Re: The opinion piece entitled “Please, let’s not win any more trade battle” by John Morriss in the June 24 issue.
The viewpoints expressed demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of the nature of the dispute regarding U.S. mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL). The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) supports the concept of voluntary country of origin labelling and for consumers to have the option of paying for information that they genuinely value. The dispute is over the way in which the U.S. implemented mandatory COOL as it creates discrimination against imported livestock in the U.S. marketplace, thus contravening the U.S.’s trade obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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When the WTO ordered the U.S. to come into compliance, the U.S. responded by introducing an amendment that clearly does not eliminate the discrimination and therefore we believe will not be found to comply with the WTO. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s amendment increases the discriminatory impact on imported cattle, leaving the U.S. in a position of non-compliance with its WTO obligations and Canadian beef producers to shoulder the impact of increased costs.
This is a step in the process, which in our view does not amount to a “win” as the author suggests. We continue to press for the U.S. genuinely to eliminate the discrimination. To suggest as the opinion piece does that Canada roll over and do nothing in response to the U.S.’s blatant disregard for the rules of fair trade that all WTO member countries must abide by is simply absurd and not an option that we could contemplate.
COOL discrimination has cost Canadian cattle producers around $640 million in losses per year since being implemented in late 2008. Those costs are set to rise under the new amendment to an estimated $90 to $100 per head compared with the current $25 to $40 per head cost. This cost is unacceptable to the producers that the CCA represents. At CCA’s urging and our full support, the Governments of Canada and Mexico have taken initial steps to respond to the U.S. non-compliance by threatening the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products.
Furthermore, the CCA is working closely with allies in the U.S. to achieve a resolution that genuinely eliminates the discrimination caused by COOL.
The CCA’s position remains that the only outcome that would bring the U.S. into compliance with the WTO is to amend the COOL legislation to allow either a single mandatory label for all meat produced in the U.S. or to allow for voluntary labelling. The latter approach could be patterned on Canada’s voluntary Product of Canada labeling requirements to provide consumers with origin information without creating trade discrimination.
Martin Unrau
President, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
