WELLINGTON, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand Parliament on Tuesday passed a new trade safeguards law to bring the country into line with World Trade Organisation requirements. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith said the Trade (Safeguard Measures) Bill would promote efficient, transparent and objective investigative and decision-making processes.

For much of the twentieth century, leaders and policymakers around the world viewed the strategic importance of trade, and of international economic policy more generally, largely through the lens of military strength.

It is hoped that the next round of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations – the 14th – beginning in Beijing on November 6 between South Korea and China will be the last, and that the full text of the agreement can thereby be concluded before the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, also in Beijing. Given the importance of the talks, they are to be attended, for the first time, by both ministers ultimately responsible for trade treaties, South Korea's Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick and China's Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

The government on Monday held a brainstorming session on the position it will take on the impasse over signing an agreement aimed at easing global Customs rule at the World Trade Organization (WTO), as developed countries continued to put pressure on it to relent.

(Reuters) - China on Tuesday pressed its case for measures to create an alternative Asia-Pacific regional free trade area at an upcoming summit in Beijing, a framework that some see as an effort to attention away from a separate U.S.-backed trade deal. China is promoting its Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) plan ahead of this month's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, an idea supported in theory by the United States and other economies.

Following the anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed by the United States on Chinese and Taiwanese solar PV manufacturers, the European Union is now investigating other Asian countries for allegedly helping China violate the terms of a solar-export agreement it has with the EU, said Jason Huang, a research manager at EnergyTrend, a division of the Taiwan-based market intelligence firm TrendForce.

Nov 3 (Reuters) - Caught in a trade war between China and the United States, Taiwan's solar companies are scrambling to find new customers in a sharp reversal of fortunes for an industry flooded with orders just a year ago. Solar cell makers such as Neo Solar Power Corp, Motech Industries Inc and Gintech Energy Corp are chasing contracts in Japan, Europe and emerging solar markets to offset a steep decline in sales to China.

China is considering scrapping its export quota and export tax on molybdenum after the World Trade Organisation found they breached its rules, Chinese industry sources said Monday, November 3. The WTO's Appellate Body in August upheld an earlier finding that China's export restrictions on molybdenum, rare earths and tungsten breached WTO rules and could not be justified on environmental or conservation grounds.

After a meeting with the Chinese Minster of Finance Lou Jiwei, Australia's Treasurer Joe Hockey indicated that, under the terms of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Australia will be exempted from China's new tariffs on imported coal. Earlier this month, in what was said to be a move to aid Chinese mining companies, and also to restrict carbon emissions in the country, China imposed three percent and six percent duties on imported coal used in steel mills and power stations, respectively.

A senior Australian trade commissioner has urged Tasmanian growers to take an immediate step towards exporting products to Japan. Japan has over 4, 000 businesses operating in South East Asia with a free trade agreement likened to a business deal with Asia. Senior Trade Commissioner to Japan, Leonie Muldoon, says it's not just big businesses that Japanese retailers are looking at.