NEW YORK: Uncertainty in the United States Congress over the outlook for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may make it tougher to finalise terms for the agreement, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday (June 26). Mr Lee was speaking in New York, where he wrapped up a visit to the United States by formally launching the New York office of Temasek Holdings and urging the business community to lobby Congress in support of the TPP.

LIMA, June 27 (BERNAMA-NNN- ANDINA) -- Nearly US$ 12 million has been collected in the first quarter of this year in the form of anti-dumping duty imposed on garments of Chinese origin in December last year, Foreign Trade Society of Peru (Comex) reported. Last December, the National Institute for Defense Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) imposed anti-dumping duties on five types of clothing imported from China.

Geneva (AFP) - The European Union has filed a formal complaint against Russia at the WTO over Moscow's embargo on pork from the bloc, trade sources said Friday. The move followed a failure to settle the issue in direct talks in April and May, and comes amid a raft of trade disputes between the two sides. In January, Russia banned imports of live pigs and pork from the EU after the discovery of two cases of African Swine Fever among wild boar in Poland and Lithuania. The disease can be deadly for domestic pigs, thereby battering countries' livestock sectors.

The European Commission said today talks on a massive free trade agreement with Japan will resume next week in Tokyo after a review judged sufficient progress had been made so far.  The two sides have held five rounds of talks over a year and the Commission had decided to assess progress amid doubts whether Japan would really open up its markets for everything from cars to food. 

Taipei, June 27 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday that it has urged Canada to abide by the norms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on anti-dumping issues, lifting excessive duties imposed on Taiwanese companies. The Canadian government did not follow WTO anti-dumping guidelines in imposing anti-dumping duties as high as 54.2 percent on two Taiwanese firms whose dumping margin on carbon steel welded pipes was found to be less than 2 percent, the ministry contended.

The Harper government took the U.S. to task this week at the WTO over the latest round of Buy America measures, a preliminary step in what could lead to dispute settlement proceedings at the Geneva-based organization. Late Friday, Trade Minister Ed Fast released a statement drawing attention to a Canadian intervention earlier this week at the WTO’s committee on government procurement.

SYDNEY, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Australia is on track to be the third largest exporter of raw cotton in the world this year with forecasts of just under 1 million tonnes, according to a bank report released Friday. The National Australia Bank (NAB) Agribusiness Rural Commodities Wrap said in the report that a recovery in cotton prices was likely to have acted as an incentive to production, with prices above historical average levels and more favorable than alternative crops.

When members of the World Trade Organisation launched the Doha round of negotiations after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, it was billed by many as a transformative exercise for the global economy.

Washington: import barriers in major economies begin to recede after a rash of protectionism during the global financial crisis, the World Bank showed on Thursday.

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - The European Commission has launched an investigation into accusations that China and Taiwan have dumped billions of dollars of stainless steel in Europe, a decision that could reignite trade tensions with Beijing. The Commission said on Thursday that a complaint received in mid-May from EU steel association EUROFER provided evidence that stainless steel to Europe from Chinese and Taiwanese producers had been exported at unfairly low prices.