Canadian Meat Industry Renews Call For The United States To Respect Its Obligations

Ottawa, Ont. – Canada’s meat processing industry is renewing once again its call for the Government of the United States to respect its international trade obligations. The comment was made in the context of the release earlier today of yet another definitive finding by a World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel on mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) in the United States.

“On four successive occasions an independent panel of experts has determined that the United States is in violation of rules that it helped create to ensure fairness in international trade,” said Canadian Meat Council President Joe Reda. “Seven years is much too long for a country to profit from ignoring the law,” added Reda.

“The long term interests of producers, meat processors and consumers in all countries, including the United States, are best served when everyone respects and complies with international trade rules,” said Canadian Meat Council Executive Director Jim Laws. “The time when the Government of the United States should have brought its rules into conformity with its obligations passed long ago.” The U.S. is out of recourse mechanisms. It must eliminate the discrimination to avoid retaliation. This can be achieved by repealing COOL for beef and pork” added Laws.

The report of the Appeal Panel confirmed a Compliance Panel determination that the U.S. requirements are non-compliant with both the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. The amendments to the original 2008 COOL rule introduced by the United States in the final rule of May 23, 2013 supposedly to correct the non-compliance identified by the first round of WTO Compliance and Appeal Panels, not only failed to correct the non-compliance, they exacerbated the discriminatory nature of the rule.

Canada’s meat industry appreciates the proactive and consistent initiatives undertaken by the Government of Canada to ensure that all countries, including the United States, respect their international trade obligations.

The Canadian meat processing industry includes some 400 federally registered establishments that provide not only safe, high quality protein for Canadian consumers, but also add jobs and contribute significantly to local economic activity in both rural and urban Canada. With annual sales of $23.6 billion, beef exports of $1.9 billion, pork exports of $3.7 billion and horsemeat exports of $78 million, and 65,000 jobs, the Canadian meat industry is the largest component of this country’s food processing sector.

The Canadian Meat Council has been representing Canada’s federally inspected meat processing industry since 1919.

Source: The Canadian Meat Council