Once again, the World Trade Organization has ruled against the imposition, by the United States, of Country of Origin Labelling.
This was the fourth and final attempt by the US to re-affirm discriminatory practices in the treatment of live imports of Canadian cattle and hogs.
The United States has now exhausted their appeals and this decision of the WTO is final.
Ed Fast, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, said, “In light of the final ruling, and due to the fact that the United States has continued to discriminate against Canadian livestock products, Canada will be seeking authority from the WTO to use retaliatory measures on US agricultural and non-agricultural products.
“In June 2013, Canada released a proposed list of targeted U.S. imports, and we are now preparing our request to retaliate.
“Our government stands on the side of Canadian farmers and ranchers, and we will continue to protect all hardworking Canadians throughout this retaliatory process.”
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association stands behind our government as we appeal to the WTO for the ability to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports.
“I am extremely pleased that the Ministers have moved so quickly to put the U.S. on notice by seeking retaliation on the COOL measure,” said CCA President Dave Solverson. “I am hopeful that with a final ruling from the WTO affirming the Canadian beef industry’s right to fair market access firmly in hand, the U.S. Congress will finally repeal COOL on red meat.”
Our government is proud to fight for the fair treatment of our Canadian livestock producers. Our country produces the finest cattle and hogs in state-of-the-art conditions and our Conservative government will continue to work to ensure that barriers to trade for our hard-working hog and cattle producers are eliminated.
