NEW DELHI—A day before the deadline for a global agreement to ease trade restrictions, U.S. officials said they hoped India would drop its strident objections and allow the deal to move forward. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said in an interview in Mumbai with the Press Trust of India that Washington was "very disappointed" with India's threat to derail the World Trade Organization pact, but added she remained "optimistic" New Delhi would change its stance.

The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), an arm of the Commerce Ministry of India, has launched an anti-dumping probe over imports of Diketopyrrolo Pyrrole Pigment Red 254 from China and Switzerland. The move comes after a domestic producer filed a petition with DGCA over alleged dumping of the chemicals into India. Diketopyrrolo Pyrrole Pigment Red 254 is a chemical primarily used in the paint industry. DGAD said that it has found sufficient evidence of dumping from China and Switzerland.

The outcome of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union and Canada has been cast into doubt following objections raised by Germany.

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos and the prime minister of Japan agreed to expedite the process of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. Following a bilateral meeting in Bogota, President Santos and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that speeding up the FTA process would allow better access to Colombian products for the Japanese people and better access to Japanese products for the Colombian people.

The preliminary imposition of anti-dumping (AD) duties on Chinese and Taiwanese solar products by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on Friday drove another wedge between the domestic solar industry.

(Reuters) - China's Commerce Ministry castigated the United States on Monday for setting new import duties on Chinese solar products, saying Washington's actions risked damaging the industry in both countries. The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday placed anti-dumping duties as high as 165.05 percent on solar panels and cells from China after a preliminary finding that the products were being sold too cheaply in the U.S. market.

The US government determined on Tuesday that it would maintain the existing antidumping duty orders on steel threaded rod and malleable iron pipe fittings from China, despite Beijing's repeated calls for Washington to drop protectionism. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) concluded in a ruling that revoking the current antidumping duty orders on these products from China would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.

A senior US trade official says the United States aims to conclude talks with Japan on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact as soon as possible. Acting Deputy US Trade Representative Wendy Cutler spoke in Washington on Wednesday. She said the most difficult issues are at the final stages, and the United States is confident that both sides are committed to reaching an agreement. She said now is a good time to settle the talks.

HA NOI  (VNS) — The Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta provinces expect US$1.3 billion from exports of shrimp in the second half of 2014, bringing earnings to $2.6 billion for this year. The Steering Board for the Southeast Region, said that to increase export targets, the provinces planned to produce 214,000 tonnes of prawn in the second half for processing export products and 430,000 tonnes of prawn for the whole year, which is 4.6 per cent higher than last year.

Following a meeting in Tokyo between the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, it has been announced that their two countries have reached an agreement on the substance of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). The FTA, negotiations on which began in 2012 and went through seven sessions, will entail both countries reducing their tariffs on selected goods.