ISDS Case Map
Australia
Having initiated the idea of a free trade agreement with China, the Howard Government has been stung by its implications and has fallen back to a strategy of caution and protracted negotiation that will extend beyond the 2007 national election.
Australia wants access to Malaysia's government procurement market, which currently favors the country's majority ethnic Malays, enshrined in a free trade deal, Trade Minister Mark Vaile said.
The Federal Industry Minister has ruled out abolishing import tariffs in the automotive and clothing industries as part of a free trade agreement with China.
Industry plans for Australia's manufacturing, textile and clothing industries are not up for negotiation in a free trade deal with China, the federal government says.
Labour and environmental issues will still be included in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation between Australia, New Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a senior New Zealand trade official said.
Labor leader Kim Beazley has accused a China-based Australian of growing rich on Australian intellectual property and wants the Government to slowly ditch trade negotiations with China.
As free trade deals go, it's got the potential to be a whopper.
The Australian manufacturing industry though, is nervously awaiting the outcome of a Federal Cabinet debate today on a free trade deal with China. Cabinet ministers will consider if it should offer to cut tariffs on Chinese imports in return for greater access to China's services industry.
How is the debate inside cabinet about what should be put on the table for the free trade agreement with China and what should be kept in the cupboard, playing in Beijing's secretive pagodas of power?
Defending himself and his government against criticisms of free trade area (FTA) agreements Thailand negotiated with foreign countries, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday said that the FTAs had helped boost trade and increase the country's exports.
A free trade agreement between Australia and Indonesia is back on the table, after business leaders from both countries lobbied for an initiative to stimulate trade and investment between them.
