Canada, Mexico $1.3 Billion Short of Claiming COOL Harm Group Tells USDA, USTR

In a letter sent Friday that contains trade data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 17 R-CALF USA officers, directors and committee chairs informed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk that unless Canada and Mexico can demonstrate that the U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law has reduced the value of their combined exports of live cattle and beef to the U.S. by more than $1.3 billion, those countries cannot even claim that COOL has caused them any economic harm. Both Canada and Mexico have challenged the U.S. COOL law in a complaint filed with the World Trade Organization, with Canada's most recent complaint filed Oct. 7, 2009, and Mexico's filed Oct. 9, 2009. R-CALF USA's letter contends that economic harm must be measured from a balanced trade relationship and explains that the reason Canada and Mexico cannot begin to measure an economic harm “is because these combined countries continue to enjoy the unmitigated, windfall spoils emanating from an imbalanced trade relationship with the United States, to the tune of $1.3 billion annually.”...read more ...go here to read the letter.