At a ministerial meeting on international economic affairs on May 15, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hyun Oh-seok discussed the present progress in South Korea's negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) with China and Vietnam.

(Reuters) - The European Union is considering raising the pressure on the United States in the world's largest trade dispute by challenging tax breaks that encouraged planemaker Boeing (BA.N) to keep production of its latest jet in Washington state, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) reported the US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the final results of the ninth administrative review (POR9) from August 1 st , 2011 to July 31 st , 2012 on certain frozen fish fillets from Vietnam.

President Obama announced in November 2009 the United States’ intention to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to conclude an ambitious, next-generation, Asia-Pacific trade agreement that reflects U.S. economic priorities and values. Through this agreement, the Obama administration is seeking to boost U.S. economic growth and support the creation and retention of high-quality American jobs by increasing exports in a region that includes some of the world’s most robust economies and that represents more than 40 percent of global trade.

HA NOI (VNS) — Two key export industries - textile and garments as well as leather and footwear - have posted significant gains in the first four months of the year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). The ministry said textile and garment firms had enjoyed a year-on-year increase of 20 per cent in export value to US$5.9 billion. Le Tien Truong, deputy general director of Viet Nam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) said many enterprises had export orders until the third quarter and a few had contracts until the end of the year.

The Vietnam Competition Authority plans to organize a public hearing of the country’s first anti dumping investigation regarding stainless steel imports next month, in spite of objections from importers. Last December, the agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade concluded that imports from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan had been dumped and proposed a tax of 6.45 % to 30.73% take effect in 120 days.

Turkey has to be party to a proposed Free Trade Agreement between the EU and the U.S., Turkey’s Economic Ministry declared on Monday, stressing that otherwise Turkey should consider renouncing their custom union agreement with the EU. Turkish Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci arrived in Boston on Tuesday to meet U.S. counterparts in Washington on Wednesday as part of the "Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation" between the Turkey and the U.S.

Russia takes seriously the fulfilment of the country's commitments within the World Trade Organization (WTO), and increasing US and EU criticism is politically motivated, director of the department of trade talks at the Ministry of Economic Development Maxim Medvedkov told the Russian news agency TASS in comments on Monday's meeting of the WTO general council.

(Reuters) - The European Union accused Russia at the World Trade Organisation on Monday of failing to do anything to reduce trade friction while the United States said Moscow was implementing more trade restrictions. Although Russia and the European Union have both launched two trade disputes at each other in the past year - including one apiece last month - the European Union says Russia's illegal trade restrictions go beyond the ones already taken to the WTO.

Over the past few days ASEAN leaders met in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, for the first time ever at their 24th summit. Against what were once considered long odds, ASEAN has become a central feature of Asian regional architecture.