SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea should accelerate its move to forge a free trade pact with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), considering the economic bloc's abundance of natural resources and potential for growth, a report said Thursday. First launched in January, the EAEU is an economic body consisting of five Commonwealth of Independent States -- Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan -- with an economic size of US$2.1 trillion.

Negotiators for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are meeting in Washington to try to break a deadlock over autos – one of the biggest stumbling blocks to a massive Pacific Rim trade pact between 12 countries. They are facing pressure from firms in the Canadian and Mexican auto sectors for a better deal. Canada’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, Kirsten Hillman, is heading to the U.S. capital on Thursday to join discussions that sources say are part of an effort to clinch an accord by mid-September.

South Korea and Ecuador will announce the start of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) next week, the Seoul government said Wednesday. The announcement will be made Tuesday at a meeting of the countries’ trade ministers in Seoul, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The declaration of the start of FTA talks comes nearly two years after the countries concluded a joint feasibility study in June 2013.

Ever since Jagdish Bhagwati coined the phrase ‘spaghetti bowl’ to describe the maze of overlapping preferential trade arrangements (PTAs), trade economists have been split over whether such deals are ‘building blocks’ or ‘stumbling blocks’ for the multilateral trading system. 

HA NOI  (VNS) — Viet Nam was the second largest live cattle importer of Australia in the fiscal year 2014-15 with 309,505 heads, up 136 percent, according to the Meat & Livestock Australia Limited (MLA)'s website on August 13. During the period starting July 1, 2014, Australia exported a total of 1.38 million heads of cattle, up 22 percent compared to a year earlier, and brought home US$1.4 billion, a 29 percent rise. Indonesia continued to be the largest importer with 746,193 heads last year, representing a 20 per cent increase.

Vietnam, which announced a free trade agreement with the European Union earlier this month and signed a deal with South Korea in May, is also eager to be part of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership currently being negotiated. However, as reported by Bloomberg, some sectors in Vietnam will become vulnerable to competition from foreign corporate giants.

If negotiations are completed successfully and ratified by the dozen Pacific countries involved, is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) likely to create more jobs and economic activity for participants? The Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington contends that it will, estimating that the TPP will enlarge the economies of the 12 by $285 billion by 2025.

Following the failure of reaching a deal in Hawaii in late July, the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) partners are holding bilateral talks while waiting for multilateral negotiations to resume in September. Vietnam is one of the 12 countries negotiating the U.S.-led TPP as one of the world’s biggest free-trade agreements. The 11 other partners are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and the United States.

South Korea has no other choice but to join the U.S.-led regional free trade agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the country’s trade minister said Monday, as the country’s exports have been stuck in a slump. "A South Korea that has no membership in the TPP is unimaginable," Yoon Sang-jick said while meeting with reporters here.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to pursue bilateral and regional trading arrangements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to gain market access internationally and remains an attractive location for foreign investments. Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) President Datuk Jalilah Baba said free trade agreements (FTAs) played a key role in regional integration. "This is one of the critical reasons why the government is actively pursuing the TPP," she said in a statement today.