In his first visit to the United States since appointment as Canadian Agriculture Minister, Lawrence MacAuley thanked U.S. allies for their help in winning repeal of a law that required packages of beef and pork to say where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered. Congress repealed the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law a month ago, averting up to $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs by Canada and Mexico. The two countries won a WTO ruling that the label law unfairly discouraged import of meat and livestock from the U.S. neighbors.
MacAuley was to meet members of the COOL Reform Coaltion “to highlight the importance of the repeal and re-affirm Canada’s commitment to monitoring the implementation that will ensure discrimination against Canadian cattle and hog exports is removed in the U.S. market,” said the Agriculture Ministry in a statement issued during MacAuley’s visit.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and MacAuley “discussed agricultural issues of mutual interest with a focus on trade,” said the ministry. “They expressed their commitment to work together to facilitate trade and increase the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.” The United States and Canada are leading members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, which awaits ratification in both nations. Ag and food trade between the two nations totals $50 billion annually. Canada is forecast to replace China as the top U.S. farm export market this year.