Coalition Asks Congress to Pass COOL 'Contingency Plan' to Avoid Canadian and Mexican Tariffs
Congress should soon pass a law that would allow the Department of Agriculture to amend its country of origin regime for beef and pork meat in the event of an adverse ruling from the World Trade Organization, said the COOL Reform Coalition in a letter to Congress dated Nov. 21 (here). Echoing calls made earlier this month by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a coalition member, the letter said such a law would allow USDA to act quickly and avoid retaliatory tariff hikes from Canada and Mexico in the event the WTO finds fault with U.S. implementation of its previous rulings on COOL. The WTO initially ruled U.S. COOL regulations illegal in July 2012 (see 12070208), and on Oct. 20 found changes USDA made to the program in 2013 did not do enough to bring the U.S. into compliance (see 1410200033).
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The contingency plan should only take effect if the WTO’s ruling against U.S. compliance efforts becomes final, said the coalition, which also includes the National Association of Manufacturers. “Importantly, the contingency plan we propose would not undercut the defense of COOL or cut short the WTO process for its consideration,” said the letter. “It simply puts in place a path for the U.S. to ensure its compliance with the international trade obligations that it has undertaken in order to avoid roughly $2 billion in retaliatory tariffs that Canada and Mexico would be authorized to take on a wide range of U.S. agricultural and manufactured exports.” The WTO’s ruling will become final unless the U.S. files an appeal, which is due by Nov. 28, according to the letter. If the U.S. files an appeal, the final WTO ruling on COOL is expected in the second half of 2015, said the coalition.