U.S. Leans Toward Regulatory Approach In Weighing COOL Compliance

摘要

The administration is consulting internally and with Congress and private-sector stakeholders on which actions it will take ahead of a May 23 deadline to comply with an adverse World Trade Organization ruling that faulted the U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) system for livestock. At this point, the administration appears to be leaning toward taking regulatory measures rather than pushing for legislative changes, sources said. According to two sources familiar with the issue, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) appear to prefer the regulatory route, which would fall short of the legislative amendments that Canada and Mexico - the complainants in the WTO case - are calling for.