The chief US negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, says participants are studying ways to bring Japan into the free trade talks as quickly as possible.

A protest was held in Lima, Peru, on Friday against a US proposal to extend patents on medicine under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, free trade talks. About 100 people gathered in front of the hotel where the 17th round of TPP negotiations is under way. The protesters included HIV carriers and non-governmental people involved in medical care. The US government is proposing to extend patents or increasing their scope to strengthen protection of drug firms' intellectual property rights.

JAPAN has appealed to Malay-sia, one of the member countries of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), to support its request for an extension of the ongoing talks. The extension is to enable Japan to join the next round of discussions to be held here in July, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed at his first press conference yesterday after being reappointed as minister. 

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General-elect, Brazilian diplomat Roberto Azevedo, said Friday that his greatest challenge after assuming office would be to make the Doha Development Round move forward. Negotiations for the Doha Round have been suspended for years due to differences on issues such as trade barriers and agricultural subsidies.

RIO DE JANEIRO/WASHINGTON – The 11 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations began their 17th round of talks in Lima on Wednesday with the focus on whether exceptions should be made to the general rule of tariff elimination. Even though Japan gained the unanimous backing of the members last month to become the 12th member of the talks, it cannot take part until the U.S. completes the 90-day notice required by Congress to admit it. The earliest Japan can join is expected to be the July round in Malaysia.

Japan is likely to miss most of the next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in July as it is being arranged to start before the country becomes the 12th member of the talks, a senior Malaysian government official said Friday. The 18th round is set to be held July 15 to 24 in Kuala Lumpur, while Japan waits for the United States to complete its 90-day notice to Congress around July 24 to officially admit it as a new member of multilateral talks for creating one of the largest free trade zones in the world.

(Reuters) - Canada will put forward a list of U.S. products it wants to target in retaliation for U.S. country-of-origin meat labels if last-minute changes to U.S. label regulations don't prove satisfactory, Canadian officials said on Friday. The dispute stems from a 2009 U.S. requirement that retail outlets put the country of origin on labels on meat and other products in an effort to give U.S. consumers more information about their food.

(Reuters) - Turkey is pushing for involvement in a proposed free trade pact between the United States and Europe which it fears could leave it sidelined and hamper its ambitions to become a top 10 economy over the next decade. Trade was high on the agenda in a meeting on Thursday between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader is worried a deal could hurt his nation's commerce with Europe and the United States.

On April 24, 2013, Acting U.S. Trade Representative ("USTR") Demetrios Marantis formally notified Congress that the United States plans to include Japan in Trans-Pacific Partnership ("TTP") negotiations. Coming just three days after the TTP parties accepted Japan's entry bid, and less than a month since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement that Japan would apply to join the talks, the move clears the way for new trade proposals that carry significant consequences for the U.S. automotive sector.

Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are grabbing headlines around the world. Meanwhile, Asia’s own mega-regional trade deal — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — is quietly being negotiated. But it deserves more press: the RCEP could create the world’s largest trading bloc and have significant implications for the world economy. So what would the RCEP cover and who will it benefit? What are the barriers to success?