The Presidents of South Korea and China have agreed during three days of meetings, which concluded on January 11, 2012, that the nations will commence negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA) to boost trade relations.Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed that negotiators would first focus on resolving sensitive bilateral trade issues before moving on to specific details of what should be included in the agreement.

JAKARTA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will not lodge an appeal against a WTO ruling on the import ban of flavored tobacco by the United States, citing satisfaction despite losing its argument on the efficacy of the ban in reducing the number of young smokers, the Jakarta Post reported here on Saturday.Director General for International Trade Gusmardi Bustami told reporters on Friday that Indonesia had won the backing of the WTO on its stance regarding the discriminatory nature of the U.S. import ban.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 (Bernama) — The European Union (EU) is optimistic that its free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia will be inked by year-end, as per the timeline set by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, during his visit to Brussels, Belgium in 2010.Ambassador and Head of the Delegation of the EU to Malaysia, Vincent Piket said the two governments must work together in all areas pertaining to the agreement, and across all economic sectors to realise the timeline.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner (R-OH) called on Colombia Wednesday to implement all measures necessary to secure the coming into force of a free trade agreement between Bogota and Washington.Boehner led a congressional delegation visiting Colombia to "talk with the Colomban government and begin a correct implementation plan of the free trade agreement."

(Reuters) - The United States pressed the European Union on Friday for hard evidence that it has complied with a trade ruling on subsidies to planemaker Airbus in a showdown that could kick off the next stage in the world's largest and costliest trade dispute.Officials from both sides said they met in Geneva to review the EU's response to a ruling by the World Trade Organization that the EU gave billions of dollars of unfair aid to Airbus, harming the interests of rival Boeing Co.

Australia's Trade Minister Craig Emerson has welcomed the entry into force in Indonesia of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), hailing it a milestone in the relationship between the two countries.The move means the proportion of Australia's current merchandise exports eventually entering Indonesia tariff-free will rise from 56% to 92%. Another 5% of Australian exports will enjoy tariffs no greater than 5%.

Canada, Mexico and the US's joint request was granted at the meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, to extend, until March 23, 2012, the deadline for the adoption or appeal of the panel reports in the case regarding country of origin labelling (COOL) requirements.

Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono Arsyaf said on Tuesday that the government has started reducing live cattle imports as the domestic supply has been sufficient. The government had decided to gradually slash cow importation from about 400,000 last year to 283,000 this year, the minister said. "The reduction of importation has started this year. We expect to reduce it to 283,000 this year," he said at the State Palace.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will focus this year on non-tariff measures (NTMs) which are used by several countries to protect domestic producers, an issue consistently being raised by India in the multi-lateral trade meetings. “Non-tariff measures [i.e. Policy measures, other than tariffs, that can potentially affect trade in goods] and services regulations are less transparent than tariffs. Some of them are in place for legitimate reasons…. Others are mainly used to protect domestic producers,” the WTO said in a statement posted on its website.

BEIJING (Kyodo) — Japan, China and South Korea are expected to start negotiations for a trilateral free trade agreement in the first half of this year, possibly in May, a Chinese newspaper reported Monday. "If there is no strong opposition from inside the Republic of Korea, talks on the China-Japan-ROK FTA will be officially launched during the first half of this year, in May at the earliest," China Daily, in a front-page article, quoted a source at the Commerce Ministry as saying.