Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters – China on Thursday called for the removal of “enormous” farm subsidies in some developed countries as part of Beijing’s push for reform of the World Trade Organization. “There are very unfair rules in the agriculture sector, and enormous subsidies some developed country members are entitled to, that severely distort international agricultural trade,” Wang […] Read more

China calls for overhaul of farm subsidy rules under WTO

Britain, New Zealand strike free trade deal
Reading Time: 2 minutes London/Wellington | Reuters — Britain and New Zealand have reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal designed to reduce tariffs, improve services trade, and take London one step closer to membership in a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern sealed the deal in a Zoom call on Wednesday […] Read more

Taiwan applies to join Pacific trade pact week after China
Reading Time: 2 minutes Taipei | Reuters — Taiwan has formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the government said Wednesday, less than a week after China said it too had submitted an application. Taiwan has been angling to join the grouping for a while and had already been discussing the issue informally […] Read more

China applies to join Trans-Pacific trade pact
Second-biggest economy seeks to add to economic clout
Reading Time: 2 minutes Updated, Sept. 17 — Beijing | Reuters — Japan said it would have to determine if China meets the “extremely high standards” of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the world’s second-biggest economy formally applied to join. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao submitted China’s application to join the free trade agreement in […] Read more

Britain begins negotiations to join Trans-Pacific pact
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain will begin negotiations on Tuesday to join a trans-Pacific trade deal that it sees as crucial to its post-Brexit pivot away from Europe and toward geographically more distant but faster-growing economies. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) removes 95 per cent of tariffs between its members: Japan, […] Read more

Canada, Indonesia launch trade pact talks
First round of negotiations expected later this year
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada has formally declared it will start negotiations this year on a trade pact with Indonesia, a move ag exporters hope will stabilize and strengthen their market access to the Asia-Pacific region. Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng and her Indonesian counterpart Muhammad Lutfi on Sunday declared the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership […] Read more

Trans-Pacific trade partners agree for U.K. to start joining process
Reading Time: < 1 minute Tokyo | Reuters — Member nations of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Wednesday officially agreed to allow the United Kingdom to start the process of joining the pact, Japan’s economy minister said. Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters he welcomed the start of Britain’s joining process after hosting an […] Read more

Feather sector’s on-farm upgrade program underway
Applications now being accepted for funding
Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal free trade compensation program to help Canada’s poultry and egg producers pay for on-farm upgrades, renovations and improvements is now taking applications. The $646.8 million, 10-year Poultry and Egg On-Farm Investment Program (PEFIP) is now formally underway, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday. Each eligible Canadian producer is entitled to an amount proportional […] Read more

Compensation programs hatched for feather sectors
On-farm investment, market development plans on deck
Reading Time: 4 minutes Long-awaited programs to make up for market share lost to imports under the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact are set to roll out to Canada’s chicken, egg and turkey farmers. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and caucus colleagues on Tuesday announced the specific contents of her previously-pledged $691 million, 10-year compensation funding envelope: a Poultry and Egg […] Read more

U.K. to ask to join Trans-Pacific trading bloc ‘shortly’
Bilateral deals signed or in works with several CPTPP members
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain will soon submit its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, trade minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday. Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around […] Read more