Citing the complexity of the issues, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has postponed the preliminary ruling in its countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules from China. DOC had initially planned to issue a decision on March 28th, 2014, and instead the ruling will be made on June 2nd, 2014 and announced the following day. The CVD investigation is accompanied by an anti-dumping investigation into PV cells and modules from both China and Taiwan.

(VOV) - Vietnam expects negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to conclude in the near future, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung told his US counterpart Jacob Lew during their March 10 talks in Washington DC.  Dung affirmed the final trade pact must ensure benefits to all participating parties, including Vietnam and the US. For his part, Jacob Lew, who visited Vietnam last December, said getting the TPP negotiations wrapped-up and signed is of great importance to the US.

A report published Monday by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and ClientEarth shows how a leaked proposal from chemical lobbying groups could damage future protective legislation on toxic chemicals. The documents, drafted by the American Chemistry Council and the European Chemical Industry Council, were injected into last December’s Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations—an action that exposes the extent of the chemical industry meddling into secretive and ongoing U.S.-EU trade talks. 

Seoul — South Korea and Canada concluded a free-trade agreement Tuesday, wrapping up a negotiating process that began nine years ago and focused on barriers in the auto and agriculture sectors. The South's trade ministry said the FTA would be signed as early as June after legal reviews by both sides. Talks between the two countries began in 2005 but suffered a five-year hiatus as Canada took South Korean restrictions on beef imports to a World Trade Organisation panel in 2009.

HO CHI MINH CITY, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's southern Mekong delta provinces target 2.55 billion U.S. dollars from shrimp exports in 2014, about 50 million dollars higher than last year, local media reported Monday. Mekong delta region consists of one centrally-run Can Tho City and 12 provinces, of which Ca Mau province is likely to take the lead in shrimp exports, which are predicted to fetch 1.1 billion dollars, reported state-run Radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV) quoting sources from the local agriculture, forestry and fishery department.

BEIJING, March 11 (Yonhap) -- China has advised its domestic companies to file applications for a renewal of anti-dumping investigation into a type of synthetic rubber imported from South Korea, Japan and Russia, a step that could lead to extension of five-year duties against the rubber chemical. Unless no applications were received for 60 days from March 7, the anti-dumping duties against styrene-butadiene rubber imported from the three nations would be terminated on Sept. 8 this year, China's commerce ministry said in a statement.

KOLKATA (ICIS)--India has decided to impose an antidumping duty (ADD) of $146.09/tonne on phenol imports from the US, a government official said on Tuesday. The country’s Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has recommended the levying of the ADD after completing investigations on dumping complaints filed by two local producers – Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd (HOCL) and S I Group India Ltd, the official from the Ministry of Commerce said.

Teams of EU and US negotiators met today in Brussels for the first day of a fourth round of week-long negotiations on a new EU-US trade and investment agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Negotiators began their work on Monday covering different aspects of the agreement, including: ServicesLaborRules of originIntellectual propertyRegulatory sectors They will hold further meetings throughout the week.  Source: http://trade.ec.europa.eu

(Reuters) - The United States is finding talks with Japan on opening its agricultural market "extremely tough", a senior U.S. trade official said on Friday, as the two countries prepared for another round of bilateral negotiations. Japanese officials will visit Washington next week in a bid to break a deadlock over tariffs on farm and industrial products, which is drawing out plans to conclude a wider free trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Vietnam has been told not to be too worried about the competition with the EU sourced products in the home market once the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is signed. “The EU is one of the most important markets for Vietnam. The EU-Vietnam economic relationship is the mutual-supporting relationship. The EU is not Vietnam’s main competitor,” commented Truong Dinh Tuyen, former Minister of Trade, who was the head of the Vietnamese negotiation delegation for Vietnam’s admission to WTO.