LONDON — American negotiators appear to be softening their resolve to keep financial services out of trans-Atlantic trade talks with the European Union. At a news conference on Friday in Brussels at the end of a week of talks, the chief negotiators for both sides said they would hold a special session on financial services on Nov. 27. That meeting will include officials from the United States Treasury Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Trade talks between the European Union (EU) and the United States have moved a step further as the week-long second round of negotiations concluded Friday. "We are advancing step by step," EU chief negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero said at a press conference after the conclusion of the second round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). "We worked intensively on a number of sectors to strengthen the compatibility of our regulations," Bercero added.

(Reuters) - U.S. and EU trade negotiators rejected accusations on Friday that they are pandering to multinational companies in their push to agree the world's largest free-trade deal, saying food safety and the environment will not be put at risk. Consumer and green groups say a deal encompassing half the world's economic output threatens the standards governing products from medical devices to toys, because companies are pressing for lower costs and fewer barriers to trade.

On 15 November 2013, the EU and US concluded the second round of week-long negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. A good atmosphere and the active involvement of regulators from both sides meant significant progress was made.

(VOV) -Local businesses should seize new opportunities offered by the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Republic of Korea (RoK), said participants in a seminar in HCM City on November 12. Vietnam-RoK trade value had increased by four fold to US$21.7 billion in 2012. However, they said, the figure has not yet met both sides’ huge potential.

After two-plus years of negotiations Taiwan and Singapore have inked the Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Partnership (ASTEP), a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the two entities. With this pact Taiwan appears to be making progress in creating favorable conditions with other trading partners that could pave the way to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as well as other bilateral FTAs.

TOKYO, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Japan and the United States on Tuesday confirmed their cooperation toward concluding the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade negotiations by the end of this year, according to local media. After a meeting with visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso said that they confirmed that the two countries will work together to finish the free trade talks by yearend, reported Japan's Kyodo News.

In the aftermath of signing 15 regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), while India's imports from these countries and regions increased significantly but our exports to these partner countries either stagnated or registered minimal growth, according to a just-concluded study undertaken by apex industry body The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The European Union on Monday will propose lifting its block on South African sugar and allow more duty-free access for wine in return for help with Europe's stalled trade deals with sub-Saharan Africa, people familiar with the matter said. EU trade chief Karel De Gucht will make the offer to South African officials in Johannesburg, two people close to the talks told Reuters, on his first stop in a week-long tour of Africa that is seen as a last big push to salvage trade deals across the continent.

BRUSSELS—Negotiators seeking a new trade deal between the U.S. and Europe are aiming to chip away at regulations that limit trans-Atlantic trade. Standing in their way are fundamental differences between how the European Union and the U.S. approach regulation.