The European Union has pledged an additional EUR 2 million to the WTO Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) and EUR 100,000 for evaluating the fund. The contributions will support the active participation of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) in the Doha Round negotiations. The DDAGTF finances around 280 activities per year, mostly tailor-made training delivered at regional and national level, covering all trade-related areas including trade facilitation, agriculture and services.

(Reuters) - A delay in finalizing legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through the U.S. Congress should not push back the timetable for completing a Pacific trade deal, a senior State Department official said on Friday. Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Catherine Novelli said even if lawmakers do not vote on so-called fast track legislation until April, it will not stop negotiators from pressing ahead with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

(Reuters) - A group of prominent U.S. economists, including former Federal Reserve chiefs, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, wrote to congressional leaders Thursday to support key trade legislation but warn against including currency rules in trade deals. The economists, all former chairs of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, said legislation to streamline the passage of trade deals through Congress "encourages our trade partners to put their best offers on the table."

Japan’s new Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Yoshimasa Hayashi, who previously served in the position in 2012–14, was a logical choice to take over from his disgraced predecessor Koya Nishikawa. He arrived at the Prime Minister’s Office (Kantei) only five minutes after Nishikawa left, and was apparently selected because he was ‘the only one that could immediately do the job’.

TOKYO (AP) — A deal between Japan and the U.S. needed to move ahead with a Pacific Rim trade pact is possible by this spring, a top Japanese trade negotiator said Tuesday. Top negotiators for the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership meet in Hawaii next week. Wendy Cutler, acting deputy U.S. trade representative, will visit Japan for talks beginning Thursday on the politically sensitive issue of dismantling protections for Japan's farm products and for U.S. autos and auto parts.

EU-Japan 9th round of trade talks further consolidates negotiation texts The 9th round of EU-Japan FTA talks took place from 23-27 February in Brussels. The meetings focused on further consolidation of the negotiating texts.

HANOI - Its "golden population" phase and other specific advantages can help Viet Nam exploit well a slew of free trade agreements (FTAs), but there is zero room for complacency, experts and leading industrialists have warned. They say that the agreements are a double-edged sword that will open the domestic market up to stiff competition local firms are ill-equipped to face. The increased export opportunities also come with the challenge of meeting international standards, they add.

HCM CITY (VNS) — Textile and garment exports are set for a boom this year, according to the Viet Nam Industrial and Trade Information Centre (VITIC), a Ministry of Industry and Trade agency. In January exports were worth over US$1.9 billion, marginally up from last year, but many companies in the textile and garment industry have received orders to be executed in the first and second quarters.

KOTA BHARU (VNS) — Trade ministers from 10 Southeast Asian countries pledged yesterday to break down further non-tariff barriers to boost intra-regional trade as they seek closer economic integration. The trade ministers of member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathered for their annual retreat in Kota Bharu, the capital of Malaysia's northeastern Kelantan state, to chart the way forward for the grouping as it is poised to mark the formal establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by end of this year.

HA NOI (VNS)— A surge in exports has seen Viet Nam 's trade deficit drop sharply in the first two months of the year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) says. At the end of February, the trade deficit stood at US$61 million, much lower than the $361 million recorded in January, it said. Le Thi Minh Thuy, head of GSO's commerce department, said that with the long Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday falling in February, enterprises had rushed to fulfill their export contracts.