"Costa Rica to reach CPTPP deal in 'few weeks,' trade minister says" asia.nikkei.com/editor-s-pic...

Australia's Carbon Leakage Review has found that carbon leakage is adequately addressed in short/medium term but has recommended a border carbon adjustment mechanism be introduced for commodities most at risk (starting with cement and clinker) www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-chan...

Australia's Trade Minister is off to Europe to talk EU-Australia FTA negotiations - www.trademinister.gov.au/minister/don...

Great post from @simonlester.com comparing the drafting of national security trade policy alignment provisions in recent US deals: ielp.worldtradelaw.net/2026/02/comp...

Lots of interesting things in this analysis of China’s AI registry, including a “China-ASEAN Legal Model” - an AI tool for “legal coordination and mutual recognition between China and ASEAN”. Also explicitly linked to RCEP (see Google translate of dsjfzj.gxzf.gov.cn/dtyw/t211636...).

Australia's Resources Minister says she does not "think it’s helpful to introduce tariffs" on China as part of the US's proposed Agreement on Trade and Critical Minerals, instead higher prices "should be based on high labour and environmental standards" www.afr.com/policy/forei...

I keep seeing claims that the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement uses a 'modular architecture' that lets parties pick 'modules as their systems mature'. But this just doesn't seem to be right?

Canada's Standing Committee on International Trade has also been considering the bill to implement the UK's CPTPP Accession this week - www.ourcommons.ca/committees/e... - including industry and departmental evidence

"Mexico approves the United Kingdom's accession protocol to the CPTPP" vtz.mx/legal-alerts... The Protocol will enter into force for Mexico 60 days after it notifies the Depositary of its ratification. This leaves just Canada as the only non-ratifying party.

ASEAN Digital Ministers recently adopted the Hanoi Digital Declaration - some interesting parts for those following digital trade including on AI as critical infrastructure, paperless trade, digital public infrastructure, and "strengthening collective safety efforts" on AI asean.org/wp-content/u...

"Trade ministry details plan for Việt Nam’s CPTPP chairmanship in 2026" vietnamnews.vn/economy/1764... - looks to be mostly administrative information at this stage

UK and Indonesia have signed an Economic Growth Partnership, focused on cooperation/info-sharing including on clean energy, digital trade and supply chain resilience www.gov.uk/government/p... also refers to Indonesia’s OECD and CPTPP ambitions

Interesting story suggesting revival of EU-Australia trade talks. Would require MEPs not to vote against Mercosur (very tight) and the world's second largest beef exporter to accept a quota far lower than that of the largest (and than given by the UK). Tricky. www.ft.com/content/85c5...

Substantive conclusion of discussions for Peru's accession to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement announced today. Accession Working Groups are underway for Canada, China and the UAE. El Salvador, Ukraine, Uruguay and Thailand are also in the queue. www.mti.gov.sg/newsroom/joi...

EU-Australia FTA getting very close to finish line www.news.com.au/finance/econ...

Interesting read on how US-China trade tensions are impacting South East Asia, looks at trade reallocation and trade rerouting: cepr.org/voxeu/column...

The release of Australian Government Cabinet records from 2005 today includes two trade-related minutes. The first on Australia's Trade Negotiating Agenda (recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetri...), the second on the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement (recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetri...)

The decision in Clive Palmer's first ISDS case against Australia is now public, this was a $300 billion claim that Palmer lost as the Tribunal found he was not a Singaporean investor (Palmer is seeking annulment): pcacases.com/web/sendAtta...

And the US launches Pax Silica, an initiative focused on AI, critical minerals, etc, supply chains with Australia, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Singapore, the UAE, the UK (and “guests” from Canada, EU, Taiwan and the OECD) www.state.gov/releases/off...

More detail on the October IPEF supply chain tabletop exercise including that it focused on critical minerals disruptions: biz.chosun.com/en/en-policy...

Three Explanations for the Foreign Investment Pledges

A New Central Organizing Principle for U.S. Trade

Not niche at all given all the movement on digital trade of late!

Australia's steel industry has lodged a safeguard application requesting the government apply temporary emergency measures to protect the industry as it is "facing an unprecedented surge in imports" www.steel.org.au/news-and-eve...

Singapore’s running consultations on UAE’s accession to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) www.mti.gov.sg/newsroom/pub...

Australia's Trade Minister says "we're very confident that by the end of the year Costa Rica will have fulfilled all of its obligations to join the CPTPP, and that we will have our 13th member." www.trademinister.gov.au/minister/don...

Quite a lot in the CPTPP Joint Ministerial Statement today - economic coercion, accession update, general review, a "Unit" (not Secretariat), and more www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreem... 1/8

CPTPP-ASEAN Trade & Investment Dialogue Joint Ministerial Statement also out: www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreem.... Similar language - but some differences e.g. reference to "fair" not just "free and open" markets, reg coherence added to cooperation areas, etc.

CPTPP-EU Trade and Investment Dialogue Joint Ministerial Statement is out: www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreem... - lots of politically important statements, plus points to work on digital trade, supply chain resilience, WTO reform and more. Next Dialogue in 2026.

Australia's Dept of Industry, Science and Resources has launched a consultation on reforms to Australia's trade remedies system (submissions due 14 Dec) - "Australia faces heightened risks from unfairly priced imports and shifting regulatory landscapes": consult.industry.gov.au/strengthenin...

Interesting tool from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy - the Anatomy of Choice Alignment Index shows how ASEAN’s Member States have shifted between China and the US on range of indicators including trade www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/art...

Enjoyed this redaction from a New Zealand cabinet paper release - I wonder what the AEM meetings were dominated by... www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/OIA/O...

CPTPP Commission meeting in Melbourne (Australia's best city) this week: www.trademinister.gov.au/minister/don...

Australia is calling for submissions for the General Reviews of its FTAs with China (dfat.gov.au/trade/agreem...) and Indonesia (dfat.gov.au/trade/agreem...)

“China edging toward membership of Trans-Pacific Partnership framework” 🤔 www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202511/06/...

Malaysia’s MITI has released a FAQ on its recent Agreement on Reciprocal Trade with the US: www.miti.gov.my/ART including pushback on idea that it requires Malaysia to follow US trade measures

The line gets longer…

a secretariat for CPTPP is a great idea

Jotted down some of my thoughts on last week’s US deals with Cambodia and Malaysia, focused on services and digital trade: open.substack.com/pub/tradenot...

US threats to use software export controls leading others to diversify away from US software...

RCEP Leaders Summit Statement is out (asean.org/wp-content/u...) Two points: 1) the commitment to not breach RCEP, potentially pointed at requirements in new US deals? 2) RCEP General Review & digital trade, would upgrading digital trade rules conflict with US deals?

Lots being written on the US deals with Malaysia, Cambodia, etc. Some of this drafting is interesting - this provision just refers to "certain countries". Assume the details will be agreed later?

ASEAN announces substantial conclusion of Digital Economy Framework Agreement negotiations, including provisions on data flows, e-payments, MLETR, personal data, and AI cooperation. Looking forward to seeing the text! asean.org/asean-econom...

The ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force is preparing “a report that will assess the impact, key risks and opportunities arising from external uncertainties, formulate policy recommendations for Asean to navigate these challenges, and coordinate responses” theedgemalaysia.com/node/775211

The 9th CPTPP Commission meeting is coming in just a few weeks in Melbourne. This includes an EU-CPTPP Dialogue (www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...) and an ASEAN-CPTPP Dialogue (www.oananews.org/node/707155). It will be interesting to see what statements/outcomes result from each...

IPEF is still a thing! South Korea is hosting a "joint drill on responding to a possible global supply chain crisis" as chair of IPEF's Supply Chain Crisis Response Network www.koreaherald.com/article/1059...

I do like how much China has attached "RCEP" to so many events and things - here is an announcement about the "RCEP Member States World Heritage Cooperation Alliance" consisting of Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam en.people.cn/n3/2025/1018...

Bangladesh's RCEP accession application moves forward thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/ban...

"Piyush Goyal signals clear shift away from competitor countries in India's FTA agenda" www.livemint.com/economy/reca...

International rule of law news: Viet Nam joins the MPIA (alternative to the WTO Appellate Body). WTO notification here: docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages... European Commission press release here: policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-welc...