National Pork Producers Council Urges Repeal of COOL

On July 20, 2015, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and its state chapters wrote a letter urging the Senate to repeal country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef, pork, and chicken.

The NPPC letter states that unless COOL is repealed, the World Trade Organization will calculate and authorize what level of retaliation Canada and Mexico can place on the United States.  Mexico and Canada are insisting that the retaliatory tariffs will happen if COOL is not repealed and will remain until COOL is repealed. 

The NPPC letter asserts there will be a negative economic impact if the senate chooses to not repeal COOL.  According to the NPPC letter, Mexico was the United States second largest export market for pork in 2014 and totaled $1.55 billion and Canada was the third largest export market totaling $984 million.  “Exports helped add $63 to the price of each hog marketed last year. Furthermore, pork exports support more than 147,000 U.S. jobs.”  The NPPC letter states that jobs will be affected if COOL is not repealed, “[a]ccording to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, the U.S. economy stands to lose 17,000 jobs if the WTO sets a retaliation level of $2 billion. Over 25,000 U.S. jobs will be lost if the retaliation level is set at $3 billion.”

The NPPC letter urges the Senate to repeal COOL before the August recess.

Written by Katharine Richter - Research Assistant

July 23, 2015