US Senate votes to repeal country-of-origin labelling

CHICAGO Dec 18 The U.S. Congress on Friday passed a broad 2016 spending package that includes the repeal of a meat labeling law in order to avoid more than $1 billion in trade retaliation by Mexico and Canada.

Kevin Boone says the measure was nothing more than protectionism.

The agency said it would be “amending the COOL regulations as expeditiously as possible to reflect the repeal of the beef and pork provisions”.

Freeland said she expects the labelling regime will disappear quickly. The World Trade Organization earlier this month authorized Canada to retaliate against the United States over the meat-labeling rules, known as COOL, setting the annual level at C$1.055 billion ($764 million), though that was less than Canada had sought.

First introduced in 2009, COOL legislation required meat to be labeled with where the animals was born, raised, and slaughtered, which required segregation between Canadian and American livestock in US processing facilities, costing extra dollars to the supply chain.

“We will be monitoring the situation to make sure there are no problems in this area”, MacAulay added.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, the Republican Chair of the Senate’s powerful Agriculture Committee, said Friday he was relieved that COOL had been repealed and that the bill would soon land on President Barack Obama’s desk for signature.

Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier said the province’s beef and pork industry will now have greater access to American markets.

“U.S. exporters can now breathe a sigh of relief”, Roberts said.

She said, however, that Canada would proceed with getting formal authorization of the tariffs on Monday, a move which could affect development of a voluntary COOL program to replace the mandatory requirements. The U.S. Senate approved the measure today by a vote of 65-33 following the bill’s passage in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 316-113.