Canada requests WTO panel in U.S. labeling dispute

Canada is requesting a World Trade Organization panel to resolve its dispute with the United States over its mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law, which has greatly reduced Canada's exports of cattle and pigs to the United States. COOL requires companies to track and notify customers of the country of origin of meat and other farm products at each major stage of production, including in grocery stores. That has created new costs for U.S. meat packers to segregate and label livestock supplies, resulting in some refusing to buy Canadian animals. Canada's cattle exports dropped 31.7 percent and hog exports fell 34. Canada's position is that the U.S. regulation is preventing fair trade between the countries, said Dickson, who has been involved in preparing evidence for the panel process. The request for a panel follows two rounds of unsuccessful WTO consultations with the United States...read more