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Imports up, exports down one year after Korea-EFTA FTA
A year after a trade deal between Korea and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) went into effect last September, Korea’s largest trade group said that imports from the four-nation bloc hiked while exports dipped heavily.
Squeezed: The real cost of free trade in the Asia-Pacific
Filmed in Thailand and The Philippines in July 2007, Squeezed tells the story of how free trade agreements and globalisation are changing the lives of millions of people living in the Asia-Pacific region.
Fugitive’s election muddles trade deal prospects
Advocates of a US-Panama free trade deal have a new headache: Panama has just elected an official wanted for arrest in the U.S. for allegedly killing an American soldier.
UNCTAD warns poor countries on free trade deals
Though preferential trade agreements (PTAs) may offer transitory gains in terms of market access and higher foreign direct investment, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has cautioned developing countries to be careful before entering into such deals.
Why is our trade policy benefitting tax cheats?
The pending US trade agreement with Panama isn’t really about trade. It’s about foreign investor rights, money laundering, and tax dodging.
PACER: Islands could lose $10m anually in revenue
Some Pacific island countries stand to lose up to US$10 million annually in revenue due to trade liberalisation under the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations, according to a report commissioned by the Secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum
Open letter to the Prime Minister of India on the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture
Given the interest generated with regard to the US-India nuclear deal, it is time to express our concerns on the US-India Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, too, and not let it be implemented in a business-as-usual attitude.
Costa Rica: Indígenas reclaman consulta sobre Convenio de Obtenciones Vegetales
Con un recurso de amparo ante la Sala Constitucional, los pueblos indígenas reclaman nuevamente su derecho a ser consultados debidamente sobre el Convenio de la Unión para la Protección de Obtenciones Vegetales (UPOV 91).
’Fast track’ Aust-Korea trade agreement: NFF
A new study reveals Australian agricultural and food exports to Korea could be slashed by 12% by 2030, in real terms, should Korea and the US ratify their free trade agreement.
Philippines wants fishing agreement in S. China Sea
The Philippines wants an agreement to allow free fishing in disputed waters of the South China Sea
US reassumes its dirty war against Nicaragua
Ortega continues to condemn the destabilization plans on the part of the government in Washington, and in the last few weeks has attacked the Free Trade Agreement signed by his country with the United States
Hundreds of Malaysians protest against Free Trade Agreement
On Sunday 26 August more than 500 people staged a strong anti US-FTA protest in the centre of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. Most of the protesters were farmers from the northern rice-bowl state of Kedah, or workers and urban settlers.
Japan digs its claws into biodiversity through FTAs
The Japanese government is increasingly using free trade agreements (FTAs) to tighten corporate control over seeds and other forms of biodiversity that are crucial to food, agriculture and medicine. Two such deals sealed this month with Chile and Indonesia put Japan in the big league of nations using bilateral deals to make seed-saving on the farm a thing of the past.
Pacific ACP countries express deep concern at EU trade deal proposal
Pacific trade officials and legal experts have expressed their disappointment and deep concern at the draft text proposed by the European Commission for an Economic Partnership Agreement covering trade in goods, trade in services, fisheries, investment and development cooperation.
South Africa: SA ’not in a hurry’ to sign EPA, says EU
As the December deadline for the signing of a European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries fast approaches without any sign of the deal being closed by then, European Union (EU) representatives in SA are growing frustrated and accuse Pretoria of procrastination over the negotiation.
US-NZ Partnership Forum: Neo-liberalism - Pacific Style
According to the organizers, this year’s US-NZ Partnership Forum will in part focus on the, “potential for the United States and New Zealand to cooperate on ... economic development and sustainability in the Asia Pacific region.”
EU-SADC EPA: Frustration between EU and SA boils to the surface as trade deadline looms
Frustration is mounting in relations between the European Union and South Africa, in particular, in negotiations for an economic partnership agreement between the EU and the so-called Southern African Development Community group, comprising Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Pacific: Trade officials deeply concerned about European offer
Pacific trade officials and legal experts from 14 Pacific Island nations have just spent 3 days examing Europe’s draft agreement in detail and are deeply concerned about the text (audio)
Stiglitz: FTAs advantageous to US
Nobel laureate and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz believes that no country should enter into free trade agreements with the US, as none of the developing countries has benefited greatly from them.