World Trade Organization no longer viable for addressing trade disputes

The General Manager of Manitoba Pork says the World Trade Organization process that ended U.S. Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling can no longer be counted on as a viable option for addressing trade disputes.

In December 2015, following a successful World Trade Organization challenge by Canada and Mexico, the United States repealed Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling. Manitoba Pork General Manager Cam Dahl says under Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling retail packages of meat sold in the U.S. needed to indicate on the label where the animal was born, raised, processed and packaged which required segregating pigs born outside the U.S. significantly increasing the cost of food and discriminating against Canadian and Mexican products.

Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling is something that we have seen from the U.S. in the past and something that Canada and Mexico took a complaint to the World Trade Organization and won. Unfortunately, the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution process has become dysfunctional. That stems from the U.S. blocking the appointment of the appellate committee judges at the WTO process.

So, at this point, the WTO dispute resolution process is likely not an option to protect us from the impact of something like Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling. That is a significant loss for global trade and for global fair trade.

~ Cam Dahl, Manitoba Pork

Dahl notes a bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee would reintroduce Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for beef and suggests it would be naive to think that if Mandatory Country of Labeling is introduced for beef that pork isn’t coming close behind.