COOL Retaliation

The National Pork Producers Council officials say retaliation is coming if the U.S. does not repeal Country of Origin Labeling for pork, beef and chicken. NPPC recently held a roundtable discussion with industry representatives from Mexico and Canada regarding COOL requirements.

NPPC’s Vice President and Council for International Affairs Nick Giordano says retaliation is on the way if the U.S. does not repeal COOL’s meat labeling provisions. The House passed a bill to do just that and now the Senate must act on the legislation. “I think there are a number of things that members of the Senate and their staffs might be a little unclear of. One is, is retaliation imminent and is the answer is, yes it is. Will the retaliation be harmful to a broad swath of the American economy? The answer to that question is, yes it will be.”      

 

Giordano says the Senate needs to act quickly on Country of Origin Labeling. He says now is not the time for a fix with retaliations on the way. “Canada and Mexico will, perhaps as soon as this summer, will be authorized to retaliate. Make no mistake, they will be authorized to retaliate and the numbers are going to be huge. Collectively they have requested over $3 billion. We can have the best idea in the world come out of the Senate on labeling that we can all agree is WTO consistent and even if it was found to be consistent, that’s a two-year process. That retaliation would be in effect for two years.”