HO CHI MINH CITY, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The 9th round of negotiations on the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement (FTA) will take place in Vietnam's central Da Nang city on Sept.22-26, local Saigon Times daily reported Tuesday. The report quoted Ambassador Franz Jessen, head of the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, as saying that negotiators at the next round of negotiations in Da Nang will seek ways to do away with outstanding differences. Local media revealed that geographic indication and government procurement are among the main challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, Head of the National Steering Committee for International Integration will lead a Vietnamese delegation to visit the US from September 15-19 to discuss important matters on Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with US partners. The visit aims to conclude the TPP negotiations soon, giving a boost to wider cooperation in economics, trade and investment between the two nations.

(VOVworld) - TPP negotiations concluded in Hanoi last Wednesday. Joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will provide Vietnam both opportunities in investment and exports and new challenges. Twelve TPP negotiators in the latest round of negotiations debated access to goods and service markets, investment, intellectual property, to environment, state-owned enterprises, and the law. They also conducted bilateral exchanges. For Vietnam, a developing country, becoming a TPP member will boost domestic production, trading, investment, and exports. 

While trade officials and steel producers argue over the effect of lifting duties on Russian steel imports; investors worry the local industry is as good as dead. Ministry of Trade officials are engaged in the seventh round of talks on a pending free trade agreement with the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union between September 15 and 19. Among other things, the union would eliminate taxes on some 170 Russian steel and iron products starting in 2015.

(Pittsburgh) -- United Steelworkers (USW) International President Leo W. Gerard issued the following statement today in conjunction with the release of a letter signed by U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (NC) and 30 other senators. The letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker supports the Department’s decision to initiate antidumping and countervailing duty investigations against passenger vehicle and light truck tire imports from China.  

(Reuters) - U.S. producers of steel rebar undercut each other on price and are not hurt by imports from Mexico and Turkey, foreign firms told the U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday as they fought a push to slap duties on their steel. U.S.-based producers have complained of a doubling of imports between 2010 and 2012 and launched a trade dispute that could end in import duties as high as 67 percent on reinforcing bar used to reinforce concrete.

The EU believes the anti-dumping duties applied by Russia are incompatible with WTO law, both on procedural and substantive grounds. At the EU’s request, consultations were held on 18 June 2014 to try to resolve the dispute. However, they did not satisfy the EU's concerns about the WTO-incompatibility of the measures applied by Russia.

Asserting that China has a huge advantage of over 30 billion dollar in the trade balance, Congress leader Shashi Tharooron Monday urged Beijing to remove the non tariff trade barriers as well as some of the tariffs that affect trade.

ONP-Viet Nam, a US company that manufactures wood products for exports, has been in Viet Nam since 2010. Patrick McNeal, its President and General Director, speaks to Viet Nam News about entering foreign markets and his company's experience with exports. What potential do you see for Viet Nam's wood products exports?

CANBERRA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia looks set to sign a free-trade agreement with China, the deal expected to be clinched by the end of the year. The Australian newspaper reported on Monday that the agreement could be finalized around the time of the G20 meeting in Brisbane in November when Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to meet twice that month.