increase their exports, the Viet Nam Fruit and Vegetable Association has said. For export markets with strict guidelines, businesses are improving quality, including the use of irradiation technology or sulphur dioxide fumigation. They are also trying to overcome technical barriers of import markets.

WELLINGTON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser on Thursday welcomed the World Trade Organization's commendation of the country's open and transparent trade policy. The WTO Trade Policy Review, released Monday, praised New Zealand as "among the most open economies in the world," although it also raised concerns about high levels of private debt.

HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam saw a 2.8 per cent year-on-year reduction in the export value of agricultural, fish-eries, and forestry products to record US$14.42 billion during the first half of 2015. This includes $2.6 billion recorded in June, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The value of agricultural exports in the first six months declined by 5.7 per cent to $6.93 billion and that of fisheries products fell by 16 per cent to $2.97 billion, particularly on the US market, compared with the same period last year.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he hopes to wrap up a trade deal with 11 other Pacific Rim nations soon and send it to the U.S. Congress for approval before the end of the year. Lawmakers last week granted the White House authority to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade deals and speed them through Congress, opening the door to a phase of intense negotiations to finalize the pact.

After a bruising political battle, Congress has passed Trade Promotion Authority legislation, which sets out a framework for President Obama to negotiate trade agreements and have Congress vote yes or no on them, without any amendments.

The China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed and made public on 17 June 2015, included investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions, which allow foreign investors to claim against host states that violate substantive commitments if the treaty’s inter-state arbitration mechanism is unavailable due to political or diplomatic reasons. ISDS is especially useful when the host state’s laws and procedures do not meet commonly accepted minimum international standards.

After the Obama administration’s victories in Congress the past two weeks, it appears far more likely that the United States will become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Bilateral negotiations are still taking place between some of the countries negotiating the TPP—the United States and Japan still have major issues to resolve—but the chances of these bilateral hurdles being resolved, and the final agreement being negotiated, have risen substantially now that President Obama has gained fast track authority.

The US is also Vietnam's largest trade partner lagging just behind China, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. However a large number of trade barriers remain between the two countries and many believe these barriers could be eliminated under the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which would group Vietnam, the US and ten other nations in a free trade bloc.