Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said today that he considers U.S. country-of-origin labelling legislation to be “on life support” and is optimistic that it can be changed before Canada makes good on its plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on a wide array of American goods.
In a media call from Washington, D.C., Ritz said he had met with the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate agriculture committees about COOL and discussed its negative effects on the Canadian beef and pork industries as well as the threat it poses to American packers.
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“I am very encouraged by recent developments in the U.S. Congress as they’ve asked (agriculture) secretary Tom Vilsack to report back to them on how to provide a legislative fix to COOL if the U.S. loses the appeal, which everyone believes they will,” said Ritz.
“It’s a line in the sand that puts more pressure on the White House to fix this flawed piece of legislation.”
The World Trade Organization has ruled three times that COOL violates U.S. trade obligations. The U.S. has appealed each ruling and the latest appeal is scheduled to be heard by the WTO appellate body this month.
Ritz, who was accompanied by representatives of the Canadian beef and pork industries and the meat council, reiterated that COOL has cost the livestock industries some $1 billion per year in discounts and lost sales.
If the appellate body again rules in favour of Canada in the dispute and no changes to COOL are made as a result, Ritz said Canada would apply to impose tariffs on a wide array of U.S. goods in retaliation.
If the proposed list were imposed, it would eliminate some $2 billion worth of U.S. beef and pork exports to Canada annually and would also affect many other items.
At the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting underway in San Antonio, Texas, John Masswohl of the CCA told American cattle producers that a 100 percent tariff on beef would cost them about $350 per head.
That would effectively shut off U.S. beef exports to Canada.
In 2014, U.S. exports of beef, pork, poultry and protein byproducts totalled $26 billion.
In Washington, Ritz repeated the message that a fix to COOL is preferable to retaliation as far as Canada and the meat industries are concerned.
“There’s a window of opportunity here with new members of Congress coming in following the U.S. mid-term election last fall. I was able to meet a good number of them over the course of the past three days,” said Ritz.
“A growing number of senior people on Capitol Hill are receptive of this message. They know COOL is harming the U.S. industry more than it could ever deliver for American consumers.”
He said repealing the sections of COOL pertaining to red meat would be one acceptable solution.
Ritz and the delegation also met with the U.S. meat and livestock coalition, also called the barnyard coalition, which seeks COOL reform as well.
Seven American meat-packing plants are said to be at risk if COOL is retained, said Ritz. Those are plants that depend heavily on Canadian cattle or hogs to run efficiently.
Ritz also noted that Canada is the number one export market for 35 U.S. states.
“Trade action would take a heavy toll in states like California, impacting some $600 million in trade, or Texas, impacting over $300 million in trade to Canada,” he said.
The WTO process grinds slowly. A report on the current U.S. appeal isn’t expected to be released to the interested parties until April and won’t be made public until May, Ritz said.
Contact barb.glen@producer.com
