In testimony before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee's Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee, Wine Institute urged Congress to address its mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) law in order to avoid trade retaliation by Canada and Mexico.
The March 25 hearing was held to build a record for Congress to repeal COOL once an adverse World Trade Organization (WTO) decision becomes final. Last fall, the WTO ruled that the U.S. meat labeling law violates U.S. trade obligations by discriminating against Canadian cattle and pigs and Mexican cattle. The U.S. appealed and the WTO is expected to inform the parties of its ruling by May 18. Should the WTO reject the U.S. appeal, Canada and Mexico could be allowed to place retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, including wine.
Based on previous Mexican retaliatory tariff increases, COOL-related retaliation would result in a significant loss of sales for California wineries. Wine Institute urged Congress to prevent retaliation against U.S. winemakers and other important sectors of the U.S. economy. View full statement here.
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