Free Trade Agreements

MANILA, Philippines—Overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan could lose their jobs and Taiwanese tourists could skip the Philippines in the event Taiwan and China push ahead with signing an economic pact in June.

MANILA, Philippines – The historic move of China and Taiwan to forge an economic partnership poses a serious threat to the country’s economy, officials warned yesterday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies across the technology industry – from Internet access providers to social networking sites to video-sharing services – are bracing for this week’s release of a draft of a trade agreement that they fear could undermine all sorts of online activities.

Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Jesli Lapus on Monday revealed that the Arroyo administration has entered into a duty-free trade agreement with the United States to boost the Philippines’ textile industry.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is in the process of negotiating its second bilateral economic partnership agreement (EPA), this time with the European Union (EU) in an attempt to beef up trade and attract more European investors to come to the country.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA)- Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme this year will benefit the agriculture sector.

MANILA, Philippines–Free trade agreements with large neighboring markets that took effect starting Jan. 1 and provide for the gradual removal of tariffs will pare off up to P9 billion from government revenues this year.

ON JAN. 1, 2010, the China-Asean Free Trade Area (Cafta) went into effect. Touted as the world’s biggest Free Trade Area, CAFTA is billed as having 1.7 million consumers, with a combined gross domestic product of $ 2 trillion and total trade of $ 1.3 trillion.

Last Aug. 14, 2009, yet another free trade agreement (FTA) that would shape the course of trade in the Philippines, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and India took flight from Bangkok. As with the case of FTAs preceding it, the event took place without much fanfare. ASEAN Trade Ministers signed on to the…

The Philippines should immediately pursue a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU), as the country lags behind most of its Southeast Asian neighbors in negotiating for similar agreements, a think-tank of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said. “Philippine business cannot continue losing out on trade and investment opportunities…

MANILA, Philippines – Local businessmen are urging President Arroyo to appoint a permanent trade negotiator and create an Industry and Services Advisory Council (ISAC) to institutionalize private sector participation in trade negotiations.

India and the 10-country South East Asian bloc Asean have signed a free trade agreement after more than six years of talks.

MANILA, Philippines – Exporters should create competitive products and utilize the free trade agreements (FTA) the country enters into in order to penetrate non-traditional markets outside the United States, a top trade official said. 

Free trade agreement in limbo again PARIS: World Trade Organization (WTO) head Pascal Lamy said on Friday he saw no “positive sign” for world trade, which has been battered by the global economic crisis.

SEOGWIPO, South Korea: South Korea and Asean on Tuesday completed a free-trade agreement covering almost 650 million people, while vowing to fight protectionism and tackling together the global economic crisis.

MANILA, Philippines – The European Union-Association of South East Asian Nations (EU-ASEAN) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) may pose difficulties for the Philippine rice sector while favoring that of Thailand.

Our local business leaders dread the coming of 2010, when our commitments to the AFTA will finally take effect. Come next year, many of our industries see an end to the good times, and see themselves struggling from all sides.

Free trade agreements or FTAs usually strike people, even many businessmen, as unfathomable or disjointed jargon because of its complicated language. Not surprisingly, the very bedrock on which FTAs are founded is in itself very much cause for debate.

MANILA, Philippines – Local industries are divided over the forthcoming full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) next year wherein tariff rates on all products in the ASEAN region must come down to between zero and five percent.

PATTAYA (AFP) –Sixteen Asian nations will step up investigations into establishing a giant free-trade zone stretching from China to Australia, according to documents obtained by AFP Friday.

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is not receptive to the call of domestic industries to delay the full elimination of tariffs on intraregional trade, as mandated for 2010 by the Asean Free Trade Area-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (Afta-CEPT) scheme. The agency, however,  recognized that it remains a possibility, as it is still a…

MANILA, Philippines – Businessmen are asking the government to delay a plan of opening up the local market by reducing taxes on imported goods.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde announced that the National Economic and Development Authority Board , headed by President Gloria Arroyo, has approved the Asean-Korea Free Trade Agreement. The agreement provides tariff elimination on 90 percent of lines in the normal track by January 1, 2009, Remonde said. An executive order implementing the tariff reduction schedule from…

FAIR Trade Alliance called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to review the country’s current external trade policies in light of the global slowdown.

Brussels,The 7th round of Association Agreement (AA) negotiations between Central America and the European Union will take place at Tegucigalpa between 30 March and 3 April.  The international trade union movement demands that the Agreement include a social and labour chapter embodying full observance of human and trade union rights, including the eight Core Conventions…

Brussels- The 7th round of Association Agreement (AA) negotiations between Central America and the European Union will take place at Tegucigalpa between 30 March and 3 April.  The international trade union movement demands that the Agreement include a social and labour chapter embodying full observance of human and trade union rights, including the eight Core…

BERLIN – The European Union is poised to alter its southeast Asia trade policy to deal with individual members of the ASEAN trade alliance rather than with the bloc as a whole, a senior official said Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will greatly benefit from the approval of the ASEAN-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) because there are a lot of products that the local producers can sell to the European market, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is reportedly pushing for the delay of the full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) in light of the current global economic recession.

SOUTHEAST Asian leaders pledged to cut tariffs, lift trade barriers and open more service industries as the bloc struggles to overcome a global recession that has eroded export demand and boosted protectionist sentiment.