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Amid protests, EU-India trade talks begin today
17-Mar-2009 WSJ
Ahead of the three-day free trade negotiations between India and the European Union, starting on Tuesday, a campaign group led by trade unions and non-profit organizations have asked the government to halt the talks.
FTA with China and Rio deal ’not linked’
17-Mar-2009 Sydney Morning Herald
A free trade deal between China and Australia won’t be conditional on the government giving the green light to Chinalco’s grab for a bigger share of Rio Tinto, Trade Minister Simon Crean says.
US farm exports at risk over Mexico truck dispute
17-Mar-2009 Reuters
US wheat, beef, rice and bean exports to Mexico face possible retaliatory duties in a dispute over whether Mexican trucks will be able to operate in the United States, Republican lawmakers said on Monday.
Jane Kelsey: Free trade deal may not make sense in these hard times
17-Mar-2009 NZ Herald
The careful stage management of announcements on free trade agreements is not new. But the US decision to defer negotations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership should encourage us to look beyond the simplistic assumptions that the more free trade agreements we sign, the better off we will be, based mainly on some fanciful modelling of the gains to agricultural exporters.
Globalization: The Long and Winding Road
17-Mar-2009
It has been widely announced that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is dead, as well as plans for a NAFTA Highway which many assured me never even existed in the first place.
SA may be excluded from EU partner deal
17-Mar-2009 Business Day
The European Union is likely to move towards the official signing of an interim economic partnership agreement, known as an EPA, with countries of the Southern African Development Community that will exclude South Africa.
Taking the credit - how financial services liberalisation fails the poor
16-Mar-2009 WDM
The report looks at how financial services liberalisation, and especially the entry and ongoing presence of foreign banks in the global south, as promoted at the World Trade Organisation and through European bilateral trade deals, leads to the prioritisation of richer customers and larger companies resulting in poorer customers losing out.
Govt gears up to limit free trade deal adversities
16-Mar-2009 Jakarta Post
Indonesia is preparing massive financial and technical support for meat and tropical fruit businesses in a bid to cash in on ASEAN’s free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand.
Who are the cleared advisors that have access to secret ACTA documents?
16-Mar-2009 KEI
According to USTR, all of the members of the 27 USTR trade advisory committees are cleared to see the classified documents in the ACTA negotiations. This blog entry lists more than a hundred, but it is only a partial list of the several hundred lobbyist who are considered "cleared advisors."
TWN preliminary report on FTA/WTO and financial crisis
16-Mar-2009
A new TWN report finds that North-South free trade agreements, bilateral investment treaties and World Trade Organization commitments often contain a number of provisions that can increase the likelihood of a financial crisis and make it more difficult to take the necessary measures to deal with one once it occurs.
`Korea-EU FTA to be concluded next month`
16-Mar-2009 Donga
If ratified, the agreement will create the world’s second-largest free trade zone after NAFTA and create pressure to ratify the US-Korea FTA.
Obama administration says treaty text is state secret
15-Mar-2009 PCWorld
The Office of US Trade Representative (USTR), part of President Barack Obama’s office, has denied a company’s request for information about a secretive anticounterfeiting trade agreement being negotiated, citing national security concerns.
Ever heard of Gaesung? Gear up for its products
15-Mar-2009 Economic Times
The North Korean city of Gaesung will emerge as a major beneficiary of the India-South Korea comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) which is likely to be signed soon
Social organizations oppose signing economic agreement with China
15-Mar-2009 Taiwan Church News
Farmers, medium-sized and small businesses will lose out while capitalists will reap the most benefits if an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Taiwan and China is signed. An ECFA is also a prelude to reunification.
S Korea, Peru to start free trade talks
15-Mar-2009 Xinhua
South Korea and Peru will start their first round of free trade negotiations in Seoul next week, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Friday.
USIBC wants Bilateral Investment Treaty between India & US
15-Mar-2009 India Journal
The US India Business Council, which played a key role in the passage of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, wants the Obama administration to take the relationship between the two countries to the next level by signing a bilateral investment treaty, among other things.
Sealing the deal
14-Mar-2009 Syria Today
After years of political wrangling, Syria’s long-delayed Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union is expected to be ratified by EU member states by the middle of the year.
India-EU free trade agreement: Should India open up banking sector?
14-Mar-2009
This report questions the much-touted benefits of opening up banking sector under the India-EU FTA. Are big European banks going to augment the reach of the banking system to millions of Indians citizens who have no access to basic banking services? What specialization and experience do European banks have when it comes to providing basic banking services to landless rural workers and urban poor dwellers? Will the India-EU FTA reduce the domestic regulatory space?
Indonesia and Chile are exploring free trade agreement possibilities between the two countries
13-Mar-2009 RRI
To meet the interest of Chile becoming a bridge between Asia-Pacific markets including Indonesian and South American, especially Latin America markets near to the Atlantic ocean, Indonesia and Chile are discussing the possibility of free trade agreements of both countries.
US to push back on SPS farm trade barriers -Kirk
13-Mar-2009 Reuters
The United States will make it a priority to get rid of barriers to US farm exports based on unjustified sanitary and phytosanitary concerns about human, animal and plant health — including the EU ban on GM crops — the designee for US Trade Representative said on Thursday.