WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sentencing handed down to former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will complicate Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization, a senior Obama administration official said on Thursday."It is not going to help their cause, it is only going to complicate their cause," the official said"The WTO is a rules based, rule of law organization. Most countries around the world do not look at this verdict as a demonstration of the deepening of the rule of law in Russia. It will definitely have an effect on Russia's reputation," the official added.

China's recently launched anti-dumping investigation into U.S. distillers' dried grains (DDGS) exports could be disruptive to trade, a U.S. industry trade group said on Thursday.DDGS, a by-product of ethanol production, have found a ready market in China, where growing demand for meat has fueled a boom in animal feed production.

Rare earth elements are used in iPhones, iPads, hybrid-electric cars, wind turbines, flat-panel monitors, tiny magnets in the fins of bombs, missiles, laser-guided smart bombs, and a myriad of other industrial applications.China cut exports last summer, then totally blocked exports to Japan last September in a border dispute with Japan and now has reduced export quotas again by 35 percent.There is growing concern about this problem at the Pentagon and by manufacturers for obvious reasons. Please consider China's rare earths export cut spurs trade concerns

On December 28, 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued a proposed rule that, if adopted, could change significantly the calculation of the amount of duties owed in administrative reviews of antidumping duty orders. This change would entail abandonment of the DOC’s controversial “zeroing” methodology, which repeatedly has been found to be inconsistent with U.S.

The United States announced on December 22, 2010 that it has sought the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) intervention to address US concerns over support for the domestic wind power industry in the People’s Republic of China. According to US Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk, the United States filed a request for consultations with China under the WTO Agreement’s dispute settlement provisions concerning China’s Special Fund for Wind Power Manufacturing program. This request is the first step in a potential WTO case.

International Trade Update December 27, 2010

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has announced that the U.S. and Yemen had successfully concluded bilateral market access negotiations as part of Yemen’s efforts to accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The bilateral agreement provides new market access opportunities for U.S. providers of agriculture, goods and services, and sets the stage for Yemen to complete accession negotiations with WTO Members.

China, which supplies more than 90 percent of the world's rare earth minerals, will raise the export taxes for some elements to 25 percent 2011, the Ministry of Finance said.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the extension of a preferential trade deal that allows the duty-free import of many Colombian products. "The overwhelming vote in favor of the extension of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) in the House of Representatives shows bipartisan support for this program and Colombia," the country's ambassador to Washington, Gabriel Silva, said in a press release.

FOZ DO IGUACU, Brazil, Dec 15, 2010 (AFP) – South America's Mercosur trade partners signed a preferential tariff deal Wednesday with several developing nations including India, officials said. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay formed Mercosur in 1991 with the aim of eventually creating a South American common market.