The World Trade Organization has called upon the United States to revise the calculating methodology used to set anti-dumping duties on certain frozen warmwater shrimp and diamond saw blades from China.

In readiness for when it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) later this summer, bipartisan legislation has been introduced into the United States Senate to establish permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia and repeal the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda plans to hold off from making an official declaration regarding Japan's bid to participate in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement when he attends a summit of the Group of 20 economies in Mexico early next week, government sources said Wednesday. Noda wants to avoid widening a split within his Democratic Party of Japan, which is already at strife over social security and tax reforms involving a hike in the consumption tax rate, the sources said.

Since stalling in what was clearly an overambitious and politics-laden Doha Round of trade talks under the World Trade Organization in 2001, countries have begun to split themselves into smaller groups in a bid to cut deals. The most notable is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a collection of nine countries — Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

JAKARTA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government will counter Japan's planned complaint in WTO over the restriction on nickel exports, a minister said here on Wednesday. The announcement followed the statement from a senior official of the Japanese Trade Ministry to take the issue to the WTO should a compromise be made to remove the restriction."In the WTO, (we) will prepare our best lawyers to defend our interest," Industry Minister Muhammad Sulaiman Hidayat said.

MONTREAL--Countries negotiating a trans-Pacific trade group are "highly unlikely" to complete an agreement this year, Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast said Wednesday. "I think generally there's an understanding that it's highly unlikely that the agreement will be completed before the end of this year," Mr. Fast said in an interview on the sidelines of an economic conference here. "I think there's a general consensus that that won't happen."

(Reuters) - Australia is likely to be hit with a third complaint about its tobacco packaging laws at the World Trade Organization, trade diplomats said on Wednesday. Ukraine and Honduras have already launched trade disputes over the issue, and one diplomat familiar with the situation said he expected a third country to file a similar suit as soon as Thursday.

GENEVA, June 13 (Reuters) - Argentina said on Wednesday it was challenging Spain to explain a new biodiesel law that it says breaks World Trade Organization rules and could cost the South American country $1 billion in lost export earnings. Spain's law came into force in April, and Argentine officials say it restricts biodiesel imports from overseas, barring major suppliers such as Argentina and Indonesia.

South Korea and the United States have held two days of talks in Washington looking at the progress made in implementing the South Korea-United States free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) in the three months since it entered into force on March 15 this year.

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA), comprising of Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, has announced that significant headway was made in negotiations with Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama towards a broad-based free trade agreement during a second round of talks. EFTA reported that progress was made in all areas to be covered by the agreement, including trade tariff concessions and legal guarantees of improved market conditions and opportunities for undertaking trade and investment activities.