According to an anonymous source in Washington Thursdaythe US House of Representatives has tentatively agreed to vote on the country’s three pending trade deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama in mid October. But observers say the belated move on Korea-US FTA could lead to more delays in the latter half of this year. The protracted battle over the US debt limit as well as other major national events such as the ten year anniversary of the September 11th attacks this month have held up plans to ratify the deals.

VNEconomyNews.com - European Union’s countries of Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia are small but potential markets for Vietnam’s exports in the future besides current big markets like Germany and the UK, a trade official said on Tuesday. The Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday held an online dialogue at www.ttnn.com.vn, a foreign market online gateway, helping domestic firms have more information about these new markets.

NEW DELHI: After shunning Latin America two years ago, the government is now seeking closer economic ties with the region as part of its initiative to diversify markets for Indian merchandise. Commerce secretary Rahul Khullar will be visiting Latin America this week to explore avenues of improving economic cooperation with the countries of the region. Khullar, who will be leading a high-level business delegation, will also look into the possibility of signing free trade agreements (FTAs) with Panama and Colombia, which could serve as a gateway to Latin America.

(Reuters) - China has appealed a World Trade Organization ruling against its export policies on raw materials, the Ministry of Commerce said, in a move which could have implications for its rare earth exports. The decision, posted to the ministry's website (www.mofcom.gov.cn) late on Wednesday, made good on its promise to appeal the case before the trade body's Sept. 2 deadline.

Aug 30 (Reuters) - China is currently waging war on its unruly rare earths sector, with state inspection teams in the middle of a four-month campaign to crack down on illegal producers, processors and traders.China produces more than 95 percent of global rare earth metals and its efforts to bring the sector under greater control have alarmed its overseas customers as supplies dwindle and prices surge.

SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, topped South Korea's exports in July, driven mainly by rising demand from Europe, the government said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, South Korea shipped 5.18 billion U.S. dollars worth of petroleum products last month, up 95.7 percent from the same month a year before.With the sharp growth in exports, petroleum products became South Korea's largest export item last month, outpacing ships and automobiles, the ministry said.

HA NOI — Viet Nam shipped 15,000 tonnes of pepper abroad in August, earning a turnover of US$91 million and boosting the total volume of exports to 98,000 tonnes in the first eight months of the year, announced the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.The first eight months of exports marked a modest increase of 6.5 per cent in volume but a significant growth of 78.7 per cent in value, reaching $545 million, due to surging prices in the world market. Pepper export prices rose by 71 per cent year-on-year during that time, hitting an average of $5,599 per tonne.

Despite demands from parliamentary opposition parties, South Korea’s Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon has stressed that the South Korea-United States free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) will not be renegotiated.The Democratic Party (DP), the main opposition, has already confirmed that, before it could contemplate support to the KORUS FTA, the agreement would need to be re-balanced. They believe that, following its renegotiation last December, the treaty is now too favourable to the US, and that it should be further renegotiated.

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- China will eliminate tariffs and value-added taxes on equipment and components used to develop coalbed methane (CBM) refining in mines starting this year, according to a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and other central government departments.The tariffs will be dropped in order to accelerate the exploration of CBM in China's coal mines, according to the statement.CBM is a type of natural gas that can be extracted from coal beds.

While the United States considers a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia, the human rights situation in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia has deteriorated dramatically, culminating on the 17th of August with a massacre in the township of El Dorado.