Beijing (AFP) Jan 22, 2014 - China has approved a dozen new free trade zones months after opening its first one in Shanghai, state media said Wednesday, furthering efforts to test economic reforms and bolster growth. Beijing "has given the nod to 12 free trade zones ... amid a spurt of nationwide enthusiasm for such schemes," the official news agency Xinhua reported. The sites will include the megacities...
s largest container ships. China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) awarded the contract for the five vessels -- each with a capacity of 18,400 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) container boxes -- to Hyundai in May. The size broke the previous record of the 18,000 TEU container ships another South Korean firm, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine, had built for Denmark's A.P. Moeller-Maersk. Since the order was...
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 19, 2014 - Thousands of domestic helpers took to the streets of Hong Kong Sunday to demand justice for an Indonesian maid allegedly tortured by her employers, the second such rally in a week. Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 22, was reportedly left unable to walk following eight months of abuse in the southern Chinese city and was admitted to an Indonesian hospital in critical condition...
re keeping armed gangs, drug traffickers, prostitution rings and other organized crime franchises under close watch but there already have been incidents in major World Cup venues. Critics accused police of heavy-handed treatment of potential troublemakers. Tensions in Brazil's notorious favelas [urban slums] remain palpable and the number of people in detention is said to run into the hundreds. A...
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 16, 2014 - Indian premier Manmohan Singh Thursday said a mega steel plant being built by South Korean multinational Posco would become operational in the coming weeks, allaying fears of further delays in the project. Singh gave his assurances on the $12-billion plant, India's biggest foreign investment project, to visiting South Korean President Park Geun-hye during their meeting...
s claim that the country's citizens are discriminated against in visa arrangements worldwide prompted widespread online derision Thursday, with posters arguing Beijing's own policies were to blame. Huang Ping, director-general of the foreign ministry's consular department, told the state-run Beijing Youth Daily that those seeking to travel abroad on Chinese passports "certainly face some inconveniences"....
South Korea has expressed its willingness to join the TPP, but the nation has set its sights on an FTA with China above all. Continue reading → ...
Richard G. Kerlikowske was nominated by US President Barack Obama to be Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Continue reading → ...
s ban on exports of mineral ores has gone into effect, although 66 major mining companies are exempted from the ban for three years. Most of Indonesia's miners have been exporting ores before processing. Regulations that took effect Sunday require bauxite, nickel, tin, chromium, gold and silver ores to be fully refined domestically prior to export, while copper, iron ore, lead and zinc concentrates...
s current account deficit in November tripled year-on-year to a record $5.7 billion as a weak yen pushed up the country's post-Fukushima energy bills, official data showed Tuesday. The shortfall in the current account hit 592.8 billion yen, easily eclipsing a deficit of 179.6 billion yen in the same month a year earlier. The latest data marked the largest monthly current account deficit based on comparable...
s claim that it has complied with World Trade Organization rules regarding duties on certain US steel products. US Trade Representative Michael Froman announced that the United States was requesting that China enter into consultations over Beijing's claim that it has brought its duties on US exports of grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) into compliance with WTO rules. The request marks...
s vice mayor on Monday urged cooperation from Hong Kong over China's ambitious new free-trade zone, saying its potential to boost growth will offset any competitive threat to the former British colony. The FTZ in Shanghai, launched in September, will allow unfettered exchange of China's yuan currency as part of a bold push to reform the world's second largest economy. But the zone has been seen as...
s top tourist destination -- are to get fast-track visas as part of celebrations marking the 50-year anniversary of Paris establishing full diplomatic ties with Communist Beijing. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced the measure Monday as he unveiled year-long events feting the January 27, 1964 date on which France broke ranks with the US to open ties with the then-government of Mao Zedong...
New York (AFP) Jan 10, 2014 - Giant US retailer Target said Friday that up to 110 million customers have had their personal data stolen in a data breach, sharply raising its initial estimate. The number of people affected represented one in three Americans, and the scope of the information stolen was much broader than originally thought, Target admitted. Target initially reported on December 19 that...
Hanoi (AFP) Jan 10, 2014 - Vietnamese police said Friday they had launched an investigation into a riot at a multi-billion dollar Samsung factory that left 13 people injured, four critically. Violence broke out between security guards and local construction workers early Thursday in northern Thai Nguyen province where the South Korean electronics giant is building a $3.2 billion high-tech complex....
s Beijing Interoceanic Canal Investment Management Co. has secured the right to dig a waterway in Nicaragua that will rival the Panama Canal and be hugely significant to world trade if it is completed. Ortega gave the group a concession to operate the future waterway for 50 years, renewable for another 50. "The Nicaraguan government and HKND Group are pleased to confirm that canal construction work...
s environment ministry has approved South Korean multinational Posco's plans to build a long-delayed $12 billion steel plant, the company said Friday, days ahead of a visit by South Korea's president. But protest groups vowed to keep up their fight against the plant, which represents the largest ever foreign direct investment in India. The delays faced by the project have become emblematic of the woes...
s annual trade in goods passed the $4 trillion mark for the first time in 2013, official data showed Friday, confirming its position as the globe's biggest trading nation. Exports from the world's number two economy rose 7.9 percent to $2.21 trillion, while imports increased 7.3 percent to $1.95 trillion, the General Administration of Customs announced. The trade surplus stood at $259.75 billion, up...
Canada reviews its options for free trade between its provinces but difficulties abound. Continue reading → ...
Global Trade News has taken the information that we have gathered over the last month from governments around the world, and compiled it into a monthly summary, posted here for you. Continue reading → ...