Factory conditions across some of Asia's most export-oriented economies slumped in December, hit by the US-China trade war and a fading technology boom.

PRESIDENT Trump’s programme of tariffs on Chinese products and retaliatory measures by Beijing have cost the US and China nearly $6billion in 2018, according to a dramatic new study.

Steel importers are winning most of their requests for tariff exclusions for products they say they can’t find in the U.S., but the process is riddled with inconsistencies and frequent procedural changes, according to manufacturers and importers.

China's factory activity shrunk slightly in December, marking the first time in two years the country's economic barometer did not expand, Reuters reported Monday.

Australian products will more regularly find their way into households in the republic of Korea and China with the new year signalling the latest tariff cuts.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, took effect on Sunday, covering 13% of the global economy and heralding the latest initiative by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to throw open the gates to the previously closed Japanese economy.

Tariff cuts and other benefits from Pacific Rim trade agreement begin Dec. 30

Pakistan has officially requested to resume negotiations with Mercosur for a free trade agreement, with discussions expected to begin in early 2019. Islamabad believes it is an opportunity to bridge the trade deficit with countries of the South American bloc.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is drafting a decree for imports of 56,284 tonnes of raw tobacco (HS code 2401) under a tariff quota in 2019.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which is the new acronym for the earlier botched Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), might pose serious problems for Asean countries that are signing up to this major trade and investment deal.