Japan plans to abolish tariffs on up to 85 percent of items in trade with potential partners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, but politically sensitive agriculture products are not included, sources said Aug. 18. The proposal will be presented during a meeting of the 12 countries negotiating the TPP in Brunei on Aug. 22-30. Japan, which joined TPP negotiations for the first time in July, is under pressure to open up more of its markets particularly because the United States plans to have the talks concluded by the end of the year.

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Canada has asked the World Trade Organization to take another look at the United States' rules for labeling meat with its country of origin, seeking to defend its livestock farmers who have lost sales to U.S. packers. Canada is requesting that the WTO form a compliance panel to review U.S. country of origin labeling rules, known as COOL, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast said on Monday. The move signals a new round in a dispute that could become a North American trade war.

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Japanese exports to China in the first half of this year decreased to the lowest level in four years amid strained ties between the top two economies in Asia as well as China's economic slowdown.

The European Union today requested the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva to rule over a dispute concerning Chinese anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of high-performance stainless steel seamless tubes (“HP-SSST”) from the EU.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Briefing local media outlets on the future of the economic relationship between Taiwan and the United States, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez voiced his support for Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) yesterday. Menendez, the highest ranking U.S. Congressional official to visit Taiwan in recent years, was invited to speak at the American Chamber of Commerce Taipei's Special Luncheon.

(Reuters) - A senior New Zealand official on Friday said he was optimistic the United States would agree to phase out tariffs in politically sensitive sectors like sugar and dairy as part of a regional free trade deal with Asia-Pacific countries. "It's our belief the administration is focused on TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), wants to do it and wants to do it this year," New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States Mike Moore told reporters. "We can see movement (from U.S. negotiators) happening at an accelerating pace."

Japan plans to initially present a less ambitious trade liberalization goal in Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, Akira Amari, minister in charge of TPP issues, suggested Thursday. The negotiations will start with low numbers, Amari said at a news conference after he and other Cabinet ministers discussed their strategy for the next round of TPP talks starting next Thursday in Brunei. His comments suggest Japan will first offer a low number as the proportion of trade items on which it promises to end tariffs.

In 2010, 14.3 percent of adults in Singapore were smokers. The goal is to reduce this to under 10 percent by 2020. However, a soon-to-be multilateral free trade agreement threatens our local anti-smoking efforts. This is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Moving this month in Brunei into its potentially final round of talks, the TPP will establish an FTA encompassing Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

HANOI, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's export to the EU is forecast to continue rising in the coming time as the market is on a recovery trend, economists said. State-run Vietnam News Agency reported on Thursday that two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU over the past seven months reached 19 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.5 percent. Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of 13.5 billion dollars in export revenues.

Japan joined the July 23-25 session of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade scheme in Kota Kinabaru, Malaysia. The TPP talks are unusual in that participating countries are obliged to maintain strict confidentiality concerning the content of negotiations.