I’ve been travelling in the United States a few times this summer, covering events and interviewing folks for The Western Producer.
One subject that comes up in conversation is country-of-origin labelling and its imminent end.
A couple of cattle producers from Arizona and Iowa, along with a hog grower from Illinois were interested in discussing the subject with me at length during the past two weeks.
Shorter conversations took place with some government officials, advertising agencies and journalism folks. They all wanted to know if “it really is a big deal in Canada.”
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My answer was always “yes, and I think your government owes Canadian livestock producers $25 billion or so. But I know you folks aren’t going to pay them back their for their losses.”
I was heartened by the American industry’s awareness of the issue, and that, in each case, I was not the one to bring up the subject.
U.S. COOL has been shot down by the World Trade Organization four times and the American government has been ordered to end the practice by November of this year.
The legislation to repeal COOL has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is in the U.S. Senate. The bill was stapled onto a necessary highways bill and that will ensure it does get through the Senate in early September.
In the meantime, there is a move by senatorial opponents of COOL’s repeal that would create a voluntary COOL.
There is a third camp in the Senate that would prefer to see the U.S. appeal the damage claim amounts and the size of any possible countervailing tariffs and penalties that might arise.
This is largely a delaying action.
Most of the people I spoke with were not aware of the problems that COOL causes for Canadian farmers.
One cited a new report from Auburn University that claims that COOL has done no harm to Canada or Mexico. If that weren’t enough, at the end of July, I am told, yet another group made up of farm groups, churches, rural organizations, environmental groups, retail interests and consumer groups are lobbying the Senate to approve none of the above and face down the WTO, Canada and Mexico.
So, while the issue appears settled from a northerner’s view, the repeal seems far from being a done deal.
