HK launches WTO trade dispute against US over labelling

GENEVA, Nov 03 (Reuters): Hong Kong has launched a trade dispute against the United States over what it says is a US requirement that goods from Hong Kong be marked as coming from China, a World Trade Organisation (WTO) document showed on Tuesday.

Hong Kong had made a "request for consultations", the first step in a WTO dispute on Oct. 30, the document showed.

The complaint pointed to a new US rule announced by US Customs and Border Protection in August that goods from Hong Kong would have to be marked as coming from China. The rule was to have taken effect in late September, but the requirement for compliance was then extended to Nov. 10.

The United States formerly allowed Hong Kong to be named as the place of origin. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, is a member in its own right at the 164-member WTO.

It has become a flash point between China and the United States, whose relations are strained over trade, China's claims in the South China Sea and its treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority.