Today, the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body ruled against the U.S. Country of Origin Labeling rule for meats, upholding the compliance panel’s report. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President and Chugwater, Wyoming cattleman, Philip Ellis said the next step is retaliation.
“We have long said that COOL is not just burdensome and costly to cattle producers, it is generally ignored by consumers and violates our international trade obligations,” said Ellis. “Now that the WTO has ruled for a fourth time that this rule discriminates against Canadian and Mexican livestock, the next step is retaliation by Canada and Mexico. Retaliation will irreparably harm our economy and our relationships with our top trading partners and send a signal to the world that the U.S. doesn’t play by the rules. It is long past time that Congress repeal this broken regulation.”
The NCBA calls on Congress to fix this broken rule and supports legislation to repeal COOL before retaliation is awarded. Canada has released detailed proposed targets for retaliatory tariffs by state here.