The European Commission has reported that good progress was made towards updating the European Union's free trade agreement (FTA) with Mexico in the recently concluded third round of negotiations.

The United States is pushing for trade to be a key issue in top-level economic talks with Japan, a person involved in the talks told Reuters on Thursday, an unwelcome development for Tokyo, which is seeking to fend off U.S. pressure to reduce the bilateral trade imbalance.

Việt Nam recorded a trade surplus of US$455.5 million with Canada in the first two months of this year.

British banks could be able to access the US markets in future as freely as they trade with the EU now, under a trade deal envisaged by Liam Fox.

Growth in the volume of world merchandise trade is expected to rebound this year from its tepid performance in 2016, but only if the global economy recovers as expected and governments pursue the right policy mix, WTO economists reported.

Seventy-nine countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific will speak with one voice as they prepare to negotiate a major partnership framework with the European Union.

The European Commission said on Tuesday the Philippines’ human rights record could influence future trade ties, but denied reports that it had suspended free trade negotiations with Manila.

Ministers from Japan and ASEAN will push for trade rules with high degrees of freedom for a proposed regional free trade pact.

South Africa’s retailers performed robustly in 2016, despite the country seeing its weakest growth in seven years. This is according to EY’s analysis of the 12 largest retailers in South Africa, which account for nearly R600b in annual sales.

In the afternoon of 10 June 2015, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, the Heads of State and Government signed the agreement establishing the Tripartite FTA and the declaration launching the FTA. Out of 26 countries, 23 signed the declaration and 15 signed the agreement. The following signed the agreement: Angola, Burundi, Congo DR, Egypt, Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Swaziland signed the following week to bring the total to 16, followed subsequently by Zambia and Libya bringing the total to 18 by March 2017. Those yet to sign the agreement are Ethiopia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Mozambique.