(VOV) - The US Department of Commerce (DOC) made a preliminary decision on the anti-dumping tax of certain frozen warm water shrimp from Vietnam, for the 8th period of review (POR8) from February 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013. This was revealed by the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Accordingly, temporary tax rates will be 4.98% and 9.75% respectively for two mandatory respondents, 6.37% for voluntary respondents and US$25.76% for the remaining respondents nationwide.

(Reuters) - China has lost a dispute at the World Trade Organization over limits on rare earth and metals exports, handing Europe and the United States a victory over what they see as Beijing's unfair trade practices. "Today's ruling by the WTO on rare earth shows that no one country can hoard its raw materials from the global market place at the expense of its other WTO partners," said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

(Reuters) - China lost its bid to overturn U.S. legislation targeting unfair trade subsidies on Thursday, its second defeat in a World Trade Organization dispute within 24 hours. A WTO dispute panel threw out China's claim that the U.S. "Public Law 112-99", signed by President Barack Obama in March 2012, broke world trade rules. "The WTO panel's decision to reject China's challenge to our law is a significant victory for the United States," U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a statement.

(Reuters) - Australia asked five countries challenging its tobacco policies on Wednesday to stop delaying the progress of their cases at the World Trade Organization and took the unusual step of speeding up one of the complaints against itself. Indonesia, Ukraine, Cuba, Honduras and Dominican Republic have all launched complaints at the world trade body to try to overturn Australia's "plain packaging" laws on tobacco.

BRUSSELS, March 27 (Xinhua) -- European Union trade chief announced on Thursday the anti-dumping investigation against Chinese telecommunications equipment makers will not be pursued. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a news conference the decision is a significant step towards addressing the mobile telecommunications case, but the European Commission would not drop the anti-subsidy investigation in the same area although it will not be activated for the time being.

BRUSSELS — Completing a landmark trans-Atlantic trade agreement could help Europe wean itself from reliance on Russian energy supplies, the United States trade representative, Michael Froman, has said.

A new trade deal with South Korea will remove duties on 86.8 percent of Canadian agricultural tariff lines and more than 95 percent of tariffs on industrial products, the Canadian Government has publicized. Ministers and members of parliament have met with workers and business representatives across the country to inform stakeholders of the impact of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Korea.

TOKYO, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Japan and Canada kicked off their 5th round of free trade talks here on Monday, with trade in energy and intellectual property rights in focus, according to local media. Elimination of tariffs on agricultural products is not expected to be touched in the five-day talks, Japan's Kyodo News quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying, adding the issue was covered in the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks which involved the two countries.

The United States and the Philippines, during their recent meeting under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), agreed to a program of expanded future engagement on bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade issues, and, in particular, on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty.

U.S. Steel Corp. (X), the largest U.S. producer of the metal by volume, said South Korea is dumping steel pipes and tubes in the U.S. South Korean steelmakers created a network of related companies in order to evade U.S. trade laws, Mario Longhi, chief executive officer of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, said in remarks prepared for the U.S. Congressional Steel Caucus today.