Country of Origin Labeling Issue Remains Hot
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The country-of-origin labeling debate is heating up, with the U.S.’s Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) claiming that Canada has an unfair advantage in the cattle and beef sectors due to its government subsidies program, and that, in fact, Canada is in violation of the World Trade Organization agreement.
Together with the United Stockgrowers of America, R-CALF is urging the U.S. government to remain firm in its decision in its requirement for mandatory country-of-origin labeling for cattle and other livestock.
Canada launched an official complaint against the U.S. and requested a hearing with the World Trade Organization last fall, claiming that the restrictive regulations were harming Canadian livestock producers. The labeling regulation requires additional steps at U.S. meat processing plants, by requiring that the animals be segregated according to country of origin and labeled at every step of the process. The labeling laws, said Canada, cause an increase in prices at U.S. processing plants and act as a disincentive for American plants to take Canadian cattle.
In the event of a challenge at the World Trade Organization, the defending country has the right to block the challenge once. The initial request from Canada was blocked by the U.S.
R-CALF has announced that it sent a letter to the USDA secretary and U.S. trade representatives, because it believes that Canada is in violation of World Trade Organization policies. “We believe Canada’s subsidies on beef and cattle constitute an artificial propping-up of a Canadian cattle industry that is unsustainable at its present size but for those government subsidies,” said R-CALF CEO, Bill Bullard, in a statement. “Further we believe that Canada’s subsidies are inconsistent with the very World Trade Organization agreements that Canada claims the U.S. has violated vis-à-vis COOL.”
U.S. trade representatives, he went on to say, “should not tolerate the Canada’s ongoing practice of using the Canadian treasury to manipulate the U.S. cattle market by subsidizing Canadian cattle supplies and beef production at levels above what a competitive market can support.”
According to Bullard, beef prices in the U.S. are suffering due to programs like the Canadian Income Stabilization Program and other programs that were set up in response to the BSE crisis.
