Since 2010, the United States has been negotiating a secret trade deal, the Trans Pacific Partnership. If approved by Congress, this pact between the U.S. and 11 or 12 of America's Pacific Rim trade-partners would govern 40 percent of U.S. imports and exports. So far, the negotiations are being conducted under tight security; for good reason, as there are big problems with TPP. 1. U.S. trade negotiators want TPP to get special, "fast-track" treatment from Congress.

According to the official press release, the members of the World Trade Organisation signed the group’s first trade reform agreement in Bali Indonesia this month. The agreement is designed to remove international trade barriers , which could add $1 trillion to the global economy. The agreement is a milestone for the 159 members of the W.T.O., which was created in 1995. As  director general Roberto Azevedo said, “we have put the world back into the World Trade Organisation. For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered”

(Reuters) - Russia put more protectionist policies in place than any other country in 2013, closely followed by neighboring Belarus, according to data from Global Trade Alert (GTA), a leading independent trade monitoring service. Russia alone accounted for 20 percent of the protectionist policies identified worldwide by GTA, with steps ranging from cuts in foreign worker quotas to state support for the rare earth metals industry, agriculture and aircraft makers.

With Chinese imports rising, industry body FICCI has asked the commerce ministry to take immediate steps to extend anti-dumping provisions on imports of all stainless steel flat products. Currently, it is imposed on 600-1250 mm category only. In a letter to S R Rao, Secretary, ministry of commerce and industry, Ficci Director Arnab Kumar Hazra said a large scale of circumvention of anti-dumping duty is happening through imports in other shapes such as stainless steel circles and outside the range of 600-1250 mm.

A major maker of solar panels opened another chapter in a long-simmering trade dispute on Tuesday, asking the Commerce Department to impose new duties on imported modules made of certain components from China or Taiwan. The petition, brought by SolarWorld Industries America, is intended to close a loophole in the United States decision to impose duties on imported Chinese modules.

Dao Tran Nhan, Minister Counsellor for Trade and head of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US, said on the fringes of the recent trade counselors’ conference that Vietnam will run a trade surplus of US$20 billion with the US when its export is estimated to surpass the US$25-billion mark.  The figure is significant as export to the US accounts for 20% of Vietnam’s total export, Nhan said.

HA NOI (VNS)— Local firms should focus on improving competitiveness in the quality of export products for the European Union (EU) market in the future, said a trade official. Vu Ba Phu, Minister Counsellor of the Viet Nam Embassy in Belgium and the EU (Luxembourg concurrently), told thoibaokinhdoanh.vn that the EU has been an important market for Viet Nam since 2012. He added that the EU is now Viet Nam's largest export market with a total trade value of US$30 billion for 2013, followed by the United States, China, the ASEAN countries and Japan.

(VEN) – “2013 can be said to be a successful year of Vietnamese exports and those to the US in particular. The value of exports to the US is predicted to exceed US$25 billion for the first time, and if the prediction comes true, Vietnam will have a surplus of about US$20 billion in trade with the US this year,” said Commercial Counselor Dao Tran Nhan, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US, in a talk with Vietnam Economic News’ Lan Phuong. Could you briefly say about the results of exports to the US in 2013?

The next ministerial meeting for Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations will likely be postponed to February 2014 from the initially planned January, informed sources said. The United States has recently proposed holding the next meeting on Feb. 17-19 after calling for a January session, when 12 members of the TPP negotiations gathered at the latest ministerial meeting in Singapore this month, the sources said Tuesday.

The Dec. 10 adjournment of minister-level talks in Singapore on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade scheme means that the negotiations will not conclude by the yearend deadline set by leaders of the 12 participating countries at their October meeting in Bali. Although Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eager to conclude the TPP talks as soon as possible, an early conclusion should not become Japan’s goal. There is the risk that trying to hurry a deal will result in sacrificing important national interests.