WASHINGTON — Ten U.S. senators have urged President Barack Obama not to agree to Japan's participation in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership due to the potential negative impact on the American automotive industry, according to their recent letter to the president. "As senators representing states in which the U.S. automotive industry has a strong presence, we are particularly worried about the impact that Japan's inclusion will have on American carmakers and their workers," the lawmakers said.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed the protocol for the country to join the World Trade Organization, capping an accession process that took 18 years. The signing announced Saturday by the Kremlin comes a week after parliament ratified the agreement. Russia had been the largest economy outside the global trade organization. Advocates say that joining the WTO will improve foreign investment and push Russian businesses.

Yesterday, on July 19, in Brussels, the representatives of Ukraine and the European Commission initialed the text of the agreement on free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and the EU, which is an integral part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the economy development and trade minister of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko announced. He said that the English version of the text of the agreement was initialed approximately at 7 p.m. Kyiv time.

China will open investigations into imported U.S. and South Korean solar-grade polysilicon, the country's trade ministry said on Friday, in the latest instance of growing tensions between major solar manufacturers. The Ministry of Commerce said that it would open anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes on U.S. imported polysilicon, as well as an anti-dumping probe on South Korean imports of the raw materials used to make solar products.

China on Friday appealed part of the WTO preliminary ruling favoring the United States in its claims against Chinese anti-dumping duties on electrical steel products from the U.S.. "China appeals certain issues of law and legal interpretation covered in the panel report," WTO said in a brief notice. According to WTO rules, the appeal is expected to be handled by a panel of three members from the seven-member Appellate Body. Generally, the Appellate Body has up to three months to consider the appeal and conclude an appeal report.

The European Commission (EC) has decided to ask the European Union (EU) member states for their agreement on opening negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan, against opposition from the European Parliament (EP) and European car manufacturers.

Efforts to conclude the long-awaited Doha free trade deal look doomed until the global economy picks up, a top World Trade Organisation official says. Negotiations on the accord stalled again last December after being launched in the Qatari capital a decade earlier, as rich and emerging nations failed to bridge gaps over the level of cuts to industrial goods tariffs and farm subsidies.

(Reuters) - U.S. bank card suppliers looking to take on China UnionPay in its home market after the WTO ruled Beijing illegally favors the state-owned network will be battling a deeply entrenched incumbent with 2.5 billion cards in circulation worldwide.

A Senate committee advanced a measure on Wednesday to normalize trade relations with Russia for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union while also sanctioning officials implicated in human rights abuses.

MOSCOW, July 18 (Reuters) - Russia's upper house of parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify entry into the World Trade Organization, and now only the signature of President Vladimir Putin is needed to complete the country's 18-year bid to join the trade rules club.