(Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman urged Japan on Thursday to ramp up efforts on a Pacific trade pact ahead of planned talks with his Japanese counterpart next week and a new round of negotiations in October. A stand-off between the United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, over access to farm and auto markets has been blamed for slow progress in clinching the trade deal.

The governments of Australia and Indonesia have become heavily involved in the live cattle trade.

Washington, Sept. 17 (CNA) The United States is concerned about Taiwan's treatment of pork imports containing the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine despite Taiwan's recent progress in seeking trade liberalization, according to a top U.S. trade official at a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Switzerland.

Market participants in Taiwan said that recent imposition of anti dumping duty on Taiwan’s stainless steel cold rolled steel production in Vietnam will not affect the business of local steelmakers. Taiwan’s stainless steel exports to Vietnam have been decreasing for several years. The exports to Vietnam totalled only 7,000 tonnes in 2013 compared from 11,947 tonnes in 2012. The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam has imposed a new tariff on stainless steel product imports from four Asian countries including China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The US commerce department announced Tuesday that it initiated anti-dumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations against imports of boltless steel shelving from China. Boltless steel shelving is used for storage purposes in homes, garages, offices, and commercial and industrial operations.

(Reuters) - Obama administration officials are concerned about the legality of a ban on oil exports and have begun discussing how to deal with potential challenges from nations that want to buy U.S. crude, two sources said. Officials in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the National Security Council have each held internal talks about potential free-trade challenges from South Korea and NATO allies, two sources familiar with the matter said.

HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam and Russia will promote co-operation to resolve the difficulties of Vietnamese enterprises in exporting goods to the European country, experts said. Nguyen Binh Giang, head of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), made this announcement at a seminar on exporting farm, forestry and seafood products to Russia held here last Friday.

(Reuters) - Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman are due to meet next week in Washington for talks on a bilateral deal that is crucial to clinching a broader multilateral Pacific rim trade pact. U.S. President Barack Obama has said participants in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations hoped to have a free trade agreement ready in time for his trip to Asia in mid-November. But with time running out, the outlook is murky.

(Reuters) - The European Union wants the World Trade Organization to rule on its dispute with Moscow over tariffs on vans exported from the EU to Russia, the WTO said on Monday. The EU originally took the dispute to the WTO in May, seeking to force Moscow to scrap the duties on vans from Germany and Italy. Russia said the vehicles are being dumped - illegally sold at unfairly low prices - and imposed duties of 29.6 percent on German vans and 23 percent on Italian imports last year. The EU said Russia is illegally protecting its own producers.

HA NOI (VNS)  — Domestic steel manufacturers will not be on the brink of shutting down when the free trade agreement (FTA) between Viet Nam and the Custom Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (VCUFTA) comes into effect later this year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated Friday in response to widespread concern over the industry's future.