Canadian Cattlemen's Association President Weighs in on COOL

With a recent decision handed down from the World Trade Organization in regard to the United States’ Country of Origin labeling – Canada is ready to move forward with restrictions and tariffs of their own.
Canadian Cattlemen's Association President Dave Solverson shares the steps that the Canadian government will take if the USDA and Congress do not lift certain components of COOL restrictions impacting Canadian beef producers.
Solverson: “There has been little interest in the U.S. in correcting this situation — in fact until now — quite the contrary. WTO Dispute Settlement panels have ruled three times already that COOL violates the WTO Agreements. Rather than act to address these rulings, Congress and USDA have appealed them to delay resolution. And the only action they have taken is to make the situation worse. The current appeal by the USDA will only delay the inevitable. We expect by this coming summer that U.S. will have to comply or Canada will implement retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports to our market. That is not where we want it to go. We regret that it has come to this but it seems that without a crisis, Congress will continue to ignore our pain. Our hope is that they will act soon to prevent Canada from moving to this next phase.”