News

New Canadian Ag lead to seek COOL retaliation

Canada’s new Ag Minister says he will uphold the newly elected prime minister’s position and that of the Conservative party to seek trade retaliation against the U.S. over its Country of Origin Labeling law, if forced to.

Chandler Goule, with the National Farmers Union, says the U.S. Congress needs to pass the voluntary COOL bill in the Senate. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “When we looked at the political layout after the last (WTO) appellate body decision, you know, we really truly determined the only way were are going to be able to maintain any integrity in the A-label, the Born, Raised and Harvested in the United States, was to move to a voluntary system that’s WTO compliant.”

The WTO is set to release the retaliation amount for Canada and Mexico on December 7th. Goule says, “Even if the number comes out and it’s extremely high we still need to strongly consider the Hoeven/Stabenow* bill because it still has a consumer component to it to allow them to know where their food comes from but maintains WTO compliancy.” Canada and Mexico are seeking a combined 3.1 Billion Dollars in retaliation.

The U.S. House has passed a full repeal of Country of Origin Labeling on meat cuts – but Goule says it’s fortunate that the Senate has taken a wait-and-see approach.  Goule says NFU wants Congress to pass the voluntary bill before the end of the year.

*sponsored by U.S. Senators John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) and Debbie Stabenow (D- Michigan)