COOL supporters mount last-ditch effort to sidetrack repeal

As the House of Representatives readies a vote to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL), supporters of the controversial rule are making a last-ditch effort to save it from full repeal. Today, a coalition of 283 agricultural, environment, consumer, and faith-based organizations sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee chair Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn. In the letter, the organizations, including the National Farmers Union and the AFL-CIO, say it is “premature for the Congress to unilaterally surrender to saber-rattling from our trading partners in the midst of a long-standing dispute.” Last month, the World Trade Organization (WTO) upheld an earlier ruling that a U.S. COOL rule - requiring meat labels to state where the meat-producing animal was born, raised, and slaughtered - accorded less favorable treatment to Canadian and Mexican livestock than that given to their American counterparts. The ruling was the fourth such against the U.S., setting the stage for possible retaliatory tariffs levied by Canada and Mexico, which the two governments said last week could top $3 billion...more