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US might appeal WTO trade ruling on meat labels
U.S. trade officials say they might appeal the World Trade Organization’s decision that U.S. meat-labeling policies violate international trade rules.
The WTO found in a ruling Friday that while the United States can require country of origin labeling on meat products, the design led to livestock from Canada and Mexico being treated less favorably than domestic beef and pork products.
“We are pleased that the panel affirmed the right of the United States to require country of origin labeling for meat products,” said Andrea Mead, press secretary for the U.S. Trade Representative.
“Although the panel disagreed with the specifics of how the United States designed those requirements, we remain committed to providing consumers with accurate and relevant information with respect to the origin of meat products," Mead said.
"We can now work with our American partners to turn this around and put our livestock industry back on a track to create more jobs and prosperity," said Ed Fast, Canadian trade minister, according to news reports.
In December 2008, Canada and Mexico filed the WTO claim and said the mandatory requirements for country-of-origin labeling for beef, pork, chicken, lamb and goat amounted to illegal protectionism.
The WTO panel ruled that the U.S. had not adopted the requirements to achieve a protectionist objective but rather to provide consumers with information about the origin of the meat products they buy at the retail level.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association backed the WTO’s decision, saying that U.S. livestock producers "have yet to see any financial benefit" and urged the USTR not to appeal the ruling.
Rather, they insisted that U.S. trade officials and involved organizations work together to "apply pressure on Congress to bring the United States into WTO compliance across the board."
"We must act quickly before U.S. farmers and ranchers once again face unnecessary and unfortunate retaliatory tariffs on their products," said Colin Woodall, vice president of government affairs at NCBA.
“This ruling solidifies our concerns that COOL would have extensive trade implications as NCBA expressed during 2008 farm bill deliberations," he said.
Additionally, the WTO panel determined that the U.S. requirements fail to fulfill their consumer information objective because the information included on the labels is not clear enough in all instances.
Another trade group said the ruling would lead to greater public scrutiny of global trade pacts.
“Today’s ruling makes very clear that these so-called ‘trade’ pacts have little to do with trade between countries and a lot to do with our major agribusiness corporations being free to sell mystery meat in the United States, with neither consumers nor our elected representatives in Congress able to ensure its safety, much less even know where it is from,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
The USTR said it will continue to review the panel reports and will work with the Agriculture Department to help ensure that U.S. consumers are provided with accurate and relevant information on the origin of beef and pork products they buy.
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