BEIJING— Chinese manufacturers have been hit hard. The US is now entitled to impose additional duties on imports of Chinese tires, the World Trade Organization said on Sept 12, upholding a 35 percent tariff ruling made in 2009.

HCM CITY — Viet Nam expects to export no more than 150,000 tonnes of cashew nuts this year, down 48,000 tonnes against last year, according to the Viet Nam Cashew Association (Vinacas). Speaking at a conference in HCM City yesterday, Vinacas chairman Nguyen Thai Hoc said raw cashew production this year had been about 300,000 tonnes, equal to last year. As of August 31, enterprises imported 200,000 tonnes of raw cashew from Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Indonesia, and Cambodia, Hoc said, adding that about 30,000-40,000 tonnes would be imported from Africa this month.

(Reuters) - Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Monday he was hopeful Congress would pass long-delayed trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia before the United States hosts an annual summit meeting for Asia-Pacific leaders in November. "Our goal has always been to get them done as soon as possible and that hasn't changed," Kirk told reporters after remarks to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

(Reuters) - World Trade Organization (WTO) members should acknowledge the 10-year-old Doha round of trade talks is "deadlocked" and begin charting a more "credible path forward," a top U.S. trade official said on Monday. "One thing is clear: What we are doing today in the Doha negotiations is not working. That is not a value statement, but a simple assessment of the facts. After 10 years, we're deadlocked," U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Michael Punke said at a hearing on his renomination to his current job.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Monday sought to allay concerns that the U.S. push for stronger drug patent protections in a Transpacific trade deal would raise the cost of life-saving treatments out of the reach of the region's poor people. Global healthcare activists accused the White House of mainly protecting the profits of big U.S. pharmaceutical companies, which say they need strong patent protections to recoup the costs of developing new drugs.

India and the European Union (EU) are resuming talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) from tomorrow. The negotiations, to be held in Brussels, would go on till September 14, but any meaningful progress towards a viable conclusion seems far-fetched. Officials on both sides are tight-lipped, as more pressing and deeper problems have surfaced in the bilateral relations. Indian negotiators are hopeful of a positive outcome this time, even as stiff differences still exist on both sides over greater tariff concession and more market access.

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Argentina became the last of five South American countries to sign onto a regional free trade agreement with Israel. With the Sept. 9 agreement, Argentina joins MERCOSUR, the political and economic consortium that already had Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Argentina, even before the agreement was signed, there were some initial steps. “This is a psychological effect,” Israel’s ambassador to Argentina, Daniel Gazit, told JTA. “Last year Israeli exports grew almost 20 percent and Argentinian exports 40 percent."

Thirteen years after Vanuatu applied to join the World Trade Organisation, or WTO, it has now decided to resume discussions to accede to the world multilateral trading body. The PAC NEWS agency reports Vanuatu’s ambassador to the European Union, Roy Mickey Joy, as saying that the country’s cabinet has ’formally agreed to kick-start its accession process.’

BANGKOK, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Sunday that Brunei is keen to buy more jasmine rice from Thailand after returning from her official visit to Brunei as part of her ASEAN tour, state-run media MCOT reported. Brunei is the first nation the premier made official overseas trip since assuming office last month. Yingluck paid a courtesy call on Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at his palace to introduce herself as Thailand's new prime minister Saturday evening before attending a state banquet hosted by the sultan.

VNEconomyNews.com - With exports to their traditional markets tending to decline due to economic turbulence, the Vietnam’s textile and garment sector is eyeing other alternatives to maintain growth. According to the General Statistics Office, the textile and garment’s export turnover in August reached a record high of US$1.4 billion, sending total exports in the first eight months of this year to $9 billion, which is a 29 percent increase year-on-year.