WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal trade panel determined Friday the U.S. industry was "materially injured" by importing stainless steel sinks from China amid concerns that such action would further fuel the country's protectionist sentiment. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) voted unanimously in the affirmative in the case, which was petitioned by Elkay Manufacturing Company based in Illinois.

One of Malaysia’s leading banks, the CIMB Group, released a statement last February in which its chief executive, Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, stated that ‘we have to see ASEAN as a region and produce ASEAN champions’.

While bilateral initiatives have dominated North American issues over the last couple of years, the trilateral relationship has suffered. With a series of high-level meetings, the U.S., Canada and Mexico are taking steps to boost the NAFTA partnership. First, the defense ministers met to discuss shared continental security threats. This was followed by a leaders summit which pledged to deepen trade, regulatory, energy and security cooperation.

(Reuters) - India has launched a complaint at the World Trade Organization over the cost of U.S. work visas, which it says are too high and discriminate against a group of Indian IT firms, in the latest sign of prickly trade ties between the two allies. The complaint is at the level of WTO "consultations" between the two parties - the last step to resolve a disagreement before entering a full-fledged legal dispute.

Following last month’s request by several countries for consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on what they consider to be China’s unfair export restraints on rare earths, the latter has now set up a regulatory body to oversee their exploitation. The 17 minerals that make up ‘rare earths’ are incorporated into many high technological goods, including superconductors, hybrid car components (primarily batteries and magnets), flat-screen televisions, mobile phones, lasers and many defence-related products.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plays an important role in the multilateral trading system and has taken bold steps to diversify the economy away from oil and gas, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

SEOUL, April 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea will extend anti-dumping duties on kraft paper imported from five countries for three more years in a bid to protect local manufacturers, the finance ministry said Monday. Anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 4.03 percent to 10.79 percent will be imposed on kraft paper imported from China, the United States, Russia, Canada and Indonesia for three years starting Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

VIENTIANE, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Laos and Vietnam agree to increase the two-way trade to around 1 billion U.S. dollars by next year, local newspaper Vientiane Times reported on Monday. Laos and Vietnam decided in 2006 to raise bilateral trade to 1 billion U.S. dollar level by 2010, but have been so far unable to meet the goal. At present, trade between Laos and Vietnam is at around 750 million dollars.

At the Council for Trade in Goods meeting on March 30, 2012, fourteen World Trade Organisation members jointly expressed their deepening concern about Argentina’s import-licensing measures, which were said to have significantly restricted trade flows. The United States, also on behalf of 12 other members (Australia, the European Union, Israel, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Turkey), read a joint statement expressing deepening concerns regarding what it said were trade-restrictive measures taken by Argentina.

(CNN) — The EU has demanded that China loosen its policy on sales of rare earth materials after the World Trade Organisation upheld a ruling that Beijing’s policies to limit raw material exports violated international trade rules. The case, brought in 2009 by the EU, US and Mexico, touches on one of the biggest sources of tension in the world trading system: the use of export restrictions to hoard raw materials for the use of domestic manufacturers.