Like chipping away ice from a frozen water hole, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association believes its persistent discussions with American farm groups and politicians about country-of-origin labelling are finally paying off.
CCA president Dave Solverson recently met with delegates at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting and found that the message seems to be sinking in that Canada will take retaliatory action against U.S. products in all American states if COOL isn’t fixed.
“A lot of states were not affected by beef imports and are not aware of country-of-origin labelling until they heard about retaliatory tariffs,” said Solverson.
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Canadian embassy staff produced a large map at the farm bureau meeting that listed what products from each state would face retaliatory action if COOL isn’t repaired.
Solverson said Canada’s threat against products such as fruit, vegetables, tires, office furniture and mattresses appears to have finally caught the attention of American farm groups.
Solverson and John Masswohl, CCA’s director of government and international relations, met with delegates from several states, including California and Washington, which export a lot of fruit and vegetables, one of the items on the retaliatory list.
These states have previously supported COOL because of their large fruit and vegetable crops. Solverson said Canada has no desire to slap tariffs on fruit and vegetables, but the rules affecting red meat need to be changed.
“They are supportive of country-of-origin labelling, but they want it to be WTO compliant,” he said.
An October World Trade Organization ruling found that the United States has not brought its COOL program into compliance with its WTO obligations. Instead of following the WTO ruling, the U.S. appealed the compliance ruling, which is the final option available to the Americans before Canada can exercise its right to retaliate.
Solverson said the Canadians encouraged state officials to pressure their Washington representatives to join the coalition of farm groups opposed to COOL.
Country-of-origin labeling hadn’t been on radar for many of these states before Canada announced possible retaliatory action against agriculture and non-agricultural products, he added.
“The federal government’s retaliatory position has certainly caught their attention. It’s got a real momentum now,” said Solverson.
“I think we’ve got great momentum to finally get it fixed. We’re not willing to take a compromise. We want to get it fixed right.”
Solverson will be part of a delegation to Washington at the beginning of February with federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and Alberta agriculture minister Verlyn Olson to talk to American agriculture officials about making changes to the law that has cost Canadian farmers millions in lost sales.
mary.macarthur@producer.com
