An omnibus bill released this week in U.S. Congress could repeal mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), but until the legislation passes, the Manitoba Beef Producers president says it's important not to make any assumptions.
"I think we have to wait for that final ruling to come down in the U.S.," Heinz Reimer says, "I'm very positive that is going to happen, but I guess I'm a little pessimistic because I don't want to comment too much until I know 100 per cent for sure this thing is going to go through."
In the meantime, Canada is waiting for World Trade Organization (WTO) authorization to go ahead in imposing the approved retaliatory $1 billion in annual tariffs on U.S. products. Canada's trade minister Chrystia Freeland says this could come as early as Friday or Monday, but the bill could also receive a House vote as soon as Friday.
Like Reimer, Freeland says she will not speak in hypotheticals.
"Our goal is repeal of COOL. That is why we are acting right now," she says in a telephone conference from the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. "We're cautiously optimistic about what we've seen in Washington this week. We are working very hard with our U.S. allies, and we are going to be in very close contact — hour-by-hour contact — as this process unfolds."
Since first introduced in 2009, COOL has cost Canada's beef and pork industries billions of dollars, according to Agriculture Canada. Reimer says right now with the Canadian dollar so low, there might be more interest for Canadian cattle sales to the U.S. if it weren't for mandatory COOL, which requires American processing plants to keep Canadian and American animals separated.
Source : PortageOnline