The Wall Street Journal is reporting out of Ottawa, Canada today that Canada has requested a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel for a “dispute settlement” process of the U.S. mandatory Country of Origin Labeling Law, or COOL, claiming the onerous process required by COOL harms their ability to sell Canadian products in the U.S.‘"The U.S. COOL requirements are so onerous that they affect the ability of our cattle and hog exporters to compete fairly in the U.S. market, International Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement. ‘That is why our government has no choice but to request a WTO panel.’
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in the same statement that Canadian farmers and ranchers are facing ‘unfair discrimination’ because of the COOL law. He said Canada is confident it will succeed in the WTO challenge.
The request for a panel was made after two rounds of WTO consultations with the U.S. failed to resolve the issue. Day had said in July that he was optimistic the issue could be resolved without going to a dispute settlement panel.”
For their part, both U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk maintained the position, “"We believe that our implementation of COOL provides information to consumers in a manner consistent with our WTO commitments,’ they said in a joint statement. ‘We hope to continue to work with Canada to resolve this issue amicably.’”
For those unfamiliar with the statute, which has been around in some form of discussion for many years, the COOL law “requires firms to track and notify customers of the country of origin of meat and other agricultural products at each major stage of production, including the retail level.” Canada complains the law hurts competitiveness in both countries and imposes unnecessary costs.
Canada believes the statute has caused uncertainty in livestock community for years, and that my be true. Canada has promised to keep the dialogue open on COOL and other issues. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the U.S. and Canada “are each other’s largest agriculture trading partners. Bilateral agricultural trade last year totaled about C$37 billion.”
Given those numbers, one is probably safe in being optimistic something will work out between the two nations.
To read the Wall Street Journal piece click here.
Posted: 10/07/09
