Coalition for a Prosperous America Asks USTR to Add COOL to NAFTA

A Trump ally on trade says getting Mexico and Canada to agree to country-of-origin labeling for beef and pork should be part of the NAFTA negotiations. Bringing back COOL was not in the NAFTA negotiating objectives presented to Congress last year. The Coalition for a Prosperous America says that bringing COOL back will boost domestic agriculture. "If the president wants to extend his ‘Buy American, Hire American’ agenda to the nation’s agricultural sector, then we need to revise our food labeling policies,” CPA Chairman Dan DiMicco said. "Americans undoubtedly want to buy safe, domestically farmed beef and pork."

Mexico and Canada argued at the World Trade Organization that such labeling is designed to disadvantage their products, and is a non-tariff barrier. In 2011, a panel agreed (see 11112114), and after the U.S. lost an appeal, Canada and Mexico were allowed to implement retaliatory tariffs for their losses (see 1512070017). The U.S. stopped that sort of labeling in 2016.