Delays, unusually high fees and excessive documentation are just some of the difficulties that businesses in Indonesia face as they trade with the rest of the world. 

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Commerce Department announced Tuesday that it has initiated anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations over imported refrigeration products from China. 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane, the product under investigation, is primarily used in air conditioning systems, the department said in a statement. The investigations have been requested by Mexichem Fluor Inc., a refrigerant producer based in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

(VOV) - Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lacking information on ASEAN market opportunities of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This was revealed at aseminar in Hanoi on December 4 examining ways to help SMEs seize opportunities from ASEAN and ASEAN+ FTAs. Delegates said the upcoming FTAs will put pressure on the trade of goods due toa  sharp fall in tariffs, in which 90% of taxation will be reduced by zero percent by 2015.

According to multiple government officials on November 29, the South Korean government unveiled its interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an expanded version of the 2005 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP). This move is regarded as the shift of the Korean government’s stance from a cautious attitude to willingness to join it. The TPP, which aims to abolish tariffs and integrate economies in the Asia Pacific region by 2015, has been joined so far by 12 countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, Peru, and Malaysia.

Business Forum welcomes Korean interest in TPP, Encourages progress in Bali and Singapore The New Zealand International Business Forum has welcomed Korea's expression of interest in joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). “Korea is a major partner for New Zealand. Our negotiations for a free trade agreement are well advanced. For Korea to join the other twelve partners in TPP would make sense,” said NZIBF Chairman Sir Graeme Harrison.

Beijing (Alliance News) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday called for Europe to eliminate trade barriers, and offered Britain as an "ideal partner" for an expanding China. Cameron said he opposed calls by some in Europe for more measures to protect its businesses against trade competition. "Britain wants to tear those barriers down," he said after talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. "An open Britain is an ideal partner for an opening China."

BEIJING--China on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over U.S. anti-dumping duties on imports of certain Chinese goods, the commerce ministry said in a statement. Commerce ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said in the statement that the U.S. exaggerated the dumping margins of 13 types of Chinese products and falsely accused China of dumping them. The U.S. in 2012 imported around $8.4 billion worth of related products from China, including photovoltaic products, the statement said.

India's trade minister said developing countries need more protection for their farmers before they can back new World Trade Organization agreements, further dampening hopes that the struggling trade organization will be able to pass even a simple trade-boosting package this week. Minister Anand Sharma said the rich members of the multilateral trade organization weren't taking into account the needs of the poorer countries.

(Reuters) - Crisis is the natural state of world trade negotiations. But this week will be different. Ministers meeting in the Indonesian resort of Bali from Tuesday until Friday will decide the fate of the World Trade Organization, with two possible outcomes: a global trade agreement, the first since the WTO was created in 1995, or a failure that kills off the Doha round of trade talks and casts the WTO into obsolescence.

TOKYO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Akira Amari, Japan's minister in charge of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations of Japan, brushed aside on Sunday the possibility of making further concessions to the United States on sensitive issues. "We had a very tense discussion on outstanding issues, but we reached no conclusion," the minister for economic and fiscal policy told reporters after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in Tokyo.