The National Pork Producers Council says, if the WTO rules against the United States on Mandatory COOL, it will urge the U.S. government to come into compliance with its international trade obligations.
A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel struck to address complaints from Canada and Mexico over Mandatory U.S. Country of Origin Labelling has ruled preliminarily that the law violates the technical barriers to trade and is expected to issue a final draft of that decision later this year at which point the U.S. will have an opportunity to appeal.
Nick Giordano, the vice-president and council for international affairs with the National Pork Producers Council, says the organization will be in a better position to comment once a final ruling has been made public but, on principle, the pork industry supports the U.S. coming into compliance with its international obligations.
If the WTO were to rule adversely against the United States and it’s premature at this point because the panel decision is preliminary, it’s not final but speculating out in time if there were a final panel or a final appellate body ruling against the United States we would expect the United States to come into compliance with its obligations and the U.S. pork industry and NPPC certainly would be very vocal and active in making sure that the United States honored its trade commitments as we typically do based on principle.
Because we’re an exporting sector it’s important that the United States follow the rules.
We’ve seen in cases like Mexico trucking that innocent bystanders like the U.S. pork industry can get whacked when the United States drags its feet on implementation and we certainly wouldn’t want to see that happen if it comes down to that.
Giordano stresses pork producers opposed Mandatory COOL when it was discussed in the U.S. Congress but M-COOL is the law of the land and the pork industry is meticulously following the law of the land.
Source Farmscape.Ca
