HCM CITY (VNS)— Viet Nam's pepper export revenue could set a new record this year or at least equal to that of last year despite lower export volume, according to the Viet Nam Pepper Association. Last year, 156,396 tonnes of pepper were exported worth US$1.2 billion, the highest figures so far in both volume and value, chairman Do Ha Nam told a review meeting in HCM City yesterday. This represented a year-on-year increase of 16.38 per cent in volume and 34.72 per cent in value.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a United States led trade agreement involving twelve countries, is currently under negotiation. A key part of the proposed format of the TPP is a rule known as “yarn forward”. In essence, “yarn forward” would require that only fabric produced from yarn made by a TPP country would qualify for the trade agreement’s duty-free status. The rule is intended to ensure that the trade benefits of the TPP only apply to signatory countries rather than outside players such as China.

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang spoke to the Vietnam Government Portal on how Vietnam can make use of the free trade agreement signed with the Republic of Korea in Hanoi on May 5.

HA NOI (VNS) — The Viet Nam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters (Vasep) forecast that the export value of tuna will decrease by 5 per cent this year, bringing in an estimated US$123 million for the second quarter of the year. Vasep predicted a drop in turnover because of a recent sharp decline of the world price of tuna, coming in below $1,000 per tonne. The global increase in tuna production, and the depreciation of the euro and Japanese yen against the US dollar are listed as causes.

PORTLAND, Oregon -- President Obama landed in Portland Thursday evening to press his case for an Asia-Pacific trade deal that he says would boost U.S. exports to 11 nations and strengthen environmental and labor protections for workers abroad. Mr. Obama, headlining a fundraiser in downtown Portland, was greeted by some 200 protesters opposed to that very deal.

May 8- Canada is facing a tough squeeze at talks on a major Pacific trade treaty because the concessions other nations want it to make could cause serious problems for the governing Conservatives in this October's general election. Canada, one of 12 nations aiming to create the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is under pressure to start dismantling protections for its dairy and poultry industry that keep domestic prices high and make imports expensive.

(Reuters) - Canada risks getting left behind in a 12-nation Pacific trade deal because it has been reluctant to negotiate opening its markets, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday. Vilsack also told Reuters that longstanding disagreements with Japan over rice exports would not threaten the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and that the United States and Japan were working toward a compromise.

Matt Salmon, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives said he was pleased with the four-day trip to Vietnam starting from May 4.  At a press conference on the trip in Hanoi on May 7, Salmon, who headed the delegation from the US House of Representatives, expressed his support for the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Of the 12 countries negotiating the TPP, Vietnam could benefit more from the agreement, he added.

Economist Brad Delong blogged a few days ago that it drives him crazy when people analyze trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership in terms of simple trade theory. [A]nalyzing modern trade agreements as if they were primarily Ricardian deals is likely to lead one substantially astray. One has to think, and think deeply, creatively, and subtly, about all the potential general equilibrium effects. One has to work hard to bound their magnitude.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick and Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang finalized the free trade pact in the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng in Hanoi on May 5.  According to this latest free trade deal, Korea will lift tariffs on a total of 409 goods while Vietnam will remove tariffs on 272 goods, all occurring in stages over the next 15 years.