Chief Agricultural Negotiator Islam Siddiqui has
announced that he will leave the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative early
next year.
That might be good news for Canadians who have
been frustrated by the Obama administration’s refusal to back off of
Country-of-Origin Labeling regulations that cost Canadian livestock farmers an
estimated $1 billion a year.
Siddiqui has been on the Obama
trade-negotiating team since 2010 and worked on a number of bilaterial deals
and the recent World Trade Organization deal.