With the World Trade Organization announcing today that Canada and Mexico can slap $1 billion in new tariffs against U.S. exports, National Milk Producers Federation is pushing Congress to fix the country-of-origin labeling law for meat as soon as possible. The WTO said Monday morning that Canada may impose retaliatory tariffs of up $782 million, and Mexico may enforce $228 million in tariffs, on imported U.S. products to recoup damages caused by U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules for meat.
National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) has been working with others in the dairy industry to urge the House and Senate to fix the COOL problem as part of the massive, year-end federal spending bill expected to be completed in the coming week. NMPF members are encouraged to contact their Capitol Hill representatives, stressing the importance of a fix as soon as possible in order to avoid the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on dairy sales to two of the U.S.’s largest export markets.
The WTO ruled against the U.S. meat labeling program last spring, saying Canada and Mexico had the right to respond with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports. American dairy products have been on Canada’s target list for retaliation, and the two countries could begin imposing new tariffs as soon as this month. The tariffs will come at a difficult time for U.S. exporters, who have faced a more challenging environment in 2015.