On September 27, a third preliminary working-level consultation was held in Seoul on the ways to move forward prospective negotiations on the proposed South Korea-China-Japan free trade agreement (FTA).

Prime Minister John Key's list of "conspiracy theorists" who are criticising his trip to Hollywood has grown to include free trade opponent Jane Kelsey. Mr Key leaves on Wednesday night to meet movie moguls, pushing New Zealand as a destination for big-budget productions, and he says it's about jobs for Kiwis and nothing else. Labour thinks it's inevitable he will discuss Kim Dotcom and the US bid to extradite the internet tycoon to face copyright piracy charges, and the Greens say he shouldn't be going amid the uproar over the GCSB's illegal spying.

The Moroccan government has announced that it will suspend import tax on wheat as part of a plan to maintain an adequate supply of grain in the country. Under the current regime, imports of bread wheat are typically taxed during the Moroccan harvest to help local farmers to sell grain to millers. As locally-produced stocks start to dwindle, duties are then reduced to maintain supplies of grain in the country. However, new figures show that Morocco’s wheat reserves are drying up.

WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Monday acknowledged the Geneva-based grouping has been a "disappointing" forum for trade liberalization but placed the blame for moribund world trade talks on both China and the United States. Lamy, in a speech to the Brookings Institution, said it was clear a comprehensive agreement in the Doha round of world trade talks launched in 2001 "is out of reach in the short term."

Unlike NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement which was the subject of heated political debate in the U.S during the 1990s, a new free trade treaty, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, has escaped most public attention and controversy.

U.S. industry groups, including the main poultry and dairy associations, complained about Canada's supply management policies and intellectual property regime during a Monday hearing at the United States Trade Representative on Canada's entry to the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations. Meanwhile, in its presentation to the USTR, the AFL-CIO urged the U.S. government to incorporate "a new approach to trade policy, one that prioritizes benefits for working families, not simply benefits for multi-national or global enterprises (MNEs)."

(Xinhua) The Free Trade Agreement between Hong Kong and the Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA States), namely Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, will soon enter into force, a spokesman of Hong Kong’ government announced Friday. The part of the Agreement involving Hong Kong and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland will enter into force on October 1, while the part involving Hong Kong and Norway will enter into force on November 1.

GENEVA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) agreed to establish a panel Friday to study China's complaint against countervailing duty measures of the United States against certain products from China. China said that it recognized WTO members' legitimate rights to adopt trade remedy measures but such rights must be exercised in accordance with WTO rules and not be subject to any form of abuse. The United States said the measures applied were necessary in order to offset alleged subsidies bestowed by China.

GLOBAL - The Office of the US Trade Representative held a public hearing on Monday to hear testimony regarding Canada's participation in negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Clay Hough, International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) senior group vice president, testified that IDFA supports Canada's participation, but the country must abandon its current dairy policies because they conflict with TPP goals.

(Reuters) - Eight lawmakers urged President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday to broaden the scope of proposed duties on billions of dollars of solar panels from China, as the U.S. government nears its final rulings in the case. The lawmakers, led by Oregon Democratic Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, criticized an earlier Commerce Department decision to exclude Chinese solar panels containing cells made in another country from preliminary duties of more than 30 percent.