A coalition of more than 200 agriculture, environmental, labor and consumer groups are asking Congress not to make any changes to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s country-of-origin labeling (COOL) regulation this year. In a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the coalition asked that Congress “reject any effort to weaken, suspend or rescind mandatory Country of Origin Labeling,” in the upcoming omnibus/continuing resolution.
Now that the United States has appealed the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) decision on COOL, the coalition said, “Congress should not short circuit the WTO process; nor should it unconditionally surrender to threats of tariff retaliation by our trading partners. We believe the United States has strong grounds to appeal the most recent WTO ruling.” Those signing the letter included the National Farmers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Farm Aid, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Organic Consumers League and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association.
