To fix WTO labeling issue, Congress must pass voluntary COOL

The World Trade Organization (WTO) delivered a major setback to American consumers and producers earlier this year when it ruled against the U.S. Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) law, which requires muscle cuts of meat, and some fruits and vegetables, to be labeled with the country’s name where it was produced. The good news is that the U.S. can both maintain the integrity of this label and at the same time comply with our WTO obligations with one quick fix. That fix – voluntary COOL - has already been introduced in the U.S. Senate....

John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) introduced a compromise for the COOL dispute, which would repeal mandatory COOL and put in its place a voluntary COOL labeling system, something Canada and the meatpackers have previously suggested to the U.S. as a fix to the WTO dispute. The Hoeven-Stabenow bill also defines what a “Product of the U.S.” is, eliminating the consumer deception involved with previous labeling systems and providing consumers with labels that are accurate and have integrity. Voluntary COOL will solve the trade dispute once and for all, and Congress should act swiftly to approve the fix.

This has been excerpted from 3 December 2015 blog post by Roger Johnson, president of [US] National Farmers Union, for The Hill.