Saskatchewan is anti-COOL

Last week, I sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and other leaders in the U.S. House and Senate urging the expedited repeal of Country of Origin Labelling (COOL), in light of the latest ruling from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Province of Saskatchewan greatly values Canada-U.S. trade relationship, in not only the livestock sector but countless other areas as well. In terms of agriculture and agri-food trade, Canada is the top export destination for the majority of U.S. states and among the top five agricultural export destinations for almost all states. In turn, Saskatchewan, the leading agri-food exporting province in all of Canada, values the United States as our top market. 

{mosads}The WTO has determined for the fourth time that U.S. COOL for beef and pork discriminates against Canadian cattle and hogs and violates the WTO obligations of United States. The last thing we want is for the WTO ruling to harm our relationship and the easiest way to solve the problem is to repeal COOL.  Legislation passed out of the Agriculture Committee last week accomplishes that goal.  The repeal of COOL for beef and pork will also strengthen the integrated North American livestock sector, allowing both U.S. and Canadian agri-businesses greater efficiency and competitiveness on the world stage. At the same time, consumers will continue to enjoy safe and affordable food products. 

We remain hopeful that the House and Senate will move to repeal COOL before the Canadian government is forced to impose retaliatory tariffs on goods destined to the Canadian market.  The imposition of tariffs is the next step in a lengthy dispute before the WTO and we would support those measures, but would prefer the controversy be resolved by the U.S. Congress acting swiftly to repeal COOL.  This will allow for the return of normalized trade in our integrated North American cattle and hog sectors.

Cooperation has underpinned our strong trading relationship throughout the years and we look forward to continuing in that vein.

Wall is the premier of the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan.