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Argument for COOL likely to return

A livestock market analyst says he doesn’t think the livestock industry has seen the last of the Country of Origin Labeling fight.

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown told dairy producers at the recent Heart of America Dairy Expo the new administration could have an impact on its revival.  “Given that we seem to be moving towards what looks to be maybe a little less interest in new trade agreements,” he says.  “Maybe we care a lot less about what the WTO thinks as we move ahead.  But I don’t think we’re done with Country of Origin Labeling.”

He tells Brownfield the livestock industry needs to decide if the law is worth it.  “I think in some cases we can find consumers who are willing to pay a premium for what might be dubbed ‘Made in the USA’,” he says.  “We have to look at what that premium might return to us relative to costs associated with COOL.  There-in trying to balance those two gets very difficult.”

But, Brown says the World Trade Organization has been very strong in its opinion if COOL works.

The WTO previously ruled that COOL on meat unfairly discriminates against meat imports and gives an advantage to domestic meat products.  In December of 2015, Congress voted to repeal COOL to avoid 1-billion-dollars in retaliatory tariffs.

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