Costa Applauds the USDA for Final Rule Repealing COOL

Washington, D.C. – Rep. Jim Costa (CA-16) released the following statement after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its final rule to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements for beef, pork, and chicken.

“The USDA released its final rule to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements for beef, pork, and chicken, and finally, this saga is over,” said Rep. Costa. “The Agricultural Marketing Service at the USDA concluded that failing to repeal COOL would have resulted in $1.8 billion in harsh trade retaliations by Canada and Mexico. Obviously, with the San Joaquin Valley being one of the largest agricultural exporters in the nation, our region would have faced serious economic losses without the repeal of COOL.”

Reps. Jim Costa and Michael Conaway (R-TX) introduced H.R. 2393, the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Amendments Act which would repeal mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements for beef, pork, and chicken products, and a version of the measure was part of the bipartisan spending legislation that was passed by Congress in December 2015. Preventing the implementation of these retaliatory tariffs was imperative to ensure that irreparable damage was not done to the agriculture and manufacturing industries and to the overall economy.

Costa continued saying, “I applaud the USDA for releasing its final rule to repeal COOL, and I am pleased that exporters in the Central Valley and throughout the nation no longer have to be burdened with the possibility of expensive trade retaliations from our two strongest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.”

In May 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced its fourth and final decision to reject, for a final time, the United States’ appeal regarding COOL. That ruling could have resulted in numerous commodities, many of which are grown in California, facing significant retaliation by Canada and Mexico. This includes top exports from the Central Valley such as cherries, wine, grapes, and tomatoes. H.R. 2393 is a targeted response that provides stability, brought the U.S. back into compliance, and stopped trade retaliations, while improving trade relationships with two of the nation’s top export partners.

Additionally, the final rule to repeal COOL does not alter, in any way, current food safety inspection requirements.

The USDA’s final rule can be found here.