International Business

Costa Rica Wants to Talk Underwear With U.S.: Charging that U.S. quotas on exports of its cotton and artificial-fiber underwear have caused unemployment and threaten to divert investment to other states in the region, the Costa Rican government requested talks with the United States to solve the dispute, sources said. The request for bilateral consultations is the first step in the formal settlement procedure of the World Trade Organization. The two sides have 60 days to resolve the matter, after which Costa Rica can ask that a neutral panel be set up to rule on it.