It came with much relief to Manitoba pork producers late this afternoon when U.S. President Barack Obama signed an omnibus bill repealing the U.S. Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) law. Since 2008, Manitoba Pork has worked tirelessly to have the American legislation changed, through our trade advocacy efforts in the U.S. and with the support of individual Manitoba producers who provided data and other information to build the case against COOL at World Trade Organization (WTO) hearings.
Finally, with the recent WTO announcement granting Canada and Mexico the right to impose $1-billion in punitive tariffs, the U.S. has taken action. The next step will be amendment of the regulation through the usual drawn out process, but thankfully there is no support in the U.S. for doing anything other than taking COOL off the books. For its part, the Canadian government has indicated that Canada will still obtain formal approval next week from the WTO for retaliation, even though tariffs won’t be imposed, bringing the legal process to a formal conclusion. It will be comforting to have that approval in hand.
Manitoba Pork wishes to thank our partners in this battle: the federal government, the Canadian Pork Council, and other livestock groups. We also appreciate the support of the many American farm and business organizations that have worked hard to get the COOL legislation repealed. Well done all!
George Matheson, Chair
Manitoba Pork
Source: ManitobaPork