GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States was entitled to impose extra safeguard duties on Chinese tyres, a World Trade Organization dispute panel said in a ruling published on Monday, rejecting a Chinese complaint.

The dispute contrasted the commitments of governments to fight protectionism with their right to defend local industries from floods of damaging imports, particularly from China.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States is encouraged by China’s approach in the run-up to intensified talks on a new global trade deal, the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday.

Now it is waiting to see whether that will be reflected in actual negotiations on the long-stalled Doha round, said Michael Punke, who is also Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Stimulus and bailout packages undertaken to cope with the economic crisis can have an impact on trade and investment and need to be managed carefully, according to the head of the World Trade Organization.

Director-General Pascal Lamy said the WTO would hold a special meeting in early spring of next year to examine the effect of those measures on trade and competition.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Political leaders want negotiators to deliver them a global trade deal next year and the clock has started ticking on intensified talks, the head of the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said the G20 and APEC summits this month had signaled they wanted the nine-year-old Doha round concluded and 2011 was a window of opportunity.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Ambassadors at the World Trade Organization, heeding a call from leaders at the G20 and APEC summits, have agreed to push for an outline deal in the long-stalled Doha trade round by next summer.

They face the challenge of translating their upbeat rhetoric into negotiating reality if the new target is not simply to join a long list of missed deadlines in the Doha talks.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Russia has entered the final stage of its 17-year-bid to join the World Trade Organization and outstanding issues should be resolved in the coming months, Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said on Tuesday.

The comments indicate that the largest economy still outside the 153-member WTO could join the body that regulates world trade in the course of 2011.

By Jonathan Lynn

GENEVA (Reuters Life!) – Two young pianists from Japan and South Korea demonstrated the dominance of young Asians in the world of classical music at the Geneva International Music Competition on Thursday night.

Japan’s Mami Hagiwara took the jury’s first prize, worth 20,000 Swiss francs ($20,820), with her performance of Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for Piano in G major.