(Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Friday urged Russia to keep its market open to U.S. meat products and expressed hope the U.S. Senate would soon pass a bill upgrading trade relations between the two countries, his office said.

Trade Minister Tim Groser welcomes the arrival of over 500 negotiators from 11 countries to Round 15 of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which runs from 3-12 December in Auckland.

They’re only two brief emails, but they say quite a lot about the Harper government’s approach to transparency in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. On Thursday iPolitics was forwarded an e-mail that the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) sent to an “official stakeholder” who’ll be attending the TPP’s 15th Round of negotiations in Auckland, New Zealand next week. From the email:

According to trade consultant Peter Clark, if Japan doesn’t join the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, Canada doesn’t stand to benefit much from the 11-country deal.

New Zealand should be very careful in helping the United States to use the Trans Pacific Partnership deal to assert leadership in the Asia Pacific, former diplomat and senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, Terence O'Brien, warned yesterday. He said it should also be aware of pressures that could diminish Asean's central role.

OSAKA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Top-quality Japanese beef known as " Kobe Beef" was exported to the United States for the first time on Thursday by a beef marketing organization based in western Japanese city of Kobe. Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association said that a plane carrying about 170 kg of fillet, loin and other parts from five cows took off from Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

WASHINGTON — Newly appointed Ambassador to the United States Kenichiro Sasae pledged Tuesday to advance bilateral talks with Washington over Tokyo's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade initiative, while downplaying a territorial row with China over the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands.

(Reuters) - U.S.-led talks on a free-trade pact in the Asia-Pacific region are entering a potential make-or-break stage, putting pressure on President Barack Obama and other leaders to sacrifice sensitive domestic interests for a big deal to boost growth. The 11 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, talks meet next week in Auckland, New Zealand, for the 15th round since negotiations were launched in March 2010.

Competition appears likely to emerge between ASEAN’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), an agreement to launch negotiations for which was reached at the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Phnom Penh on 20 November, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

BRUSSELS, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission (EC) decided on Tuesday to formally cancel the anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese lighters, a move that will take effect on Dec. 12. BIC, a disposable pocket lighter manufacturer based in France, filed a petition to the EC for extending the anti-dumping measures on Chinese lighter makers by another five years. The petition has been denied.