Groups representing Canada’s hog and cattle producers say the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement “will not prevent Canada from introducing retaliatory tariffs on American goods over the country-of-origin labelling dispute,” reports Western Producer. Canada and Mexico won a WTO ruling against the U.S. law that requires packages of pork and beef to say where the animals were born, raised and slaughtered. The WTO said it would announce by Nov. 27 if the winning nations can impose retaliatory tariffs of more than $3 billion against U.S. manufactured and agricultural goods.
The Canadian Pork Council and Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said TPP, yet to be ratified by its 12 member nations, would not intrude on WTO powers. The livestock groups “are more interested in Canada’s new Liberal government and whether the party will honor its commitments on COOL,” says Western Producer, using the acronym for the U.S. country-of-origin labeling law. Before the election, Liberals said if they were in power “government will follow through with an aggressive response to ensure that the United States adheres to the ruling of the WTO.”
The U.S. House passed a bill last summer to repeal COOL. The Senate has yet to complete action on either of two opposing bills—one would repeal COOL altogether and the other would replace mandatory labeling with a voluntary system.
Meanwhile, Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said parts of TPP may need to be renegotiated, Reuters reports. Hatch’s main concern was that TPP would give too little protection to next-generation biological drugs. “He also saw problems with provisions on tobacco, labor rules and dairy,” said Reuters. The administration said a reopening of TPP was impractical.