Justin Trudeau applies political pressure in country of origin labelling dispute

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's prepared toimpose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods if Congress fails to repeal
labelling laws that have complicated Canadian meat exports.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Trump's campaign promise to bar Muslims 'not funny,' says Nenshi
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Dirty Alberta oil label is 'slightly outdated,' Suncor CEO says

Trudeau said he's committed to the plan for more than $1 billionin punitive measures established under the previous Conservativegovernmentunless American legislators move.

The years-long dispute is at a critical juncture: it could beresolved within days, or could see Canada and Mexico slap tariffs ona wide range of U.S. goods including meat, wine and frozen orangejuice.

"We are putting political pressure," Trudeau told a newsconferenceWednesdayin Ottawa."We would rather not have to engagein retaliatory measures but we certainly will, to stand up for ourfarmers."

"We're going to work with Americans or against them to makesure that it happens," he added.

• Trudeau, Obama commit to deepening Canada-U.S. relationship
• Trudeau goes on charm offensive to tout government's pro-trade ways at APEC

He said he brought up the issue with U.S. President Barack Obama,although the matter rests not with the White House but withlegislators who must decide whether to scrap a labelling law at theheart of the dispute.

Trudeau emphasized that he wouldn't allow one issue to poison thebroader Canada-U.S. relationship; he had been critical of the Harpergovernment's tough posturing in the Keystone XL dispute.

Officials in both countries have actually been working on aspecial March visit to Washington, where Trudeau would be the firstCanadian leader in 19 years feted at a White House state dinner.

Fair or protectionism?

As for the meat labels by country of origin, proponents call it afair way of letting consumers know where their food comes from.

Opponents say it's irrelevant to food safety for which thereare already inspections. They argue that it's just disguisedprotectionism a system that forces U.S. importers to spend extramoney to separate foreign and domestic livestock, drives up the costof imports and makes them less competitive.

The World Trade Organization sided this week against the U.S.,allowing penalties on American products.

Canada is getting support from some powerful American corporateinterests. About 250 U.S. companies and trade associations have senta letter to every member of the U.S. Senate, urging them to heedCanadian and Mexican concerns.

It's signed by some of the country's best-known companies,including Coca-Cola, Kraft and General Mills, as well as tradeassociations representing everything from livestock-producers tovineyards.

"There's a lot of powerful U.S. paddlers joining Canada in thiscanoe to get repeal of COOL (country-of-origin labelling)," GaryDoer, Canada's U.S. ambassador, said of the letter.

The letter-signers want the Senate to adopt a bill passed in theHouse of Representatives that does away with the requirement thatmeat sold in the U.S. be labelled by country of origin.

Voluntary system floated

They say one idea being floated in the Senate for a so-calledvoluntary system is not enough of a change to avert punitivemeasures.

Because it wouldn't satisfy the other countries, the letter says,U.S. products would be open to retaliation for potentially 18 monthswhile the issue gets re-fought at the World Trade Organization.

"The voluntary bill currently pending in the Senate suffers fromthe same problem as the current COOL legislation it forcessegregation of imported livestock to permit the use of the'voluntary' label," says the letter, sent lateMonday.

"As a result, the U.S. would likely lose yet another COOL caseat the WTO. In that case, we would be back to where we are todayexcept much poorer."

One of the main proponents of meat-labelling is Michigan DemocratDebbie Stabenow, who chaired the Senate's agriculture committee whenDemocrats controlled the chamber and is now the committee's No. 2member.

She partnered with a North Dakota Republican, John Hoeven, toauthor a watered-down version of COOL, but their bill hasn'tadvanced either.

"It's disappointing that this common-sense compromise wasblocked in the Senate," Stabenow said in a statement this week.

"However, I have always said I would not allow retaliation totake effect. It is critical that we work together to find a solutionbefore the end of the year."