No one is willing to comment on a leaked, confidential report that Canada and Mexico have won an important World Trade Organization dispute with the United States, but no one is disputing the report.
The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22 that the U.S. lost its WTO case before a compliance panel to determine if the country’s revised country-of-origin labelling rules complied with an earlier WTO ruling.
Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said organization officials know the results of the WTO ruling but have signed confidentiality agreements not to talk about the decision until it is officially released.
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“I haven’t seen anyone refuting the comments made in the Wall Street Journal,” said Laycraft.
“We remain very confident the WTO will rule in our favour when the ruling comes out in October.”
All three governments received the panel’s report this summer but cannot comment on it until its official release this fall.
Jeff English, director of communications for federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, said the government is “confident in its position and stands by its livestock industry.”
The U.S. rule, which requires retailers to segregate and list the country of origin on meat, has drastically reduced Canadian pigs and cattle exports to the U.S. since 2009.
The WTO ruled in June 2012 that COOL unfairly discriminated against Canada and Mexico because it gave less favourable treatment to beef and pork from those countries compared to U.S. meat.
The WTO said the U.S. must bring its labelling rules into compliance with the ruling by May 23, 2013.
The U.S. government made changes, but Canadian officials said they only made the situation worse and asked the WTO to form the compliance panel.
If the ruling is in Canada and Mexico’s favour and the U.S. doesn’t make changes, Canada could retaliate against U.S. exports. Canada has already drawn up a list of products it would target for retaliation.
Since the leak, a coalition of U.S. groups has urged the American government to back off and not begin a trade war that would hurt non-agricultural industries or industries not directly related to the COOL legislation.
CCA president Dave Solverson said he hopes the coalition can put pressure on the government to back off its position and put an end to the trade dispute that has dragged on too long.
