There are high hurdles that must be cleared for the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to end within the year, as sought by the United States.

With President Barack Obama’s popularity at home and overseas suffering, there’s yet another area of policy where his influence is diminishing: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. World leaders from 12 different countries wrapped up a week of negotiations in Brunei Friday and will meet again later this month in the United States.

SINGAPORE: The Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (GSFTA) came into effect on Sunday, 1 September. The agreement will further enhance Singapore’s growing economic relations and trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), says Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

Japan plans to hold bilateral talks on the elimination of tariffs with six countries through mid-September under the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative to make up for its late start in the negotiation process, government sources said.

The US ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena hoped on Saturday that Bangladesh would explore the possibility of joining the Asia-Pacific grouping–Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – ‘vigorously’ in its effort to be a middle-income country.

(Reuters) - South Korea has launched a dispute at the World Trade Organization to complain about U.S. punitive tariffs on South Korean washing machines, the WTO said on Thursday. A U.S. trade panel approved anti-dumping duties on imports worth hundreds of millions of dollars from South Korea and Mexico in January, following a complaint by American manufacturer Whirlpool (WHR.N).

Following a recent meeting of trade ministers in Mexico, the Pacific Alliance (PA) trade bloc, comprising Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, has stated it has finalized negotiations that will lead to an agreement to zero-rate all trade tariffs between the four countries.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 29 — Malaysian negotiators have fully carried out the mandate given by the government in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact here, said International Industry and Trade Ministry’s senior director J. Jayasiri. In fact, he said, the mandate was furher emphasised by the Cabinet before the Malaysian team flew to Brunei for the 19th round of negotiations.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Japan has proposed tariff cuts for products made from materials produced in countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks, negotiation sources said Thursday. For Japan, the proposal made during the ongoing round of TPP talks in Brunei means lower or no tariffs would be levied on Japanese firms’ products, subsequently boosting their competitiveness against those of countries not included in the TPP.

Australian officials participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations are continuing with their existing positions at the negotiation table, despite the two major political parties in Australia not indicating where they would stand on the issue of copyright after the election.