Barrie McKenna has been following an ongoing battle between Canada and the US.
A WTO appeal panel ruled that a U.S. law that requires grocery stores to list the country of origin on meat products discriminates against Canadian and Mexican livestock.
The Conservative government warned that it will strike back with punitive duties unless the U.S. ends the “blatantly protectionist” regulations, which its says are costing the North American cattle and hog industry more than $1-billion a year.
“Canada will be watching this situation closely to ensure U.S. compliance in accordance with the WTO’s clear ruling,” Trade Minister Ed Fast and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said in a joint statement. “We will continue to fully assert our rights to achieve a fair resolution to our concern, including seeking authorization to implement retaliatory measures on U.S. agricultural and non-agricultural products if and as necessary.”
Ottawa has already identified 38 target products for retaliation. The list includes U.S. cattle and hogs, as well as a number symbolic products, including California wine, Vermont maple syrup, Florida orange juice, ketchup and breakfast cereal.
So the issue is the country of origin on the labelling of meat. Discrimination against Canada. The Conservative government is hopping mad and willing to protect the meat industry but will do nothing to protect its own citizens and permanent residents (who pay taxes and according to Hon. Sinclair Stevens, are fulling entitled to the protection of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms). It will however, engage in a trade war for cattle and pigs.
Ottawa is willing to slap on some sanctions in this disagreement but it never seemed to occur to them to respond in a similar fashion when Washington decided to put a crippling sanction on the financial industry. FATCA has been estimated to also cost $1 billion per year. Same issues, same cost.
I find it incredibly ironic that Canada will choose “symbolic products” to target. “Punitive,” “country of origin,” “discrimination” and “asserting our rights.” Sound familiar?
Excellent article! In the 1998, I lived in Prince George, BC. Some consider Prince George the logging capitol of British Columbia. They were hit hard by the Soft Wood Lumber dispute. The dispute occurred long before the Pine Beetle Infestation and dragged on many years causing the closers of mills. We moved as a result of the dispute to find work else where. We took a hit on a home that had been worth $132,000 and within 13 months sold for $117,900. My point is that the dispute dragged on for over eight years. The courts found in Canada’s favor, but the US just kept taking it back to court. So much for “free trade”. We Canadians, indeed the rest of the world need to grow a back bone and say “NO”. Maybe the FATCA will be “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
@ann#1 : i concur with your wish that FATCA becomes the issue to cause the US to reverse course and start to deal with others respectfully.
Interesting how Canada fights that and picks its battles. And honestly, this one is just BS.
Anyone has the right to know where the products we buy come from. Why doesn’t the government vote the same law in Canada instead of complaining to the WTO? Maybe people will boycott US meat and buy Canadian instead.
You all know that neighbour that you love and hopes never moves? The whole block feels the same way? I think the US has become the neighbour everyone hates and doesn’t invite to the neighbourhood block party. Sad! We should be good neighbours. The US is the neighbour who shows up empty – handed and just takes.
Somebody needs to knock our “neighbour” off the pedestal they have put themselves on. The meat industry is more important to our Canadian government than the estimated 1 million people in Canada and their families that FATCA will afftect. Sad.
@ heartsick
Right! Canada treats CND/US persons worse than a slab of meat. We’re all stamped Grade F and tossed into the waste bin, along with our financial privacy and charter rights — Canada’s sovereignty too. Label the meat, please. I’d like to know where my food is coming from (also whether or not it’s GMO) so I don’t fault Americans who want the same information. Even though I like the sound of Canada winning a battle round of any kind, I’d rather it was a win for individuals not industry. Poor departed Clara Peller should have said, “From where’s the beef?”
I never used to care about where things at the grocery store originally came from as long as I was getting good value for my money. Now I carefully read the label. If something says “Made in the U.S.A.” I put it back on the shelf and look for the same item produced somewhere else. Until this FATCA/CBT mess is resolved in our favour I will not, knowingly, support the U.S. economy in any way if I can help it. No tax dollars, no tourist dollars, no grocery dollars. Way to make friends and influence people, U.S.A.!
@MuzzledNoMore – I second that emotion Muzzled. I too am doing my best to boycott the US economy presently.
@ MuzzledNoMore and nervousinvestor – I agree and I have family and friends doing the same. Travel dollars will go elsewhere. In Canada it isn’t always possible but when there is a choice I choose non-US.
I 4th the “boycott” anything associated with the us of a if at all possible. goods, services or travel.
as a bit of an asside….that TD bank commercial advertising its americanness….i saw it last nite for the first time on t.v. and was actually quite disturbed that what use to be a canadian bank was advertising that way….made me very glad i have nothing to do with that bank
The problem isn’t with the labelling per se, but the fact that meat processing in Canada and the US has been integrated – just as Americans have integrated into Canadian society until FATCA came along.
In keeping with your analogy, EmBee, we’re tainted meat.
I am flying to Mexico on November 10th. My family has never been able to afford to do anything other than camping in Jasper or Banff each year in tents. We traveled once in 1999 to Seattle so my grandmother could see my children. We have had a major anniversary and my husband booked flights to Mexico. We had recently talked about the Hawaii. I have decided not to travel in the US. My flight does not land in the US. I will not help their economy when they are robbing from my Canada and other nations with fines and interest.
Congratulations on your travel plans Ann #1 and / for your major anniversary! So wonderful you are able to celebrate this way and without landing in the U.S. Savour it all and Bravo!
I fail to see how a requirement to list country of origin on meat, or on any food product, is any form of discrimination.
@TokyoRose
The US will have to stop importing Canadian meat products in order to keep US beef pure for labelling purposes.
If there is a law against importing Canadian meat products, I would think it better to attack that law rather than labelling requirements. As a prime consumer of imported food products, I’m always in favour of strict labelling requirements. Would you not want to know where the meat you are eating comes from?
Yes, I would like labelling requirements. I do not want to purchase US meat or poultry.
It’s kind of like passing a law to catch offshore evaders and rounding up a bunch of people who wouldn’t owe any tax and then banning them from entering the US for tax evasion.
But where would the Canadian economy be without the US? Everyone would probably still be wearing buckskins. Where would Japan be without the US economy? We’d still be scraping up the debris from WWII.
@ Bubblebustin
Not sure I understand that comparison….
But “… banning them from entering the US … ”
Well, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I have an inborn fear of the IRS, but being banned from entering the US is something I could chuckle at.
Here is a glimpse of Canadians who have no fear or disgust for enriching the economy of the US: http://www.canadianexpatnetwork.com/public/department60.cfm. There are warnings there if they are paying attention. (In a search, I see no reference to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8840.pdf.)
I guess you can’t be border-less when it comes to trade and have borders when it comes to labeling the products being traded.
While country of origin labeling sounds sensible, the meat/livestock industry is so integrated between the US and Canada it doesn’t really tell the consumer anything. For instance, Canadian born weaner pigs might be shipped to the US for fattening and then shipped back to Canada for slaughter. Or the opposite. Is this a Canadian product or a US product? All stages of production are governed by the same quality standards no matter which side of the border they occur so what does it matter?
The US’s country of origin labeling rules came about as a result of lobbying by the US producers who thought they could pander to the protectionist sentiment of US consumers and thus shut out a certain percentage of Canadian product and gain a little market share at Canada’s expense.
The WTO correctly concluded that the US country-of-origin labeling was simply an underhanded way for the US to erect non-tariff trade barriers to Canadian products. The fact that Canada has won a favorable ruling will probably do little good because the US regularly ignores WTO rulings they don’t like. The US has shown repeatedly they are a totally unreliable trade partner and will stop at nothing to gain an unfair advantage. Canada won lots of favorable WTO rulings re: softwood lumber and still got screwed by the US.
The real solution is for Canada to find somewhere else to market its products.
@calgary411,
The American stock market is one of games in town. You have to invest there. To not invest there is to cut your nose off to spite you face. It’s not the only place you invest mind you.
The American government has gotten a lot right to get into the position of being a ‘must invest’ market. They are currently trying to ruin that. What do you expect from a president that thinks fairness in taxes trumps the ability to raise revenue (the name of the game in taxes).
You should purchase the best products at the cheapest prices. That’s the way to capture the competitive advantage of the players. To do otherwise cause you to spend more money than you should or to have a lower quality product.
A lot of countries outsource their growth to the US by doing the kind of crap to themselves that America is busy doing to itself now.
I have cut off my nose to spite my face.