A coalition of US food, agriculture and manufacturing industries are asking legislative leaders in the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to suspend the US Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule if the World Trade Organization (WTO) finds it noncompliant with US trade obligations.
According to the coalition, Canadaand Mexico challenged the revised COOL rule for muscle cuts of meat in WTO shortly after USDA issued the revised rule. The nations said the rule violates WTO Technical Barriers to Trade and would reduce the value and number of cattle and hogs shipped to the US.