The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has set anti-dumping duties of up to 66.7 percent on imports of reinforcing steel bars (rebar) from Mexican companies. The 66.7 percent rate is to be applied to producers Grupo Acerero and Grupo Simec, the DOC said. All other producers/exporters in Mexico face a final dumping margin of 20.58 percent.

Todays Zaman reported that Turkish steel bar exporters have welcomed decision from the US Commerce Department to drop the steel duties imposed on their products. Mr Namık Ekinci chaiman of Turkish Steel Exporters Union said that the union had been declaring through all available channels that Turkish steel exporters are not involved in damping, as the American courts have just agreed.

Organizations representing producers in the top pork countries – Australia, Chile, Mexico and the United States – are calling for a “comprehensive, high-quality” Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that eliminates tariffs on nearly all products including pork. In a letter to the TPP negotiators, the groups stated there should be no product or sector exclusions, especially in agriculture.

An export forum held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 12 discussed how businesses could boost sales through the development of high-quality popular brands.  Most importantly, businesses needed to develop products that were competitive in the domestic markets Dr. Tran Du Lich, a member of the National Assembly Committee for Economics, said. 

HCM CITY (VNS)  — A bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the EU will yield tangible and intangible benefits for both Viet Nam and the bloc, the largest market for Vietnamese products and the country's second most important trading partner, a top EU official said. "The FTA currently under negotiation targets to reduce at least 90 per cent of tariff lines on Vietnamese exports," Dr Franz Jessen, ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam, told a business lunch organised on Thursday by the EU-Viet Nam Business Network.

Russia considers the latest round of Western sanctions illegal and is ready to appeal against them to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Economy Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev told reporters on Friday. “The latest round of sanctions provides grounds to appeal to the WTO. And we will appeal,” Ulyukaev said.

(Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it would respond quickly with retaliatory measures to the latest round of U.S. sanctions that it criticized as another "hostile step", pledging to support affected companies with state funds. The European Union and the United States have tightened economic penalties on Moscow, accusing it of sending troops to back pro-Moscow separatists fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern regions. "Of course our retaliatory measures will not keep you waiting," the Foreign Ministry said in an online statement.

Brazil’s chamber of foreign trade, CAMEX, has imposed an antidumping duty on imports of a phosphate additive used in baking – its first resolution since a new decree passed last year strengthened the country’s trade remedies. CAMEX imposed the duty on exporters from China, the US and Canada, as well as some Brazilian importers. It passed the resolution on future imports of sodium acid pyrophosphate on 8 August.

Negotiations between 12 nations drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made “important progress” following 10 days of intensive meetings in Hanoi, according to a press release earlier this week from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). “We have committed to a focused work plan, which will allow us to boost momentum and make continued progress,” Barbara Weisel, U.S. Chief Negotiator for TPP, is quoted as saying. “All countries involved want to reach a conclusion to unlock the enormous opportunity TPP represents.”

There is something rotten in the state of Europe when an unelected, unaccountable EU body can glibly inform millions of us that we no longer have the right to question its most dangerous and unpopular policies. This is exactly what has just happened, as the European Commission has announced that it will not allow a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to challenge the secret trade talks it is holding with the US government, supposedly on our behalf.