Julia Gillard announced last night that it was "time to seal the deal" with Japan on what would be Australia’s biggest bilateral free trade agreement. Speaking at the 50th annual Australia Japan Business Conference in Sydney, the Prime Minister stressed that the closeness of the countries went far beyond the "transactional" focus often ascribed to the China relationship.

(Reuters) - Countries representing 70 percent of the global economy are set to negotiate lower barriers to trade in services after agreeing the structure of a deal, Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson said in an interview. The push for a deal on trade in services is one of several attempts to steer the World Trade Organization (WTO) towards achievable goals for trade reform, a contrast with the ambitions of the Doha Round of talks that collapsed last year.

U.S. athletic footwear manufacturer New Balance said on Thursday that it pressed the top U.S. trade official during a visit to its Norridgewock, Maine, factory to maintain tariffs on shoes from Vietnam in a proposed free-trade deal.

Following an agreement with the European Parliament (EP), the European Council has adopted a regulation amending the European Union (EU) scheme of generalized tariff preferences (GSP) for developing countries. The EU GSP grants trade preferences, such as zero or reduced tariffs, for developing countries' exports to the EU, and has been in force since 1971. Its reform is said to be aimed at adapting the system to the changed global landscape; making it more transparent and predictable, and more generous to the countries in greatest need.

Oct 6 (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization has asked the European Union to hand over documents on the funding of the Airbus A350 in a potential sharpening of a transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies, a U.S. source familiar with the case said. It is the first time the funding of Europe's answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, due to make its maiden flight next year, has been drawn directly into the world's largest trade dispute but it remains to be seen how the WTO will act on the data.

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Obama administration's reluctance to push for 12 years of data protection on "biologic" medicines in free-trade talks is a growing concern for U.S. drug manufacturers who employ about 4 million Americans, an industry official said. "The biggest challenge we're facing right now is the White House," Harrison Cook, a vice president at Eli Lilly, told Reuters in an interview on his company's goals for the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed regional free trade agreement covering 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific.

MONTREAL - Are you fed up with the sorry state of Quebec’s taxpayer-funded roads and highways? Disgusted by widespread allegations of corruption and collusion in the province’s construction industry? Shocked at the kickbacks that organized crime is said to demand to get things built in this province?

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has approved the establishment of a dispute settlement panel to resolve a complaint launched by China against countervailing duties imposed by the United States on a wide range of manufactured goods.

More than 15 years after the nation began its accession bid, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy has confirmed that Laos is just a month away from being admitted as a full member of the global trade body. The terms of Laos’s WTO membership were agreed by the countries negotiating with the country, referred to as being among the 'least-developed nations' on September 28, 2012, and its bid will go before a plenary of WTO members for the approval of the General Council on October 26.

The G20 has disappointed some observers’ high hopes for major reforms in global economic governance and a substantial boost in multilateral cooperation. But observers of the G20 should not be too disappointed after Los Cabos, nor place too much expectation on these issues. Failure to implement reforms does not necessarily mean that the G20 process itself has failed. Rather, it indicates the multiple challenges to implementing such reforms.