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Releasing TPP text early is inconsistent: Robb
16-Dec-2013 AFR
"The Australian government agreed to a confidentiality undertaking to prevent the early release of TPP negotiating documents," says current Minister for Trade Andrew Robb
US trade body says it will be difficult for Korea to join TPP negotiations
16-Dec-2013 Hankyoreh
The Office of the US Trade Representative is demanding that Seoul address four major trade issues before participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
EU halts work on Ukraine trade deal
15-Dec-2013 BBC
The European Union has suspended work on a trade and association agreement with Ukraine after failing to get a "clear commitment" from President Viktor Yanukovych to sign it.
EU-Africa trade partnership negotiations stalled
13-Dec-2013 Euractiv
The upcoming deadline imposed by the European Commission to revise the EU’s preferential trade agreements with former colonies in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region is raising concern among African countries.
The EU-Thailand FTA: What fate for access to medicines?
12-Dec-2013 IP Watch
Following the public outcry over the EU’s demands for stringent intellectual property rules that would dramatically raise medicines prices in India, you would expect the EU to think twice about making similar demands in future trade agreements. Yet, this is precisely what is going on now in the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and Thailand.
Free trade, Gangnam style: The Korea-Australia free trade agreement
12-Dec-2013 Infojustice
On the 5th December 2013, Australia and Korea announced that they had finalised a new free trade agreement. Is it a fair trade fairytale? Or is it a dirty deal done dirt cheap?
Swiss National Council ratifies FTA with China
11-Dec-2013 SME Times
The lower house of Swiss parliament approved a free trade agreement (FTA) with China Tuesday.
Israel and Russia to negotiate free-trade agreement
11-Dec-2013 Jerusalem Post
Israel and Russia will soon begin negotiations over a free-trade agreement aimed at significantly increasing the relatively paltry trade numbers between the two countries, government officials said Tuesday.
US Congress could OK trade promotion bill in early 2014, lawmaker says
11-Dec-2013 Reuters
he Obama administration could secure "fast-track" trade promotion authority from Congress early next year, a leading lawmaker said on Tuesday, handing it the means to secure two big new trade deals.
EU-US free trade pact cause of concern for Indian pharma firms
11-Dec-2013 Financial Chronicle
There are apprehensions that TTIP would prevent Indian pharma companies to come to market with the same products - they would need to pass through several rounds of additional tests. As a result, prices will move up significantly.
Food safety in the EU-US trade agreement: going outside the box
10-Dec-2013 GRAIN
The transantlantic trade deal’s agenda for food safety if all about reducing hoops for agribusiness. Not only would this hurt Europeans, whose clearly higher standards would be dragged down, but it would affect many other countries’ food producers and consumers, since any deal reached between Washington and Brussels will set a new international benchmark.
TPP ministerial session ends without final agreement
10-Dec-2013 Mainchi
Japan and the United States, which have been in bitter conflict over thorny issues including Japanese tariffs on farm products as well as auto trade, failed to fill the gaps during the key session in Singapore, hampering the whole negotiation.
Canada - Africa: Aggressively negotiating treaties
10-Dec-2013 The Africa Report
Canada’s Minister of international trade, Ed Fast explains the country’s strategic shift to link development aid with private sector investments.
Webinar: The promises and perils of proposed US-EU trade deal for food and agriculture
9-Dec-2013 IATP
On the occasion the third round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) invite you to join them for a webinar on the agreement’s potential impacts on agriculture in the US and EU.
2nd Wikileaks release: US refusing to budge on TPP issues
9-Dec-2013 IT News
A new set of leaked documents from the latest round of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations show large differences remain between the 12 nations trying to hammer out a trade agreement.
India-UAE to sign bilateral investment protection agreement
9-Dec-2013 ANI
India and the UAE will next week sign an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investments.
India-EU free trade pact not likely in 3-4 years: Think tank
9-Dec-2013 PTI
India and the European Union are unlikely to ink a free trade pact in the next three to four years, a Belgium-based independent think tank, the European Centre for International Political Economy, has said. Echoing similar views, an MEP said, "It all depends on whether the Indian Parliament gets to pass the Insurance Bill in the Winter Session."
EU brewers want ’unfair’ beer tax removed through TTIP
9-Dec-2013 Euractiv
European brewers last week urged EU negotiators to put a removal of taxes on European brewers, from which their American competitors are exempt, on the table in the free-trade negotiations with the US.
Taipei-Manila ECA study almost complete: envoy
9-Dec-2013 China Post
A feasibility study on signing an Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) between Taiwan and the Philippines is nearing completion, the Philippines’ top envoy to Taiwan said recently.
Joe Stiglitz writes open letter to TPP negotiators
8-Dec-2013 KEI
"At this point in time, we do not need a TRIPS plus trade agreement, we need a TRIPS minus agreement."