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Oct 31, 2013
In a letter to House and Senate Agriculture Committee Leadership last week, ASA joined dozens of farm groups in urging lawmakers to address the potential for economic disruption that could result from the U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling law, or COOL.
The groups maintain that the WTO has already deemed the previous meat labeling law non-compliant with WTO guidelines, finding that it discriminated against Canadian and Mexican products.
“Should the WTO again deem that Canadian and Mexican products are subject to unfair discrimination, those countries will be given the authority to begin retaliating against U.S. products through retaliatory tariffs that will stop exports and kill jobs,” wrote the groups.
“As the 2013 Farm Bill Conference negotiations convene, we urge you to develop a WTO-compliant solution to the COOL law that will meet WTO guidelines while protecting thousands of American jobs from the impacts of retaliation,” they added.
For a full copy of the letter, please click here.
