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Time not right for US-Egypt trade pact: Rice
18-Feb-2006    
The time is not right for the United States and Egypt to begin negotiations on a free- trade agreement, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview on Friday with Arab media.
US meets resistance on full access to finance
18-Feb-2006    
A seminar heard yesterday that although US negotiators had asked Thailand to fully deregulate its financial services and allow US investors unrestricted stakes in the brokering and banking sectors, Bangkok was insisting that the sector was not ready to face direct competition.
Brunei-Japan FTA talks on the cards
18-Feb-2006    
Brunei and Japan will hold two-day preparatory talks starting Monday to conclude a bilateral free trade agreement.
Inept handling of trade agreements
18-Feb-2006     Financial Express
All trade agreements may fumble in delivering results if they take effect prior to completion of all modalities and arrangements, which are to govern and ease trade between the signatory countries. But both the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) and its successor agreement on free trade -- South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) -- were signed before completing these essential formalities
Colombia-US FTA may distort Venezuelan market
18-Feb-2006     El Universal
Venezuela's Minister of Industry and Trade Gustavo Márquez thinks that an eventual Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by Colombia and the United States could result in unfair competition to the detriment of Venezuelan commodities.
Free trade could cost plenty
18-Feb-2006     Bangkok Post
Supara Janchitfah looks at the rules of the Thai-US FTA negotiation process and finds them more favourable to the American side.
CAFTA In Limbo
17-Feb-2006    
Jacobo Kattan was hoping to build an industrial park and create 8,000 new jobs after the expected implementation of a regional free-trade pact last month. Instead, he's had to fire 2,000 workers and close three companies as the region's clothing industry haemorrhages, putting factories in legal limbo while much of their business leaves for Asia.
US Senators express concern over Chevron lobbying tactics
17-Feb-2006     PR Newswire
US Senators Patrick Leahy and Barack Obama have written to the US Trade Representative urging that he ignore Chevron's campaign to exclude Ecuador from FTA negotiations until the Ecuadorian government shuts down a historic environmental lawsuit against the company.
US nearing decision on trade talks with Malaysia
17-Feb-2006     Reuters
The United States may announce soon that it is beginning free trade talks with Malaysia, US Trade Representive Rob Portman said on Wednesday.
RI seeks wider access to Japan labor market
17-Feb-2006     Jakarta Post
Indonesian trade negotiators are pushing their Japanese counterparts to allow the country's workers more access to Japan's labor market.