Canada’s meat processing industry is reiterating its calls on the U.S. government to respect its international trade obligations.
In a ruling released yesterday the World trade Organization Compliance Panel investigating complaints from Canada and Mexico over U.S Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling found changes to the legislation introduced in May 2013 failed to bring the United States into compliance with its world trade obligations clearing the way for Canada and Mexico to apply for authority to introduce retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of imported U.S. products.
Ron Davidson, the director of international trade, government and media relations with the Canadian Meat Council, says the meat industry in North America is an integrated single industry and it should function with a free flow of livestock and meat both ways across the border.
That is the way in which we maximize our competitiveness with other countries around the world for the many export markets which we supply as a continent.
When there are artificial barriers that affect the trade within our single market it has a negative impact on everyone going forward.
So we believe that countries should bring their measures, bring their laws into conformity with the international trade obligations which have been negotiated carefully and have been long standing in their application.
This process has been going on since 2009 and in this case it’s the third consecutive time when the WTO has found non-compliance and the Canadian meat industry believes it is long past time when the U.S. should bring its measures into compliance.
Davidson says five years is too long for this kind of measure to continue in place after it’s found to be non-compliant.
