Canada challenging U.S. labeling laws

Bloomberg News reports that Canada has filed a trade complaint against U.S. rules that require meatpackers to put a country-of-origin stamp on pork, beef and other meat products. “The country-of-origin legislation is creating undue trade restrictions to the detriment of Canadian exporters,” Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in a written statement. Country-of-origin labeling took effect at the end of September as concern about unsafe imports from China and Canada helped overcome food industry efforts to delay the measures. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that it will cost $2.5 billion to comply with the new rules.

In its complaint, the Canadian government said the process will impose unnecessary costs on meat packers using Canadian animals. The move could also lead to more extensive and restrictive labeling requirements in other countries, the Canadian government said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, Gretchen Hamel, declined to comment before the agency gets confirmation the case has been filed at the WTO.

A WTO case usually takes 18 months or more to resolve. If the U.S. loses, it would be forced to scrap the rules or face retaliatory tariffs on some of its exports to Canada.