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Trade agreements come under Sonia scanner
10-Apr-2006 Business Standard
Concerns raised by a section of domestic industry against indiscriminate opening up of the Indian market to imports have touched a chord at the highest levels of the policy establishment.
Pressure builds to seal trade deals
9-Apr-2006
New Zealand could be sidelined from trading with some of the world’s fastest-growing economies if it fails to push ahead with a network of Asian free trade deals, Associate Minister for Trade Negotiations Jim Sutton says.
Democrats urge labor clause in Peru FTA
8-Apr-2006 Reuters
The Bush administration should include a provision in a proposed free-trade pact with Peru that the South American country meet international labor standards, a group of congressional Democrats said on Friday.
Colombia, Cuba agree to discuss trade talks
8-Apr-2006 AP
Colombia and Cuba may seem strange bedfellows but the stalwart US ally and its oldest adversary in Latin America are putting aside their differences to negotiate a trade deal.
Caricom to talk possible deal with US
8-Apr-2006 AP
Caribbean foreign ministers will discuss a possible free trade agreement with the US when they meet next week with the US trade representative.
New TRT government to proceed with FTA talks
8-Apr-2006 Bangkok Post
Thailand’s new Thai Rak Thai government will proceed with the negotiations of free trade agreements.
First death in Ecuador FTA riots
8-Apr-2006 Prensa Latina
The violent police repression against Ecuadorian demonstrators protesting the free trade agreement with the US has claimed its first life, university students denounced Friday.
Panel pushes 16-nation FTA in Asia, mulls boosting foreign workers
8-Apr-2006 TMCnet
A government policy-setting panel on Friday welcomed a proposal by the trade minister to launch negotiations between Japan and its 15 Asian neighbors to create a free trade zone, and discussed whether to accept more foreign workers amid the aging of society, economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano said.
Filipino and Japanese workers to lose out in JPEPA
7-Apr-2006
Both Filipino and Japanese workers will lose out under the proposed Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) according to a report by Mr. Takemasa Ando, a researcher from Waseda University in Tokyo.
USTR 2006 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
7-Apr-2006 USTR
USTR has recently released its latest annual country-by-country assessment of barriers to US trade around the world, Washington’s basis for unilateral trade sanctions.
US-Uruguay BIT (2005)
7-Apr-2006 USTR
US in relentless bid to forge FTA with Southeast Asia
7-Apr-2006 AFP
More than three years after President George W Bush unveiled an initiative to forge free-trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations, a deal aimed at prising open the 500-million-strong regional market remains elusive.
UAE FTA with USA: Impact will be on services sector
7-Apr-2006 MENAFN
A new study by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry analyses the impact of the UAE’s FTA with the US.
ADB attacks bilateral trade deals
7-Apr-2006 Financial Times
“A lot of these bilateral deals have nothing to do with economics. Instead, they [Asian Development Bank’s members] are mostly doing it for diplomatic reasons, including efforts to gain access to natural resources.”
Venezuela accuses US of undermining unity of Andean Community
6-Apr-2006 Xinhua
Venezuela has accused the United States of attempting to undermine the unity of the five-nation Andean Community in the way of free trade deals.
House debate Oman labor rights in US FTA
6-Apr-2006 UPI
Amidst rising anti-trade sentiment in Congress, House Republicans and Democrats wrangled over labor rights issues Wednesday demanding that a US free trade deal with the Omani government include stronger provisions to protect workers rights.
Reasons to worry about bilateral trade pacts
6-Apr-2006 The Nation
An examination of the globalised approach by both EU countries and the US to bilateral FTAs shows that acceleration has occurred as the WTO has lost its effect. While it is easy to rationalise that the global north is acting independently because the WTO is failing, it is more fun to speculate that the global north is acting to stall the WTO since they get much better terms on a one-to-one basis in their agreements with developing countries.
Japan, Saudi Arabia agree to launch FTA talks with GCC
6-Apr-2006 TMCnet
Japan and Saudi Arabia agreed Thursday to launch negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement between Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of six oil producers in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Japanese officials said.
NZ-China FTA in two years
6-Apr-2006 NBR
New Zealand is on track to become the first Western country to clinch a free trade agreement with China after the leaders of both countries set a goal to secure such a deal within one to two years.
Inaugurating the Center for National Movements against the South Korea-US FTA
6-Apr-2006 IPLeft
Unless this FTA is blocked, Korean economy, nay, the whole Korean society will soon fall under US unilateralism built upon transnational capital, Korea-US military alliance, and of course the new gained strategic flexibility of the US forces in Korea.