Canada and Mexico have made their case before a World Trade Organization arbitration panel on how much tariff revenge they’re allowed to impose on U.S. goods over country-of-origin labelling (COOL). The WTO “has ruled four times that the U.S.’s COOL rules are discriminatory,” Canadian Pork Council chairman Rick Bergmann said in a council release Wednesday […] Read more
NAFTA countries debate COOL harm at WTO
U.S. seeks arbitration at WTO over COOL-related sanctions
The U.S. government has mounted a new defense at the World Trade Organization for its meat label law, this time seeking arbitration against Canada’s request for trade sanctions. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) had been scheduled Wednesday to hear Canadian trade officials’ request to authorize over $3 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods, in formal retaliation […] Read more
U.S. House of Representatives votes to scrap COOL
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday evening voted to repeal meat labeling laws, which were widely backed by U.S. consumer groups, as Canada and Mexico threaten US$3 billion in trade sanctions. The House voted 300-131 to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules on beef, pork and poultry, after the World Trade […] Read more
Canada preparing shorter list of tariff targets in COOL fight
Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada is whittling down its list of U.S. products that it may hit with steep tariffs in retaliation against contentious meat-labeling laws, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said on Tuesday. The Canadian government is likely to target beef, pork, California wines, mattresses, cherries and office furniture, possibly along with other goods, from […] Read more
U.S. lawmaker sees early June vote to repeal COOL
Washington | Reuters –– U.S. House of Representatives agriculture committee chairman Mike Conaway said on Tuesday he expects an early June vote on legislation to repeal U.S. meat labeling laws, to avoid costly retaliation from Canada and Mexico. Canada and Mexico began preparing retaliatory steps against U.S. goods on Monday, after a World Trade Organization […] Read more
WTO panel rejects final U.S. appeal on COOL
Canada is set to ask the World Trade Organization to allow a long list of retaliatory tariffs against U.S. agrifoods and other goods, after a WTO panel shot down Washington’s final defense of its country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law on meat. The WTO Appellate Body on Monday released its report on the U.S. government’s appeal of […] Read more
Shady chicken-meat imports have Canadian poultry producers riled up
Mislabelling chicken as spent fowl has allowed American chicken processors to avoid more than $60 million in yearly tariffs, say Canadian chicken producers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian chicken producers are crying foul over shady American spent fowl exports. Last year, Canada imported more than 97 million kilograms of chicken meat that was declared as being from spent fowl — which is 110 per cent of the United States’ entire annual spent fowl production. “We’re importing a lot more (spent fowl) than […] Read more