A sixth round of talks has been arranged on the proposed tripartite free trade agreement (FTA) between China, Japan and South Korea, following the successful conclusion of bilateral trade talks between South Korea and China earlier this month. The tripartite FTA negotiations were launched in November 2012, and from the outset the challenge of lowering tariffs on sensitive goods and services (particularly agricultural products for South Korea and Japan, and manufactured goods for China) was acknowledged by all three countries.

Japan and Turkey will hold the first round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement next week in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The talks, set for Monday and Tuesday, follow an agreement in January between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to launch FTA negotiations this year.

The 2015 ASEAN Business Outlook Survey issued by the US Chamber of Commerce reveals prevalent anxiety that a good chunk of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) isn’t going to be ready by the 2015 deadline. 

HA NOI (VNS) — The National Agro-Forestry Fisheries Quality Assurance (Nafiqad) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked Russia to ease restrictions on Vietnamese seafood exports to the Eurasian Economic Community. Russia now only allows Vietnamese seafood enterprises with existing contracts to export to the market. This means only 64 of the 102 enterprises that meet food safety standards are allowed to export to Russia because the others have no valid contracts.

There are indications that the Indian government may continue and increase the sugar export subsidy scheme in this sugar season (October – September) in some states like Uttar Pradesh, where millers have still not paid farmers for the last season. 

SUGAR markets that stand on their own merit, like Australia's, will be disadvantaged by the United States Department of Commerce's proposal to subsidise Mexican sugar, according to the Australian Sugar Industry Alliance (ASA). The ASA tendered a submission to the US Department of Commerce last week, urging it to alter its 'remedy' in relation to subsidised Mexican sugar, according to a spokesperson from the sugar industry organisation.

(Reuters) - The United States wants to step up its trade dialogue with India, Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Monday, after the resolution of a global trade dispute paved the way for President Barack Obama to visit India. Direct contacts between Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month helped to end a deadlock that had prevented the World Trade Organization from implementing a $1 trillion package of reforms to global customs rules.

BRUSSELS: Europe's proposed free trade agreement with the US would collapse if European leaders bowed to pressure to remove investment protection from any deal, the chairman of EU trade ministers said. The US and the European Union are trying to seal a free trade deal which could bring economic gains of around $100 billion a year for each side.

The 2014 APEC leaders’ summit witnessed a string of successes in Chinese trade diplomacy. Key among these successes was the endorsement of China’s signature trade initiative as APEC host: the realisation sooner rather than later of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). China also reached a substantive agreement with South Korea on their bilateral FTA and a breakthrough on negotiations with the Americans to expand the coverage of the Information Technology Agreement — which promises to re-energise a US$1 trillion market in technology goods trade.

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s new trade commissioner said on Friday that she and her American counterpart were committed to injecting new energy into stalled trans-Atlantic trade negotiations. “We are both very, very committed to push forward,” the European commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, told reporters after a meeting with Michael Froman, the United States trade representative. “He really believes in this, and I do as well.”