As the U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation to repeal Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat products, groups on both sides of the issues are last minute lobbying. The COOL Reform Coalition sent a letter to lawmakers this week expressing strong support for HR 2393 as it moves towards a House floor vote this week. Over 100 Coalition … Read More
Canada and Mexico Start COOL Retaliation Process
The governments of Mexico and Canada Thursday officially requested retaliation rights against the United States over Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for beef and pork products. “Canada will request authorization from the WTO to impose over C$3 billion (US$2.4 billion) in retaliatory measures against the U.S., while Mexico will seek authorization for over US$653 million,” said the agricultural government representatives … Read More
Farm Bureau Asks Congress to Repeal COOL
The American Farm Bureau Federation announced support for efforts in Congress to repeal Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), which forces food distributors to label beef, chicken and pork products as to their country of origin. The request comes on the heels of a World Trade Organization ruling that grants Canada and Mexico the right to retaliate against the United States … Read More
House Ag Votes to Repeal COOL
By a vote of 38 to 6, the House Agriculture Committee today approved legislation to effectively repeal country of origin labeling requirements for beef, pork, and chicken. A combination of 68 Democrats and Republicans joined Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX) in introducing the bipartisan bill that will leave intact the requirements for all other covered commodities. “This bill is a targeted … Read More
Pro-COOL Forces Fight Back
Members of the National Farmers Union (NFU) have headed to Capitol Hill this week to urge their Congressional representatives to keep COOL and allow the World Trade Organization (WTO) process to conclude without interference. Sixty Farmers Union members from 27 states are working to meet with a targeted group of legislators in response to the final WTO ruling against Country … Read More
House Ag Ready to Repeal COOL
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX) held a press conference today to announce legislation to repeal the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for beef, pork and chicken. Conaway was joined by a bi-partisan group of representatives from a variety of states including Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), … Read More
Vilsack: Congress has to Fix COOL
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack came close to losing his cool when a reporter asked him to comment today on the final WTO decision on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). “I don’t know how many times you guys can ask this question, to be honest with you I’m getting a little tired of answering it,” said Vilsack, who was asked … Read More
Industry Reacts to Final WTO COOL Ruling
In response to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) fourth and final ruling on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for muscle cuts of beef and pork, the COOL Reform Coalition is calling for “immediate congressional intervention” to bring the U.S. into compliance with its trade obligations and avoid the threat of retaliatory action on the part of Mexico and Canada. “We … Read More
WTO Issues Final COOL Ruling Against U.S.
As expected, the World Trade Organization today issued a final ruling against the United States over Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for livestock and meat products. The final ruling maintained previous conclusions that “the amended COOL measure increases the record-keeping burden for imported livestock entailed by the original COOL measure.” The Appellate Body rejected U.S. arguments that the conclusions were … Read More
USDA Report on Economic Benefits of COOL
USDA has delivered a required report on Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) to Congress that shows little to no economic benefit from the law. According to the report, the economic benefits of implementing the COOL regulations would be “insufficient to offset the costs of the requirements whether analyzing the impacts through economic models of beef, pork, and poultry industries or … Read More