Dive Brief:
- Citing a "dramatic overestimation of damages," the United States Trade Representative (USTR) filed a legal brief in the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL), Food Safety News reported. Canada and Mexico are seeking $3 billion in retaliatory tariffs.
- The brief said that the two countries' economic methodology was "flawed' and was one that "severely overestimates the level of nullification or impairment attributable" to COOL.
- The U.S. made a counter offer of no more than $43.22 for Canada and no more than $47.55 for Mexico. An arbitration hearing is set for Sept. 15-16.
Dive Insight:
This document calls into question other recent threats of retaliation over COOL. Earlier this week, Canada warned the U.S. that it would put retaliatory tariffs in place if the government enacted voluntary COOL legislation, which has been proposed in the Senate. Some in the meat industry, including NAMI, said fully repealing COOL is the only way to avoid the high tariffs. The House passed such a repeal in May.
But if the economic methodology was flawed for the original retaliatory tariffs, as the USTR says, this could influence the determination of the tariffs Canada could impose on U.S. trade over voluntary COOL legislation. U.S. meat producers will have to wait and see whether the USTR can prove that the damages done were not nearly as severe to fellow North American meat producers as had previously been thought.