WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. trade panel on Friday approved investigations that could lead to steep import duties on more than $1 billion of washing machines from South Korea and Mexico and more than $150 million of wind energy towers from China and Vietnam.

The U.S. International Trade Commission agreed there was reasonable evidence that imports from four countries were harming domestic producers. That allowed the U.S. Commerce Department to continue investigations already underway.

The trade panel also approved a third probe on steel wire garment hangers from Taiwan and Vietnam.

In each case, the Commerce Department will set preliminary duty levels in coming months. The ITC must vote its approval again for final duties to take force.

The wind tower case adds to a raft of U.S.-China trade frictions ahead of a visit by China’s likely next leader, Vice President Xi Jinping, to Washington next week.

WHIRLPOOL IN A LATHER

Century-old American manufacturer Whirlpool has accused South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics of selling washers in the United States at prices 31 percent to 82 percent below fair market value.

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – A U.S. trade panel on Friday approved investigations that could lead to steep import duties on more than $1 billion of washing machines from South Korea and Mexico and more than $150 million of wind energy towers from China and Vietnam.

The U.S. International Trade Commission agreed there was reasonable evidence that imports from four countries were harming domestic producers. That allowed the U.S. Commerce Department to continue investigations already underway.

The trade panel also approved a third probe on steel wire garment hangers from Taiwan and Vietnam.

In each case, the Commerce Department will set preliminary duty levels in coming months. The ITC must vote its approval again for final duties to take force.

The wind tower case adds to a raft of U.S.-China trade frictions ahead of a visit by China’s likely next leader, Vice President Xi Jinping, to Washington next week.

WHIRLPOOL IN A LATHER

Century-old American manufacturer Whirlpool has accused South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics of selling washers in the United States at prices 31 percent to 82 percent below fair market value.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans felt worse about their personal finances in early February, but rising confidence in the labor market’s prospects should help to support spending and the broader economy.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan overall index of consumer sentiment fell to 72.5 in early February, data showed on Friday, from 75.0 in January. It was the first drop in six months and reflected households’ anxiety over their finances.

The ebb in morale comes despite the recent run of relatively strong data, including solid job growth and manufacturing activity.

“While there is plenty of positive momentum in the economy there is still plenty to worry about,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial in New York.

The Conference Board’s survey of consumer attitudes published last month also showed a fall in sentiment.

Households continue to struggle under the weight of huge debt loads and a sustained decline in house prices also is not helping.

While consumers worried about incomes, they reported a record level of optimism about job prospects.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and China are discussing the possible elimination of Chinese barriers to American films in the run up to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit next week, a U.S. trade official said on Thursday.

“China and the United States have been engaged in discussions regarding the possible resolution of issues relating to films in the China-audiovisual case,” said Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

She declined further comment because talks were ongoing.

U.S. government and industry officials say China’s restrictions on American movies fuel demand for pirated DVDs of the films that are widely available in China.

The United States won what it described as a major victory at the World Trade Organization in 2009 against Chinese restrictions on the importation and distribution of films, DVDs, music, books and journals.

Xi, who is expected to become China’s leader toward the end of this year and is known to be a fan of American movies, will finish his visit in Los Angeles — the U.S. film capital — after stops in Washington and Iowa.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, mentioned possible progress on the nearly five-year-old trade spat in a briefing note on Xi’s visit.

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – A top U.S. business group, frustrated with years of stalemate in world trade talks, on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to pursue a new agenda with fewer countries centered on services trade, health care and cross-border digital data flows.

“(We’ve) tried to come up with what we think is an appropriate agenda as we move away from Doha,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), referring to the round of trade talks launched in late 2001 with the goal of helping poor countries prosper from trade.

The group, which includes big U.S. corporations like Boeing , Caterpillar, Chevron, General Electric , IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Proctor & Gamble, United Technologies and Wal-Mart, has long pushed for a Doha round agreement among the 153 members of the World Trade Organization that would open markets in agriculture, manufacturing and services.

But those talks have been stalled since at least 2008, with the United States demanding big emerging economies like China, India and Brazil make better offers to open their markets in exchange for manufacturing tariff and farm subsidy cuts Washington was being asked to make.

The NFTC is now pushing the United States to negotiate an agreement among just those WTO countries willing to participate - even if that excludes China, India and Brazil – to liberalize trade in services including insurance, banking, logistics, energy services, telecommunications and express delivery.

It called for similar negotiations in two other areas, health care and clean technology, where the United States has many top-tier firms. And it wants a “digital economy” trade agreement to ensure the secure, predictable and open flow of information across borders.

“We are grateful to the NFTC for producing some concrete, tangible suggestions for a way forward in multilateral trade liberalization. This is exactly the kind of input we need as the U.S. works with other WTO members to consider the best paths for revitalizing the WTO’s work,” said Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Japanese trade officials on Tuesday assured the United States they were prepared to discuss key U.S. trade demands if allowed to join talks on a regional free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said.

“Japanese officials underscored the Japanese government’s readiness to engage with the United States on a range of issues going forward,” USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie said in a statement. “As a next step, both governments agreed to hold a follow-up meeting at the working level on February 21-22 in Washington, D.C., as the consultative process continues.”

Japan is pressing to join the United States and other countries in talks on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, but faces strong opposition from Detroit auto manufacturers who say they do not believe Tokyo is really prepared at this time to open its market to more car imports.

The Obama administration is consulting with Congress, business and organized labor as it makes up its mind whether to support Japan, Canada and Mexico’s bid to join the TPP talks, which now include the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

“We have to go through a very deliberative process,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Reuters in a recent interview. The current TPP members are entertaining the three countries’ interest “and frankly giving them the concerns of our stakeholders over the next several months,” he said.

“But we’ve also agreed we aren’t going to slow down on our work to … conclude this agreement this year, as our leaders have asked us to do,” Kirk said, referring to a goal set in November by U.S. President Barack Obama and other heads of the TPP countries.

Some members of Congress – especially from auto-producing states such as Michigan – also share Detroit’s concern about Japan joining the negotiations, since it could lead to an agreement requiring the United States to eliminate remaining tariffs on Japanese auto imports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday it has struck a deal sparing U.S. exporters from hundreds of millions of dollars in European and Japanese trade retaliation in a dispute over how Washington calculates anti-dumping duties on steel and other goods.

“I am proud to announce today that we have finally put these burdensome and potentially damaging trade disputes behind us,” U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement on the “zeroing” deal struck with the European Union and Japan.

“What this means for the American people and the country as a whole is that American farmers and businesses can invest in job-creating export markets without the uncertainty of possible trade retaliation,” Kirk said.

The United States has lost numerous cases at the World Trade Organization in the past decade over a practice called “zeroing” used to calculate anti-dumping duties on products it says are being sold in the United States at less than fair value.

After Washington took only partial steps to comply with the rulings, Brussels and Tokyo asked the WTO for permission to impose sanctions in order to induce compliance.

“This understanding solves this longstanding dispute,” said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement that estimated the deal could collectively save dozens of European exporters about $15 million a year.

“It will bring immediate relief to EU exporters who will no longer have to pay excessive anti-dumping duties; some of them will not pay any anti-dumping duties at all,” he said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Detroit automakers are urging President Barack Obama to reject Japan’s bid to join talks on a regional free trade agreement, the head of an automotive group representing GM, Ford and Chrysler said on Thursday.

“Adding Japan to the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations will lengthen those negotiations … by years and perhaps keep them from ever coming to fruition,” Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, told Reuters.

While Detroit automakers support Obama’s goal of creating a free trade pact in the Asia Pacific, they do not believe U.S. negotiators can dismantle “non-tariff” measures Japan has long used to keep U.S. autos out of its market, said Blunt, a former Republican governor of Missouri whose father is a U.S. senator.

“As advocates for free trade, we’re concerned about adding an economy like Japan,” Blunt said, denying Detroit automakers were afraid of talks with Tokyo because the U.S. could have to eliminate remaining tariffs on Japanese cars.

“We obviously compete with a lot of automakers here and for the first time (last year) since 1988, we gained market share. We’re making a very competitive product now that we export all around the globe,” Blunt said.

The Detroit Three’s objections, many of which are echoed by the 12.2-million AFL-CIO labor organization, create a political problem for Obama, who is up for re-election this year and needs to do well in the industrial Midwest.

Obama has warmly welcomed interest from Japan, Mexico and Canada in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, but has not made a formal decision yet on whether to let the three countries join the negotiations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Midwestern U.S. lawmakers and union groups on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to restrict imports of auto parts from China that they said benefited from massive illegal subsidies and threatened hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

“We need to stand up to the bully on the block,” Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said, referring to Beijing. “The bully on the block continues to take our lunch money and we need to stop that,” she said.

The push for the administration to bring a possible case at the World Trade Organization or begin a U.S. Commerce Department investigation that could lead to duties on Chinese-made auto parts came one week after Obama said he was creating a new Trade Enforcement Unit to crack down on unfair foreign trade practices in China and other countries around the world.

It could create further strains in the U.S.-China relationship as Obama is preparing to host Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to be China’s next leader, a the White House on February 14.

“We must be aggressive on trade enforcement – especially as China ramps up subsidies in strategic industries like auto parts, said Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat.

“Today, we’re providing the president with his first opportunity to deliver on the promise to guarantee a level playing field,” said Scott Paul, president of the American Alliance for Manufacturing, whose members include the United Steelworkers union and steel companies.

A U.S. trade official stopped short of committing to action on the issue, but said the Obama “administration will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Midwestern lawmakers and groups from the U.S. auto parts sector plan on Tuesday to urge President Barack Obama to take action to restrict imports of auto parts from China, a U.S. industry official said.

“I think all of us will be urging the administration to initiate a case or multiple cases,” Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which is holding a press conference on Tuesday with U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and other lawmakers.

The event comes one week after Obama said his administration was launching a new initiative to crack down on unfair foreign trade practices in China and other countries around the world.

Obama, who has been criticized by some Republican presidential candidates for not being tough enough on Beijing, will host China’s Vice President Xi Jinping, on February 14 at the White House. Xi is expected to become China’s next leader.

Beijing angered Washington in December with a decision to impose punitive duties of up to 22 percent on large cars and SUVs from the United States, a move that many saw as retaliation for earlier U.S. moves to restrict imports of Chinese goods ranging from tires to poultry.

The Obama administration is considering whether to slap anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar panels and wind energy towers from China in response to U.S. industry allegations of unfair trading practices.

Paul said U.S. groups and lawmakers will present data on Tuesday showing that U.S. auto parts imports from China “have surged by almost 900 percent since 2001,” due in part to massive Chinese government subsidies.