The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) submitted a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) asking that the restoration of mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) be included in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The letter reads that “Without mandatory COOL, importers source cheaper imported beef from over 20 foreign countries and they source live cattle from Canada and Mexico.
They then can offer all of this cheaper-sourced beef to consumers as if it were produced by American farmers and ranchers.”
However, NCBA President Jennifer Houston said in a letter, “MCOOL was U.S. law for six years until it was repealed by Congress in 2015 to avoid $1 billion of retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico that were sanctioned by the [World Trade Organization].
The truth is MCOOL cost the U.S. beef industry hundreds of millions of dollars to implement, and the vast majority of consumers never paid attention to it.
Our industry has suffered enough with this bad idea and we do not need to relive the sins of the past.”
