WTO Ruling On U.S. Country Of Origin Labelling

Dec 07, 2015

Agriculture Canada News

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade, and the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, today issued the following statement on the United States’ Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) policy:

“Country of origin labelling harms Canadian and Mexican livestock producers as well as U.S. processors and producers. It also disrupts the highly integrated North American meat industry supply chain.

“Since 2011, the World Trade Organization [WTO] has repeatedly ruled that COOL discriminates against Canadian and Mexican cattle and hogs and violates the trade obligations of the United States.

“The Government of Canada has made every effort to convince the United States to comply with its international trade obligations.

“We are pleased that on June 10, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives repealed COOL for beef and pork. The Government of Canada has urged the U.S. Senate to do the same, but it has not yet done so.

“Today, the WTO arbitrator ruled that Canada can impose retaliatory surtaxes on $1.054 billion of U.S. exports to Canada as a result of the economic harm caused by the U.S. COOL policy, once final WTO authorization is obtained. The United States cannot appeal the ruling.

“If the U.S. Senate does not take immediate action to repeal COOL for beef and pork, Canada will quickly take steps to retaliate.

“Canada continues to work with our partners in the United States, and in the U.S. Senate, to urge the full repeal of the discriminatory COOL policy for beef and pork.”

Source : Government of Canada

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.