Congressional Democrats are reportedly pressuring the Obama administration to deny the domestic pharmaceutical industry's ambition of acquiring longer patent protections in other countries via the TPP negotiations. Senate Action on Issues The U.S. Senate has competing amendments intended to address the legal complaint by Mexico and Canada against the current country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirement. One follows the House-passed measure of completely repealing COOL, while another would install a voluntary label that sponsors say mimics current Canadian law. Canada disagrees and says a voluntary COOL will still invite $3 billion in WTO-allowed retaliation. The shootout over these two approaches is occurring during Senate consideration...

TAGS – Asia, North America