ISDS Case Map
US
A group of South Korean movie workers left for France Monday to protest at the Cannes film festival against South Korea's plan to sign a free trade pact with the United States, representatives of the group said.
A free trade agreement with the United States has sparked a heated debate in Korea. The two major labor unions and the nation's largest environmental group have jointly launched a nationwide campaign against a Korea-US FTA. There are also plenty of pro-FTA supporters.
Korea and the US officially announced the start of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) three months ago. The two sides are set to begin negotiations this June after gathering opinions from various fields of society.
Washington has invited African trade and finance ministers for talks on the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) - the US partial free trade regime for imports from Africa.
The latest round of talks between the US and the five-member Southern African Customs Union (SACU) on a free trade agreement has failed to yield fruits, with many blaming the US for seeking to impose a one-size-fits-all formula.
Ecuador's chief trade negotiator, Manuel Chiriboga, admitted that a huge "uncertainty" surrounds the future of the free trade negotiations with United States suspended since the end of March.
Several US-based food producing/processing companies have identified Malaysia a key market in Asia and are considering setting up a physical presence here, said agriculture counsellor of the United States Embassy, Malaysia and Singapore, Jonathan Gressel.
The United Arab Emirates will resist pressure in free trade talks with the United States to open its telecommunications sector to foreign investors.
Rice, the staple food for much of Asia, will doubtless be a tough issue in negotiations on a US-South Korea free-trade agreement (FTA) and could be an issue in US-Malaysia FTA talks, US experts say.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales on Thursday urged Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to kill their free trade agreements with the United States, so as to keep the Andean Community alive. Meanwhile, Peru's President Alejandro Toledo said the Andean Community would now seek to launch trade talks with the EU, with or without Venezuela and Bolivia.
