HA NOI — The Ministry of Finance is gathering recommendations on a draft for import and export tariffs for 2012. The changes related to export in the draft were minor so the country's exports would not be significantly impacted, the ministry said. The ministry said it was looking into cutting the export tax on coal from the current 20 per cent. Although details about the reduction were not provided, the cut was expected to be modest because a high tax would help restrict exports to meet the country's rising demand for coal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior lawmakers urged the Obama administration Saturday to insist Russia meet high standards in its bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying they worried about the impact on American jobs and businesses. The Obama administration has said it is committed to helping Russia join the WTO this year. The Congress cannot stop Moscow's entry, but it could refuse to lift restraints on U.S.-Russia trade that date back to the Cold War.

BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday welcomed a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruling that rejected anti-dumping measures imposed by the European Union (EU) on leather shoes imported from China. Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said China urged the EU to respect the WTO panel's recommendations and remove as soon as possible the discriminatory measures and legislation inconsistent with the WTO rules.

(Reuters) - A World Trade Organization panel largely backed China on Friday in a complaint about European Union import duties on Chinese footwear, dealing a partial victory also to European importers and retailers. In a ruling, the panel told the European Union to bring its method on calculating anti-dumping duties into conformity with WTO rules and said the bloc had acted inconsistently with WTO law.

HA NOI — Exports of agricultural products during the first 10 months of this year reached a total of US$11.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 45 per cent, with export value bolstered by high prices. During this period, the country exported 6.5 million tonnes of rice, valued at $3.3 billion, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO). These figures increased by 11.6 per cent in volume and 20.3 per cent in value against the same period last month.

The General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has approved Vanuatu's WTO membership bid. Vanuatu must ratify the deal by December 31, 2011, before becoming the WTO's 154th member thirty days after ratification. “With Vanuatu the WTO receives a least-developed country into the family," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said. "Its membership will strengthen the multilateral trading system and provide this country with a stable and predictable trade environment. Vanuatu’s accession brings the WTO one step closer to our goal of universal membership."

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Commerce Department Thursday announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping (AD) duty investigation of imports of steel wheels from China. The department preliminarily determined that Chinese producers and exporters have sold steel wheels at margins ranging from 110. 58 to 193.54 percent ad valorem. Imports of steel wheels from China were valued at an estimated 80.4 million U.S. dollars last year. The department said it is scheduled to make its final determination in March 2012.

Vietnam’s export revenues in October rose 4.5 percent against last month to 8.3 billion USD, after three consecutive months of decline. The General Statistics Office announced that the country earned an export turnover of more than 78 billion USD in the Jan.-Oct. period, a year-on-year rise of 34.6 percent.

Despite the different nature of their negotiations, a study prepared by the Policy Support Unit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation has explored how APEC and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) can be mutually beneficial.

MIKAWA, Japan Oct 27 (Reuters) — Like other farmers on this fertile, coastal plain in northeast Japan, where patchwork rice fields stretch to the mountains beyond, Kazushi Saito knows firsthand that the nation’s shrinking agricultural sector is in dire straits. But unlike many, the 54-year-old rice farmer backs a controversial free trade deal that could remove a near 800 percent tariff on rice, aimed at excluding most imports of a staple that is ingrained in Japan’s culture.