The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a final ruling confirming that U.S. mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) discriminates against live imports of Canadian cattle and hogs. The ruling, the fourth and final from the WTO on COOL, effectively ends the eight-year legal battle initiated by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) in 2007 challenging the U.S. labeling law for violating the U.S.’s international trade obligations.
“Today is an incredibly important and historic day for Canada’s cattle industry,” said CCA President Dave Solverson. “With a final ruling from the WTO affirming the Canadian beef industry’s right to fair market access firmly in hand, the CCA urges the U.S. Congress to finally repeal COOL on red meat,” he said.
The CCA has spent $3.25 million fighting COOL since 2007 but Solverson said the cost to fight COOL is minor in comparison to the cost COOL has inflicted in the overall industry. “On behalf of the people who operate Canada’s 68,500 beef farms, I thank the Government of Canada for standing firm against the unfair discrimination of U.S. COOL and ensuring that the U.S. meets its international trade obligations,” he said.
The ruling, according to Solverson, leaves no doubt as to the unfair discriminatory nature of COOL and reinforces the international trade body’s three earlier rulings that mCOOL violates the U.S.’s international trade obligations.
The CCA encourages the Government of Canada to move without delay to request WTO authorization to impose retaliatory tariffs on key U.S. exports. Once that authorization is received later this summer, Canada will be in a position to implement those tariffs.
Source : Agriculture and Rural Development