Trans-Pacific trade talks start in Australia

Its share of trade dwindling in the Asia Pacific, the United States is scrambling to drum up support from a skeptical public for a regional trade deal that can boost exports and create jobs.President Barack Obama wants the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) linking the United States with an initial group of seven nations -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam -- to be the engine for a "high-standard, broad-based" regional trade agreement, officials said.

Australia will resume stalled talks with China within days as it pursues an ambitious free-trade push following its strong recovery from the global downturn, Trade Minister Simon Crean said.He said discussions with China would open in Canberra next week, while Australia was also in talks with Japan and South Korea and was studying a deal with India.He said Canberra and Beijing were strongly committed to free-trade negotiations which stumbled on technical issues before diplomatic ties suffered a series of setbacks last year.

Australia on Wednesday resumed free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap, sweeping aside a brief plunge in ties to focus on a booming partnership tipped to deliver decades of growth.Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia's vast resources sector was the subject of intense interest from China, but that Canberra was also keen to gain greater access to the huge Chinese market."We need a new framework that reflects that interest, but a framework that (also) reflects the importance of investment as a two-way street," Crean said.

Australia on Wednesday resumed free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap, sweeping aside a brief plunge in ties to focus on a booming partnership tipped to deliver decades of growth.Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia's vast resources sector was the subject of intense interest from China, but that Canberra was also keen to gain greater access to the giant Asian country's market."We need a new framework that reflects that interest, but a framework that (also) reflects the importance of investment as a two-way street," Crean said.

Canada’s increasing list of trade negotiations could soon include talks with Asia-Pacific nations as countries around the Pacific rim, encouraged by interest from the United States, begin to turn their attention to the possibility of a large free-trade area in the Asia-Pacific region

Australia on Monday urged China not to get involved in difficult iron ore price negotiations with global mining giants after steel mills lobbied Beijing to intervene.Trade Minister Simon Crean gave assurances that Australia would also stay out of the fraught process in which steelmakers aim to strike annual contracts with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Brazil's Vale."We won't be getting involved. I've made the point to China and I repeat the point, we recognise China's market economy status," Crean told reporters in Canberra.

Colombian and South Korean officials will meet September 6-10 in the US capital to thresh out a free trade agreement between the two Pacific-rim nations, Colombia's trade minister has told reporters.Sergio Diaz-Granados said the third round of negotiations between Bogota and Seoul would touch on trademark, investment and migration issues.A fourth round of free trade talks will be held October 4-8 in Cali, Colombia.