Two federal cabinet ministers have indicated they are losing patience with the United States over country-of-origin labelling rules.
However, they did not indicate when or if a formal trade complaint will be launched.
International trade minister Stockwell Day told reporters April 15 at the end of a trade trip to China that he plans to be aggressive in defending the Canadian livestock sector.
“We have time limitations on how long we will let this draw out,” he said, without indicating when time will run out.
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He said evidence is building that Canadian livestock exporters are being hurt, and Canada continues to try to figure out what strategy lies behind U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack’s decision to urge industry to voluntarily go further than COOL requirements.
“Is this a way of saying, ‘do it our way or else?’ ” Day said. “If so, we are going to have problems.”
The next day in a telephone conference call from a trade trip to Morocco, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said the government continues to work with industry to assess the damage of lower prices and lost sales.
“Certainly there’s a frustration with the U.S. as to the way things are going,” he told reporters.
“We are quantifying results when it comes to the livestock industry and we’ll continue to do that.”
He said the uncertainty of Vilsack’s ultimate intention is a major part of the problem.
“What is muddying the waters is the adjustment by (Vilsack) that he will take a six-month period, analyze his own processing industry to see if they are voluntarily getting tougher and then he will by regulation make changes if they are required,” Ritz said.
“That creates frustration in the marketplace, which is not good for the free flow of goods back and forth. American processors and the beef industry down there tell me they face the same hurt that ours do.”
