CHENNAI: India’s proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union could include tariff reduction on import of vehicles as well as automotive components. If it does, it will be a first since India’s FTAs with other auto hubs like Japan, Korea and Thailand have so far left out completely-built vehicles from the areas covered by the FTA. The possibility of fully-built vehicles being included in the FTA with the EU – home to auto majors like Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Fiat and Renault – is causing considerable heartburn in the auto industry.

Brussels - EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht indicated Monday the European Union will start preliminary talks with Japan on a bilateral free trade agreement later this month in a bid to enter official negotiations sometime this year. At a meeting with Japanese reporters, De Gucht hinted at the European Union’s readiness to enter into official FTA negotiations if Japan makes progress in removing nontariff trade barriers and liberalizing public procurement through preliminary talks that he said would usually take some six months.

Almost immediately after the imposition by the European Union (EU) of anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties against imports of Chinese coated fine paper, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced anti-subsidy duties on European imports into China of potato starch. The initial ruling issued by the Ministry of Commerce stated that, as certain European companies have been subsidized by EU member states in exporting potato starch to China, and as Chinese producers have suffered as a result, anti-subsidy duties of between 7.7% and 11.19% will be imposed, with effect from May 19.

Following recent consultations in Dominica between the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States's (OECS) World Trade Organization (WTO) members, the OECS has said that securing flexibility in negotiations on tariff liberalization will enable its governments to avoid cuts to border taxes.

BEIJING, May 16 -- The European Union's (EU) move to levy tariffs against Chinese-made coated fine paper is against the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Beijing should take the EU to task to safeguard the interest of Chinese enterprises, experts said on Sunday. The EU announced on Saturday its first-ever anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on Chinese coated fine paper. The paper is used in the production of high-quality brochures and magazines. The bloc said it will charge duties ranging from 4 to 12 percent for five years as an anti-subsidy tariff.

VNEconomyNews.com - Vietnam’s seafood industry continued to make an outstanding growth in the first four months of the year, with the export turnover jumping nearly 28 percent to US$1.6 billion. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) expected that the Pacific white shrimp and prawn will remain Vietnam’s strategic exports in the upcoming years, with an average turnover estimated to reach $2 billion per year. Among other seafood export are tra fish (pangasius), which ranked second behind prawn with a turnover of nearly $1.5 billion.

The world’s main trading nations remain divided over a global trade deal despite a compromise plan put forward by the European Union to rescue the stalled Doha trade round, the EU’s trade chief said. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said it was not clear how trading powers could resolve differences over the key sticking point – how to open up trade in industrial goods.

Washington, May 14 (PTI) 

The government has said it has formed an expert committee to review deemed exports policy where there have been incidents of misuse of the scheme. Deemed exports refer to those transactions in which goods supplied to the users do not leave the country and payment for such supplies is received either in Indian currency or in foreign exchange. Last week, the government constituted a panel to improve drafting of the policy aimed at avoiding multiple interpretations, according to a Commerce Ministry statement issued in New Delhi on Friday.

BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China opposes the European Union's decision to impose its first-ever anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on imports from China, said Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman Yao Jian on Saturday. Yao made the remarks in a statement on the MOC website after the EU announced its anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on Chinese coated fine paper -- used for high-quality printing. The EU has violated the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules by imposing both anti-subsidy and anti-dumping trade remedies on the same goods, Yao said.