Changes worse than original | Allowing the injunction would give the WTO time to rule on revised wording
A decision on a request to halt implementation of U.S. country-of-origin labelling legislation could be announced as early as this week.
After a court hearing Aug. 27, U.S. district court judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said her decision could be expected within 14 days. If granted, the injunction would delay implementation of COOL legislation, which the Canadian livestock industry says could cost it more than $1 billion per year in lost trade and revenue.
Don Close, vice-president for food and agribusiness research with Rabo Agrifinance and Rabobank International, told a meeting of the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association last week that members should be optimistic that the injunction will be granted.
Read Also
VIDEO: 2025 pulse and special crops convention kicks off in Whistler
Western Producer reporter Sean Pratt is in Whistler, B.C., covering the 2025 annual Pulse & Special Crops Convention. Follow along…
“The conversation with people that I have had, that were at the hearing, they were very, very enthusiastic with the job the attorneys did with the coalition to get the injunction,” said Close, adding it was his opinion rather than a position of Rabobank.
“The optimism that I have from second-hand information is the persuasion of the arguments favoured doing away with it.”
Eight livestock organizations and meat processors in Canada, the United States and Mexico filed the request for an injunction.
Among them are the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, the Canadian Pork Council, the American Meat Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
The World Trade Organization last year ruled in favour of Canada and Mexico in their assertion that American COOL legislation discriminated against imported livestock.
The U.S. altered the legislation in May, but opponents considered the changes to be even worse than the original. That led to the request for an injunction.
Close said COOL is ill considered and has failed to meet its goal of providing better information to American consumers about the origin of meat.
“I think it was a very poorly conceived piece of legislation, and the rule of unintended consequences has been way greater than ever imagined.”
He said there were enough votes in the U.S. House of Representatives to eliminate COOL before a recent vote on the new U.S. farm bill was deferred.
Rich Smith, executive director of Alberta Beef Producers, said a ruling on the injunction has major implications for the industry.
“If we win, then that prevents the implementation of the rule, which would be beneficial, because already there’s starting to be some adjustment in markets for when the rule’s going to come in,” he said.
“Cattle that are going to be finished about the time that the rule is going to be implemented, it’s already having a depressing effect on prices.”
Delay of COOL implementation could allow time for the WTO to rule on the new wording of the legislation that the U.S. put forward in May.
