Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast
have dismissed a proposal from a Michigan senator to convert Country-of-Origin
Labeling (COOL) for meat into a voluntary measure.
Mandatory COOL has been ruled illegal by the World Trade
Organization. It has taken Canada seven years and millions of dollars to take
the U.S. to the World Trade Organization courts.
Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Republican senator, is
the senior member on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
In addition to voluntary COOL for beef and pork, she
proposes maintaining mandatory COOL for sheep.
Canada’s sheep farmers and federal government did not
include sheep in the appeals to the World Trade Organization.
Ritz and Fast issued a statement saying “the
U.S. Senate must follow the lead of the House of Representatives and put
forward legislation that repeals COOL once and for all.
“The only acceptable outcome remains
for the United States to repeal COOL or face $3B in annual retaliation.
“Canada will continue to stand
up for the rights of our cattle and hog producers to ensure this harm is ended
and to restore the value of our highly integrated North American livestock
market.”
