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The European Union and America are to open negotiations with the aim of creating the world's biggest free trade area worth €86bn (£75bn) within two years.

The article talks about the trade deficit in Europe. Prime minister Cameron wants to increase GDP by 0.5%. This would make a major difference to Europe's economy and could become a "game-changer". Cameron wants to accomplish this goal by breaking down trade barriers.

The European Union and America are to open negotiations with the aim of creating the world's biggest free trade area worth €86bn (£75bn) within two years. Breaking down the remaining trade barriers and securing a comprehensive deal will require hard work and bold decisions on both sides. EU and US economies account for nearly half of the world's economic output and a third of global trade, meaning that a transatlantic free-trade bloc would hold great sway over emerging economic superpowers China, Brazil and India.

"The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in September as imports rose to their highest level in almost a year. The Commerce Department said the trade gap increased 8.0 percent to $41.8 billion, the largest since May. August's shortfall on the trade balance was revised slightly to $38.7 billion from the previously reported $38.8 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the trade deficit to widen a bit to $39.0 billion in September. When adjusted for inflation, the trade gap widened to $50.4 billion, the largest since May, from $47.4 billion the prior month. This measure goes into the calculation of gross domestic product. The increase in the so-called real trade deficit in September suggested the government will probably lower its initial third-quarter GDP estimate." This does not surprise me at all with their trade balance widening because of the debt they are in. Their debt are in the trillions and there isn't a lot the US are doing. Yes, their economy might be improving slightly but a lot of people are without jobs creating a sort of dilemma.

KARACHI: The trade potential between India and Pakistan is estimated to be around $20 billion against the current around $3bn, according to a working paper published by ICRIER. However, non-trade barriers (NTBs) and bureaucratic hurdles continue to impede growth in the bilateral trade. Here we see the restrictions of trade between India and Pakistan are causing problems and both countries want to work out an agreement to end such unnecessary barriers. Estimates say that $20 billlion in trade could be made between the two nations, more than 6 times the current amount. What's help up the removal of trade blockages is the need to agree on goods and service regulations, especially in textiles and banking.

This article talks about the trade deficit in Japan due to imports of smartphones, the recent earthquake and the consequences of nuclear energy. The trade deficit happened due to numerous numbers of imports against exports. Since Japan's nuclear energy accident, Japan switched to thermal generators and needed/still need to import fossil fuels, which is taking a big part in the trade deficit. In addition, the gadget industry is focusing on smart phones, and this is causing the massive imports of iPhone's and Android's to Japan impacting the market and the people. Also, after the earthquake of 2010, there has been a recover, but not to the level Japan needs to overcome the trade deficit.

"Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled on-year to a bigger-than-expected $10.9 billion in October as the country's energy bill soared... " Japan's trade deficit was the biggest in the last 44 years and entered a 16-month trade deficit run. The reason behind this is because of the transfer from energy sources. Until 2010, Japan was the first in using nuclear energy in the world. When the accident in Fukushima happened, Japan had to start using fossil fuels and started importing it increasing their trade deficit.

The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in August as exports slipped, suggesting trade will probably not be much of a boost to growth in the third quarter. The import growth is weak and consistent with sluggish domestic demand. So in fact this article is about the goods and services account under the current account. The possible reasons for such trade deficit may be a decrease of foreign demand for US exports, decreased domestic interest rates and speculators' anticipations for the US dollar to rise, which means that there will be a tendency for the price of US dollar to appreciate. This leads to even less competitive exports. If I look at this situation from another perspective, more currency flowed out for imports than it flowed in for exports, creating the debit item and exacerbating the current account.

 Too much protectionism is not good as well as no protectionism, it will ruin the free trade in the world. 

This article looks at the European Commission, an organization that has warned of a slide towards "blatant and uncontrolled protectionism" across the globe as emerging markets from several countries are starting to defend themselves, warning that abuses by countries like Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, China and other key states could pose a growing threat to global recovery. The EU trading body has said "154 new tariffs and restrictive measures have been pushed through over the past year while "virtually none" has been abolished"

This article talks about Britain and its problematic exports with subsequent trade deficit problems. Interestingly enough, university courses fees are considered exports as well (money inflow). Britain is a country which is immensely integrated in the global trade flows, but they have a problem of trade deficit. "Part of the reason is the slowdown in continental Europe and America, which take 54% and 17% respectively of British exports. Another is the gradual depletion of North Sea oil and gas. A third is that Britain's strength is in services rather than in the raw materials, machine tools and handbags that emerging markets crave." This running trade deficit can amass huge problems and according to the article [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10427783/Britain-to-have-worst-2014-trade-deficit-in-industrial-world-on-EU-forecasts.html] Britain will have to tackle it by using expenditure-reducing policies, expenditure-switching policies or supply-side policies.

This article discusses how the Ukrainian president vetoed a trade deal with the European Union. This trade deal was an opportunity for trade creation in the EU, because the EU bloc would have been expanded. The EU claims that the trade deal would have boosted the Ukrainian economy by 6%.

This article talks about Ukraine and its joining the EU Free-trade pact or the Ex-Soviet Pact monitored by Russia. When the idea was proposed, Ukraine was considering but two days before the EU Summit in Vilnius, Ukraine declined the offer - ultimately joining the Ex-Soviet Trade Pact. Now, Ukraine has came back to the idea of the EU Free-trade pact, and is again considering while people are protesting on the streets. The view of the people is split. In addition, Ukraine is close to bankruptcy which makes the choosing of the pacts even more important. Russia has money and can help Ukraine, while the EU doesn't have that ability. We shall see the outcome soon.

The article discusses the story of the shrinking U.S. trade deficit is essentially the story of the U.S. oil boom. The last time the U.S. came close to balancing out the trade deficit, at least in terms of its share of GDP, was just after a recession ended in 1991. The big issue is whether the U.S. can continue to expand its economy while also shrinking its trade deficit-something it hasn't been able to do for a generation or more. The U.S. will start exporting natural gas at some point over the next few years.

The article discusses how the U.S. trade deficit shot up nearly 10% to $36.4 billion in November, hitting its highest point since last January, the Department of Commerce said Tuesday. But even as imports soared, exports also grew -- for the seventh straight month. And some cheered the greater trade activity.

Oil imports to the US increase which increased their trade deficit. Furthermore exports to Europe, Asia and South America. This meant that the trade deficit decreased as low as $513 billion in the first 11 months of 2011.

This article talks about the new warning Russia has sent to Ukraine saying that moscow could implement protectionist barriers if its former soviet ally joins a free trade pact with the EU. Russia has sent the warning because they are allegedly worried it will be "flooded" with European goods if Ukraine joins the pact.

It states that "it will be a plus, as long as it doesn't make us (Russia) weaker". This is because of the bond they have from the former Soviet union. Since they have conjoined boarders and a lot of trade between the nations they fear that this (increasing european trade) might influence this trade.

This article discusses the controversies involved in the sale of wildlife and a global ban in the trade of a species when it is threatened with over-exploitation. The author relates to trade bans as something that do more harm than good. This is perfectly illustrated by the following quote: "Combine inelastic demand, lack of substitutes, scarcity and open access to habitats with a trade ban, Dr Conrad argues, and a black market will flourish." Some of these conclusions also relate to arguments against protection we did in class, such as the limited options that consumers and firms have.

This article is about the trade barriers that Indonesia has and what needs to be done. It talks about the struggle that Indonesian and international businesses have due to these trade barriers.

China picks up the decrease in trade and starts their way on a new economic recovery after a shaky inflation in January. Their exports increased drastically compared to the previous couple of months, and their global trade suplus widened.

This article is about how more cattle are being exported to Indonesia from Australia. This is due to an improvement in terms of trade by the lifting of a quota on live cattle imports. It talks about how this improvement of trade terms will be great for the Australian agriculture industry.

The article focuses on the trade relations between Germany and Pakistan. The amount of trade articles has risen from last years 2.32 billion to 2.89 billion dollars. The relations in between these two countries has grown every since the Pakistani ban for importing items because of the mad cow disease (about 10 years ago). Luckily, the ban and the disease blew away and the situation is under control. Germany and Pakistan are working toward a bilateral agreement of trade and looking forward to new investment in the future.

I find this article thoroughly bizarre. Apparently, South African had this huge deficit calculated to be 116.9 billion rand. I don't what the exchange rate on their currency is, but that part isn't that surprising. What's surprising, at least to me and nobody else in this article, it seems, is that they reduced the deficit to about 34.6 billion by-- get this --redoing their calculations. They neglected to include trade with foreign neighbors, which just so happened to help out their balance of accounts. I can see why the recalculation helped to clear things up and, essentially, made South Africa's situation better, but it's weird how the article refers to it as if the deficit "decreased" because the numbers were run under differing conditions. Am I crazy?