(Reuters) - A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers on Thursday urged President Barack Obama to threaten Mexico with cuts in economic assistance if the southern neighbor continues to pursue a trade case that has put U.S. "dolphin-safe" tuna labels at risk. "We urge your administration to make clear the U.S. will not water down or eliminate the very successful dolphin-safe labeling region," the lawmakers said in a letter to Obama.

BANGKOK: The head of the World Trade Organisation on Thursday warned against growing Asian protectionism and said the region would not escape the impact of economic woes across the globe. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy acknowledged the region's relative resilience so far to economic turbulence in the eurozone and continued uncertainty in the US economic outlook.

Thailand will look to participate in a framework under the World Trade Organisation that commits members to transparency in government procurement, Kittiratt Na-Ranong, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, said on Thursday. Mr Kittiratt, speaking at the World Economic Forum on East Asia, said Thailand "would commit to join” the next discussions for the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.

HA NOI — The European Union will continue to support Viet Nam's integration into the global trading and investment system via a new European Trade Policy and Investment Support project starting this year. Franz Jessen, ambassador and delegation head of the EU to Viet Nam, made the statement at the closing ceremony of the Multilateral Trade Assistance Project (MUTRAP) held in Ha Noi yesterday.

Is Japan going to negotiate its way into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) any time soon? The short answer is no. The DPJ has not finalised its position on the issue, and in view of the ongoing consumption tax battle, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has no spare political capital to expend on the TPP.

WASHINGTON — Chinese manufacturers of towers for wind turbines received unfair subsidies and must now pay duties of 13.7 to 26 percent, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in a preliminary decision in a case brought by four American manufacturers of the towers. The decision, the third trade case decided this year in favor of American wind and solar manufacturers, will be followed by another in the coming weeks on whether Chinese companies engaged in dumping the towers in the United States at prices below the cost of making them.

WASHINGTON — President Obama signed a bill on Wednesday that extends the life of the Export-Import Bank through 2014, ending an unexpectedly fierce political fight over an institution dedicated to financing American exports abroad. Speaking at the signing ceremony to an audience filled with owners of small businesses, Mr. Obama said the reauthorization of the bank was critical to leveling the playing field with China and other countries, which provide similar credit to their export industries.

BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- China will face more international challenges as frictions in economic, trade, and investment matters with other nations are predicated to intensify in the future, a report said Wednesday. These frictions will too add pressure to the country's economic and trade policies, according to the report on China after its 10-year World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, released by the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF).

BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhuanet) --With the European Union reportedly poised to launch trade cases against telecom equipment makers in China, accusing them of getting subsidies, Beijing is set to investigate if the EU is actually illegally subsidizing its industries, a source close to the matter told China Daily. The industries include "agriculture, telecom equipment, wind energy, electrical and mechanical goods," and China has already "obtained sufficient evidence," the source, who requested anonymity, said.

The Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the USA is going through, freeing Colombian exports from Washington politics. Colombian poultry producers appear to have pulled the wrong straw, however. Mid-May saw the removal of most of the tariffs on Colombian exports to the USA under the FTA, an agreement signed in 2006 by presidents Bush and Uribe. Before this, 80% of Colombia’s products were not taxed under the previous Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.