HONG KONG — China’s ministry of commerce announced on Friday that it had opened an investigation into whether American subsidies and other policies in the solar, wind and hydroelectric sectors had unfairly hurt the industrial development of China’s renewable energy industries.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has launched a new discussion forum to gain members' input on tackling the issue of non-tariff barriers to global trade. According to the WTO, the forum has been opened to consult with members of the research and policy community ahead of next year's World Trade Report, to be titled 'Looking beyond international cooperation on tariffs'.

The World Trade Organisation has published its annual report on developments in the international trading environment, which comprehensively tracks measures implemented by nations over the past twelve months that restrict or liberalize global trade. WTO research undertaken during 2011 shows that on the whole governments have largely continued to resist protectionist pressures, although an upward trend was observed this year in the imposition of new trade restrictions.

South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has lost patience with the continued opposition of the Democratic Party (DP) and has pushed the South Korea–United States free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) through parliament using its absolute majority.

Indonesian rubber board (Karindo) plans to temporarily stop shipping rubber overseas should the commodity prices keep falling to below 3 U.S. dollar per one kilogram to boost prices and prevent cancellation of purchasing- contract commitments done unilaterally by buyers, Aziz Pane, chairman of the board has said. The plan was made as the weakening global economy and floods in Thailand had trimmed demands of the commodity that lead to downward pressures on the prices and led to cancellation of some contracts.

VNEconomyNews.com - Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has announced that Russia and Vietnam are likely to sign an agreement on the establishment of a free trade area (FTA) next year. Deputy PM Shuvalov, who has just paid an official visit to Vietnam, made the statement on the Russia 24 TV channel on Nov. 23. He said Russian and Vietnamese officials have begun to compile the FTA paperwork to be presented to the two governments by the end of this year.

FAO produces an excellent state of the world's agriculture twice a year called Food Outlook (in all 6 U.N. languages). The latest, just out last week, includes the following startling fact: "This year’s global food import bill is expected to approach $1.3 trillion USD, with the cost of food purchases for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) soaring by over a third from last year."

Montenegro’s Economy Minister Vladimir Kavarić and his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Klyuyev signed today in Kyiv the free trade agreement between the two states, which will enable Montenegro to resume its accession negotiations with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and join the organisation in the near future.

China's decision to grant zero-tariff status to some least developed countries (LDCs) has drawn positive responses from the international community. During the recently concluded G-20 summit in Cannes and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Honolulu, President Hu Jintao announced that China would give duty-free status to 97 percent of the tariff items of exports to China from the LDCs, provided they have diplomatic relations with his country.

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) ruling that the US Country-of-Origin Labelling (COOL) measure is inconsistent with its WTO trade obligations is a 'clear victory for Canada’s livestock industry', according to the Canadian government. Nearly three years after the Canadian government first requested the WTO's intervention in its dispute with the US over COOL, the Organization has decided that the measure discriminates against foreign livestock.