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Japanese investors want RP-Japan trade pact ratified
21-May-2007 PDI
200 Japanese businessmen expressed that they would invest in the Philippines only after the approval of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Keidanren chief calls for Japan-EU free trade pact
21-May-2007 Kyodo
The head of Japan’s largest big-business group urged the government Monday to strike a free trade agreement with the European Union to alleviate impediments to two-way trade and ensure a freer flow of invesment funds.
S. Korean business group calls on gov’t to swiftly start free trade talks with Australia
21-May-2007 Yonhap
South Korea’s top business organization on Monday urged the government to swiftly start free trade talks with Australia, saying a deal would be in the interest of both sides.
Indian pharma cos see hope as US retreats on data exclusivity
15-May-2007 Economic Times
A section of India’s generic drug industry has claimed that its ability to export generic drugs to over a dozen countries with which the US is planning FTAs will increase, if a “conceptual agreement” reached last week by the US’ House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Bush administration is ratified and implemented.
US action plan must be opposed, groups tell govt
11-May-2007
Thai Aids activists and academics called on the Commerce Ministry yesterday to reject the "action plan" proposed by the United States to remove Thailand from its priority watch list for intellectual property protection.
NPPC applauds deal to vote on trade agreements
11-May-2007
The National Pork Producers Council has applauded the Bush administration’s House Speaker Pelosi and congressional leadership for reaching a bi-partisan deal to move forward free trade agreements that will enable increased exports of US pork.
Japan should aim for free trade agreement with US, panel says
8-May-2007 Bloomberg
Japan should push for a trade agreement with the US to reduce duties and investment barriers, members of the government’s key economic panel said.
Drug firms against trade changes
7-May-2007 Morning Call
US drugmakers, among the biggest proponents of free-trade agreements, are now lobbying to stop Democrats and the Bush administration from reworking pending trade deals to curb provisions that benefit the industry.
Challenging corporate investor rule
4-May-2007 IPS
How the World Bank’s investment court, free trade agreements, and bilateral investment treaties have unleashed a new era of corporate power and what to do about tt
Foreign investors gone wild
3-May-2007 FPIF
When Bolivian President Evo Morales took office in January 2006, he pledged to follow through on his campaign pledge to increase Bolivians’ share of revenues from their major source of foreign income, natural gas. International gas companies, however, threatened to sue. Previous Bolivian governments had signed a flurry of bilateral investment treaties that gave foreign investors the right to bypass domestic courts and file such lawsuits through international tribunals. Morales complained that these rules made him feel like a “prisoner” in the presidential palace.
Drug makers fear trade deal from House Dems, administration
3-May-2007 The Hill
Research-based pharmaceutical companies could be among the biggest losers if House Democrats and the Bush administration reach an agreement on trade, industry sources said this week.
Israeli industrialists’ strategy in the global supply chain
27-Apr-2007
The aim of this paper is to try to understand the Israeli industrialists’ strategy in the globalization process in the course of the recent years. The new strategy was implemented in the days of the first Intifada (the Palestinian uprising) in the late 80s. At that time voices were heard in the Association of Israeli Industrialists, the strongest organization of Israeli employers, advocating an agreement with the Palestinians which would not oppose the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, as long as the Palestinian economic dependence on Israel is preserved.
Businesses in Costa Rica opine on trade agreement with European Union
27-Apr-2007 Tico Times
Costa Rican business leaders are being given a chance to opine on an association agreement between Central American and the European Union before these two regions begin negotiating the agreement in Brussels, Belgium, in June.
Corporate accountability: Is self regulation the answer?
25-Apr-2007 countercurrents.org
The globalization of trade and investment flows has been paralleled by the emergence of Codes of Conduct. Although the first corporate code of conduct was created by the International Chamber of Commerce in 1949, the 1990s witnessed a plethora of voluntary codes and corporate social responsibility guidelines.
Fear of dumping
25-Apr-2007 The Star
Rice farmers in northern Peninsular Malaysia have another reason to call on the Government to quit the on-going Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the United States. Besides the concern over highly subsidised US rice competing with locally produced rice, there is fear of the US dumping the Liberty Link 601 (LL601) contaminated rice here.
US trade pacts at risk over business-labor clash
20-Apr-2007 Reuters
Bush administration efforts to reach a deal with the US Congress on trade were thrown into doubt on Thursday as US business and labor groups clashed over the core issue in the talks.
Bilateral free trade agreements critical for Canadian pork industry competitiveness
19-Apr-2007 ThePigSite
Canada Pork International is urging Ottawa to put a high priority on establishing bilateral free trade agreements to ensure Canadian agriculture is able to remain competitive with its international counterparts
US sugar industry efforts to influence US positions on free trade agreements
17-Apr-2007 USF
This 2005 report describes efforts by the US sugar industry to influence US policy on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the last 5-10 years, including tracking money spent on lobbying, identifying and summarizing papers and studies by the industry to support its position, and providing a description of the industry’s connections to policymakers.
EU has no plans to start up FTA talks with Japan
17-Apr-2007 Japan Times
The European Union isn’t planning to start talks with Japan on a bilateral free-trade agreement, the director general for trade at the European Commission said Monday at a news conference in Tokyo. Japanese business leaders are concerned that if an EU-South Korea FTA takes effect, some Japanese industries would lose European market share to their South Korean rivals.
BIO commends USTR for successfully concluding US-Korea free trade agreement
17-Apr-2007 BIO
BIO congratulates US Chief Agricultural Negotiator Richard Crowder and his staff for negotiating a separate understanding on several agricultural biotechnology issues. The FTA will go a long way in providing additional market access opportunities in Korea for US biotechnology companies.