US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke outlined a new plan to increase US exports last week in a keynote speech at the National District Export Council Conference.

The US is seeking talks with Mexico to determine who should field their complaint over 'dolphin-safe' tuna. In March, Mexico filed a complaint with the WTO regarding US labeling rules.

Critics of trade agreements often claim that by greenlighting free trade, labor standards decrease. Their reasoning is that, in the rush to produce the cheapest possible product, the workers rights and safety are sacrificed.

According to CNN, EU and Canadian officials sat down in Prague to begin discussions on a new Free Trade Agreement. Let's just say, discussions went well because if the other NAFTA countries sign in, this could be the 'biggest trade deal of the 21st century.' NAFTA-EU trade would contain nearly 1 billion people and account for $35.2 trillion in annual GDP, more than half the world's trade.

India has signed a major new free trade agreement with the ASEAN trading bloc. Considering the significant amount of trade between the two areas, this free trade agreement will have a great deal of impact on the regions and the world - although it is merely half as large as the recent EU-South korea trade agreement, which covers $95 billion in trade.

According the Industry Week, a free trade agreement was signed on Oct. 15 in Brussels. This is the first between the world's largest single trading region and an Asian nation. Both parties will phase out tariffs on 96 percent of EU goods and 99 percent of S. Korea goods within three years.

Today's Featured Trade Agreement Resource is the Trade Compliance Center.

On a roll after getting closer to a trade agreement with South Korea, the EU is now beginning trade agreement talks with Canada.

The US may be close to pursuing a free trade agreement with Japan, according to the US Ambassador to Japan. Currently they are talking about a schedule to meet to discuss the potential agreement. Read more below from Bloomberg:

South Korea is a step closer to a free trade agreement with the EU as the European Trade Commissioner, Catherine Ashton, and her Korean counterpart, South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong Hoon signed a trade pact in Brussels. The trade agreement must now be approved by the 27 member countries of the EU, the European Parliament, and South Korea's Cabinet, parliament and president