Canada displeased with latest move by US in trade spat

By continuing the segregation of and discrimination against Canadian cattle and hogs, Senator Stabenow’s measure will harm farmers, ranchers, packers, retailers and consumers on both sides of the border.

“If consumers in Canada have the right to know where their food comes from through a voluntary labelling process, then American consumers should have the same”.

The undersigned organizations representing consumers and livestock producers in Ohio respectfully urge you to reject both efforts to repeal the mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) law and any attempts to convert the COOL law into a voluntary program.

Since the WTO said the rule violates U.S. trade obligations, Canada and Mexico have threatened to impose billions of dollars in tariffs on U.S. food agriculture and manufacturing if it’s not repealed.

The former chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee tabled her bill in the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

Stabenow said a voluntary labelling system should be put in place instead. “This bill is a path forward and will encourage global trade while giving families peace of mind”. Those who supported the bill argued that if Canada can have a voluntary label set up for its meat products, than the United States should be able to do the same. The minister’s office said Ritz and Roberts spoke about Stabenow’s bill Thursday, but declined to say what was said. A WTO arbitrator now is determining the level of retaliation.

“We don’t like it, Congress doesn’t like it, but the reality is that after four losses at the WTO, Canada and Mexico hold the cards”.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) in May rejected an appeal by the United States of the global trade body’s October 2014 ruling that the COOL provisions on beef and pork discriminate against Canadian and Mexican animals, which they send to the United States to be fed out and processed.

Lawmakers are trying to prevent countries like Canada and Mexico from retaliating against the United States with tariffsб but still allow purveyors of beef, pork and chicken to label products that are produced nationally. The voluntary “Dolphin-Safe” tuna label has been successfully challenged шт the WTO.

The threat of retaliation has already prompted one-half of U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives, to pass a bill repealing the labelling rule.

Some senators have suggested making COOL voluntary, a proposal dismissed by the pork groups. The legislation would repeal COOL for ground beef and ground pork as well as for chicken, but the WTO explicitly ruled that the COOL label on ground meat was WTO-legal, and the dispute never addressed chicken or other covered commodities (including seafood, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, goat, venison and a few nuts).