The Republicans who control the House of Representatives
have voted to starve the Obama administration of money to continue implementing
Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations for meat.
That could spell the end of regulations that have cost
Canadian hog and cattle farmers more than $1.5 billion a year in depressed
prices.
While the COOL regulations remain in effect, many U.S. meat
packers either won’t buy Canadian livestock or discount the price they are
willing to pay to offset costs involved in keeping track of the Canadian
content throughout their processing and marketing systems.
Canadian Press says officials in Ottawa welcome the news
from the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, but will
continue to press their case at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The WTO ruled last year that the U.S. regulations amount to
illegal discrimination against imports from Mexico and Canada, which filed
complaints.
The U.S. responded with a new set of regulations which took
effect late last year, but Canadians and Mexicans and U.S. meat packers all say
the new regulations are worse than the previous ones.
There is also optimism that if and when the U.S. politicians
finally adopt a new five-year Farm Bill, it will include a provision dropping
COOL.
