Agricultural News
NFU Stands Behind COOL, WTO Ruling a Mistake
Wed, 28 Jan 2015 12:35:09 CST
The rule that dictates Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) on fresh packages of meat in this country has been around since the spring of 2013. It was a revised rule from an earlier World Trade Organization ruling against Country of Origin Labeling in this country. The current Country of Origin Labeling policy has also been ruled "trade distorting" by the World Trade Organization. The U.S. is down to its last appeal, but Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union, continues to believe and say very loudly that our current COOL rule is correct, WTO is incorrect.
"We believe we are compliant and we very strongly support USDA and USTR in appealing this decision," Johnson said. "That's what they are in the process of doing right now, they are appealing the decision the WTO issued because they believe, as we believe, the decision was an error. So that's our first position."
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays featured Johnson on the Beef Buzz feature. Click or tap on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to today's Beef Buzz.
Canadian government representatives have openly stated the U.S. COOL policy has caused $1 billion dollars in damages to their ag industry and are confident the WTO will side with Canada and Mexico in the appeal and when they win they will the authority to impose sanctioned damages. Johnson responds not so fast.
"What we are saying is, no follow the steps," Johnson said. "First of all, you go through the appeal. We're in appeal, we believe we are going to win. We believe we should win, end of story."
Johnson said even if the U.S. losses this final appeal, they paid for some research that shows there is really no damage to Canada and Mexican cattle producers from the COOL rule in the U.S. The principle author of that study is Dr. Robert Taylor of Auburn University.
"Overall in analyzing the imports of slaughter cattle to the U.S., adjusting for a lot of economic factors, there has been no effect on imports of Canadian cattle from the COOL law," Taylor said.
It's Dr. Taylor's contention that COOL has not hurt Canada and Mexico, but rather those cattle industries have been hurt by the economic slowdown that occurred in the 2007, 2008, and 2009 time frame.
"There was a lot of economic turmoil at the same time COOL was being implemented and dramatic changes in the Canadian dollar and peso relative to the U.S. dollar," Taylor said.
So supporters of COOL contend that even if WTO rules COOL is trade distorting, there is no economic harm to Mexico and Canada, thus no retaliation is justified.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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