The Coalition for a Prosperous America is urging the U.S. to include Country-of-Origin Labeling for beef and pork in the North American Free Trade Agreement Negotiations. Coalition member, R-CALF, says in a news release that reinstatement of COOL labeling will help U.S. consumers “to find safer food alternatives and will also help to boost domestic agriculture.”
R-CALF points out in its reasoning for COOL that the U.S. cattle industry is the single largest segment of U.S. agriculture and includes roughly 750,000 cattle farm and ranch operations. Currently, U.S. agriculture is prohibited from distinguishing between domestic and imported beef due to objections raised by Canada and Mexico at the World Trade Organization.
The coalition believes U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has “an opportunity to address this issue.” The coalition claims that “Unless we address the food labeling issue, the effectiveness of renegotiating NAFTA to strengthen America’s overall economy will be diminished.”
