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Mexico and Japan have launched a free trade agreement after nearly three years of discussions and delays, with Tokyo hoping to boost exports of autos and electronics to North America and Mexico betting it can lure investment and export more farm products. The free trade pact, signed last September, will immediately eliminate 91 percent of Japan's tariffs on Mexican goods and 40 percent of Mexico's tariffs on Japanese goods. Other tariffs will be reduced gradually over the next 10 years. Japan is seeking to boost its shipments of autos, steel and electronics, while Mexico hopes to attract an additional $1.2 billion a year in Japanese investments, generate new jobs and crack open the Japanese market for Mexican pork, avocados, and tuna. Japan's only other free trade agreement is with Singapore. Mexico has signed 11 free trade pacts with 42 countries, including the European Union over the past several years…

France's economy grew more than expected last year, but new government figures for February and March added to fears of a slowdown in 2005. Insee, the French government's statistics agency, raised its fourth-quarter economic growth estimate to 0.9% from 0.8%, lifting its full-year 2004 forecast to 2.4% from 2.3%. But Insee also said its consumer confidence index declined to minus-25 in March from minus-23 the previous month, while unemployment remained at a five-year high of 10.1% in February -- threatening the credibility of a government pledge to reduce joblessness to 9% by the end of the year…

New requirements to help prevent sensitive chemical or biological items from being diverted to weapons use have been adopted by the US Department of Commerce. The new rules expand the country scope of export-licensing requirements for listed items to all destinations, worldwide, according to the DOC's Bureau of Industry and Security. Prior to the March 30 rule-making, the license requirement only applied to shipments of listed chemicals and biologics to "certain countries of concern," the bureau said. The new export controls, which the bureau said are being imposed "for foreign policy reasons," are consistent with the "Guidelines for Transfers of Sensitive Chemical or Biological Items," endorsed by the Australia Group (AG), of which the United States is a member. Items on the AG Common Control List of sensitive items include chemical-weapons precursors, dual-use chemical-manufacturing equipment and technology, biological agents and animal and plant pathogens. The new US rules apply to any shipment of listed items exported from the US on or after April 29; and…

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has issued a ruling that will lead to the imposition of anti-dumping duties on imports of magnesium from China and Russia. In a recent 6-0 vote, the commissioners made an affirmative final determination that the imports injured or threatened US industry. Imposition of anti-dumping duties requires final affirmative determinations both from the Department of Commerce (DOC) on dumping and from the USITC on injury. Dumping is the import of goods at a price below the home-market or a third-country price or below the cost of production. A dumping margin represents how much the fair-value price exceeds the dumped price. The department made its final affirmative determination in February, calculating dumping margins ranging from 91.3% to 141.5% for China and from 18.7% to 22.3% for Russia. The anti-dumping duties to be imposed as a result of the USITC determination are equal to the dumping margins. The DOC also ruled that critical circumstances exist in regard to certain imports from China. US imports of magnesium metal from China increased from $18.2 million in 2002 to $20.9 million in 2003 and from Russia from $29.5 million to $37.4 million, according to the agency. 

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