This has been a long, bitter fight and USTR now says the expected tariffs will hurt all three North American economies if they are imposed. In fact, the domestic meat industry concluded long ago that the policy provided little “measurable economic benefits” for American consumers while costing producers, packers, and retailers in the U.S. some $2.6 billion a year, according to a report sponsored by USDA’s chief economist and sent to Congress earlier this year. The report was mandated by the 2014 Farm Bill and was put together by a team of agricultural economists from Kansas State University and the University of Missouri, the Hill reported. Other, earlier studies have presented similar results.
So, now fingers are being pointed even as the threatened sanctions loom closer. For example, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has been criticized for not taking a more active stand against the program that was widely seen as “WTO illegal” from its earliest days. Still, he argues now that the WTO decision puts the ball clearly in the Congressional court.
In the meantime, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who has consistently opposed COOL rules, said that Congress has had plenty of warning and needs to complete a process begun in the House to repeal the rule. While he worries that his committee may lack the votes to push the repeal through, he “…will continue to look for all legislative opportunities to repeal COOL,” he said.
To no one’s surprise, the Canadian government wasted no time is putting the United States on notice that it intends to act promptly.
The COOL rule, which requires labels on meat to show where livestock were born, raised and slaughtered in order to qualify for the most preferred label, was first authorized in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills. The recent WTO decision essentially ends a seven-year dispute over the policy that affects beef and pork products, the Hill concludes.
“We have known for some time that the country-of-origin labeling law violates our international trade obligations,” said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas. The House voted 300-131 on June 10 to repeal COOL rules on beef, pork and chicken.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Philip Ellis said that immediate action is needed by the Senate. While the program has been was supported by some livestock producers and by the Farmers Union, it has been generally opposed by the agriculture industry. Ellis said that the rule, “has been a failure on all accounts,” Ellis said.
Linda Dempsey, vice president of international economic affairs for the National Association of Manufacturers, also hates COOL. She thinks it “creates new barriers for our exports.” And, North American Meat Institute President and CEO Barry Carpenter called the rule “one of the most costly and cumbersome rules ever imposed on the agricultural sector.” He thinks many industries could pay the penalties for this “debacle created by some anti-trade organizations.”
The US Senate has debated mandatory COOL for nearly three decades, Roberts said, noting that he has opposed mandatory COOL from its inception, both in Committee and on the Senate floor and “has introduced legislation to repeal it and prevent retaliation.”
So, it is not entirely clear what will happen to the COOL program just now, but at least one more effort is expected to attach COOL rule repeal to the omnibus spending bill, perhaps even this week. Certainly, the billion dollar price tag on keeping it in place has people’s attention, even if the need to lead efforts to build better access to important ag markets did not, Washington Insider believes.