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Retaliation considered in COOL case

Potential retaliation from Canada and Mexico against the U.S. was the focus of a House Ag subcommittee today.

Chairman David Rouzer of North Carolina said the U.S. could lose its appeal with the WTO on its Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule and harmful retaliation could be the result.

He says trade agreements are important for U.S. agriculture which could be harmed if the appeal fails, “It’s also my experience that in all these trade negotiations, past, present and future, everybody around the world has an ax to grind. No use in giving them another ax.”

Linda Dempsey, with the National Association of Manufacturers, says time has run out on solutions, “We need to see the repeal of this rule and then if there’s work that needs to be done with Canada and Mexico to figure out another solution then so be it.”

But, Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union said the U.S. needs to defend its position, “In the WTO proceedings, it was pointed out that some 70 countries who are members of the WTO have very similar country-of-origin labeling rules. The WTO has never found against the law. They’ve found against how it was implemented.

Johnson said the U.S. needs to “be precise in how (it) comes into compliance – and “not simply throw out the (COOL) law.” A World Trade Organization (WTO) decision is expected soon.