Trade Minister Tim Groser has indicated that negotiations to resolve the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal might take longer than thought. Addressing the United States-New Zealand Pacific Partnership Forum in Washington, Mr Groser said negotiations could extend beyond the end of this year. He repeated an earlier warning that the Government won't sign up to a low quality deal. "New Zealand will not be a member of this agreement that puts aside our vital export interests in favour of some patchy little deal at the end.

(Reuters) - The United States is not respecting a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling on meat labeling, Mexico's Agriculture Minister Enrique Martinez said on Tuesday, saying it was hurting local industry. The WTO ruled in late June last year that a U.S. program for labeling imported meat unfairly discriminated against Mexico and Canada, putting pressure on the United States to bring the scheme in line with global country-of-origin meat-labeling rules.

Over the past few weeks, much has been made about the transatlantic trade pact President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address, as well as the announcement that Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the U.S. hopes to wrap up this year. Largely overlooked, however, was another development in the area of trade: the leadership contest for the post of the World Trade Organization’s director general.

HAVANA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Cubans can now import electrical appliances for personal use under a new customs regulation, the country's official gazette said on Monday. The list of items that can be imported include air conditioners and electric stoves, on the condition that each unit weighs less than one ton and the energy consumption is below 1,500 watts. Refrigerators, freezers, fryers, water heaters, irons, toasters and microwave ovens could also be imported as long as their energy consumption is below 2,000 watts.

Business Leaders Across Asia Pacific Call for Redoubling of Efforts to Conclude Comprehensive TPP Accord by Year’s End.

HONG KONG — The Obama administration and the European Union have each decided to negotiate settlements with China in the world’s largest antidumping and antisubsidy trade cases involving China’s roughly $30 billion a year in solar panel shipments to the West, officials and trade advisers in Beijing, Brussels and Washington said.

NEW DELHI, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The interests of both sides would be hurt if the European Union (EU) goes ahead with an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into mobile telecommunications equipment from China, said a senior Chinese official on Tuesday. Telecom manufacturers of China and the EU have enormous interests in each other's markets and have broad cooperation, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng told Xinhua.

NEW DELHI: After years of inaction, China on Monday got New Delhi to reopen the issue of a regional trade agreement, while promising to take steps to make the terms of trade more favourable for India after deficit that crossed the $40 billion mark in 2012-13. 

A heavyweight lineup of former United States trade representatives have delivered a gloomy prognosis on the likelihood of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal being wrapped up this year. US President Barack Obama has signalled he wants a deal this year but a New Zealand-US gathering in Washington today heard that was unlikely. "I'm optimistic it will be done ... I'm not optimistic it will be done this year," former USTR Carla Hills told about 275 delegates at the US-New Zealand partnership forum.

(Reuters) - The United States is poised to introduce stricter rules on the labeling of meat imports this week, a move that is likely to heat up a simmering trade dispute with Canada and Mexico. Under new regulations that Washington says are aimed at complying with a World Trade Organization order, all meat sold in the United States must have labels that state where an animal was born, fed and slaughtered.