Canada, United States enter abritration over COOL

On Tuesday, the United States Trade Representative formally triggered an arbitration process with Canada regarding country of origin labeling (COOL) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The purpose of the arbitration process is to determine the level of damages, if any, that Canada incurred as a result of the United States' mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) law. Canada must now prove that it actually incurred monetary damages before the WTO would consider granting it the right to impose retaliatory tariffs against the United States as compensation for any such damages. In response to the United States Trade Representative request, the WTO on Wednesday referred the United States' request regarding Canada to arbitration. Although the USTR will likely also challenge Mexico's claims for damages, Mexico inserted the wrong dollar value for its damage claims and the United States will have more time to respond to Mexico's corrected request to implement retaliatory tariffs...more