(VOV) - The US Department of Commerce has decided to impose new anti-dumping taxes on tra (Pangasius) fish fillets imported from Vietnam. Under the DOC’s recent 9th administrative review (POR 9), the Vietnamese fish products imported into the US from August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012 will be subject to high tax rates. Notably, the rates increased almost double to US$0.42/kg for Vinh Hoan products and US$2.15/kg for Hung Vuong products.

Canada is "playing a constructive and important role" in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, International Trade Minister Ed Fast has said. Nineteen rounds of TPP talks have now been completed, with the latest, in Brunei, concluding at the weekend. According to Fast, negotiators built on the progress already made. He explained that they focused on goods market access, rules of origin, investment, services, financial services, temporary entry, intellectual property, government procurement, and the environment.

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.