Vietnam’s seafood exports are expected to hit USD1.8-2.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing the total value for the year to USD7.6 billion, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) reported. The year-end period often brings opportunities for domestic traders to intensify seafood exports because of a lot of orders from foreign markets to serve the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry announced on November 6, 2014, that the country has completed the domestic procedures necessary to fully implement a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) and Peru. The FTA has been applied provisionally between the EU and Colombia since August 1, 2013. The South American country is now waiting for the agreement to be ratified by nine EU member states, the Foreign Ministry said.

(Reuters) - China and the United States have reached a breakthrough in talks on eliminating duties on information technology products, a deal that could pave the way for the first major tariff-cutting agreement at the World Trade Organisation in 17 years.

At a meeting on November 10 between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, both of whom were in Beijing for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, it was declared that "substantive negotiations" on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between their two countries had been successful. It was in July this year, at their previous meeting in Seoul, that Park and Xi placed an impetus on the FTA talks, which had started in May 2012.

The US International Trade Commission recently announced it would extend the final decision of countervailing duties on solar photovoltaic (PV) imports from China and change the scope of the investigation to target modules and cells.

The Harper government prides itself on having staked out a leadership position over the years when it comes to strongly advocating for increased global trade liberalization. Calling for the elimination of trade barriers that significantly hamper market access for Canadian exporters and battling egregious forms of domestic protectionism in other countries have been key features of the government’s international trade agenda.

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) recently brokered a meeting between leaders of the Louisiana crawfish industry and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to resolve uncollected anti-dumping and countervailing duties owed to the industry. A federal appeals court ruled in March that the Great American Insurance Company and Washington International Insurance Company jointly owed the government $6.5 million in anti-dumping and countervailing duty bonds.

US President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building for a Washington-backed free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, after arriving in Beijing on the first leg of an eight-day Asia tour. U.S officials have ruled out a major announcement on the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Beijing, where Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday welcomed China's efforts this year on crafting a roadmap for the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) scheme, which he said should be based on bilateral and regional economic cooperation. Efforts must also be made to regain trust in World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, which are "endangered due to opposition from a small number of members," Abe told a morning session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Coopoeration (APEC) forum in Beijing.

The annual APEC summit is underway in Beijing. Perhaps the most notable absentee is India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who received an unprecedented invitation in July from Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the gathering.