U.S. firms hope to avoid trade war
Business interests are pleading with the U.S. Congress to avert a trade war with Canada that could squeeze Florida orange-growers, put a cork in California wine exports and sour the sales of American chocolate.
Several groups Wednesday asked lawmakers to undo legislation that’s caused trade tensions with U.S. neighbours, prompting Canada and Mexico to threaten widespread retaliation.
They urged a House of Representatives Committee to change the country-of-origin meat-labelling rules before it causes blowback for all sorts of American industries.
Canada has already listed a series of products that could be slapped with tariffs, should it and Mexico follow up their recent successes at the World Trade Organization with a win in the final round.
But proponents of U.S. country-of-origin rules say consumers deserve to know where their meat comes from. Those mandatory U.S. labels explain where livestock was born, raised and slaughtered.
Opponents say those labels do nothing to affect safety standards, cause headaches for businesses during processing, and amount to a protectionist measure that has slashed Canadian meat exports to the U.S. by half.
The Canadian government has expressed optimism that there might be more sympathy for its position in the new, Republicandominated Congress — even though the issue doesn’t fall neatly along partisan lines.
It certainly sounded Canada-and-Mexico-friendly on Wednesday. The politicians who spoke at the House agriculture committee hearing, as well as the people invited to testify, almost all supported repealing the law.
“Clearly there’s no upside to this (rule),” said Republican Vicky Hartzler of Missouri. “It’s not good for America, it’s not good for the producers, the processors, and it’s not good for the mom that goes to the grocery store that has to pay more for products. So we really do need repealing.”
The vice-president of California’s Wine Institute, Tom LaFaille, warned that producers lost 50 per cent of their exports to Mexico a decade ago because of retaliatory measures and it took years to rebuild. LaFaille said he doesn’t want a repeat. Wine is on Canada’s lengthy hit list for possible tariffs.
Congressman Ted Yoho of Florida expressed fear for his state: “Canada is Florida’s largest trading partner also — it would be tough for us. We ship a lot of citrus up there.”
American candy-makers aren’t too sweet on a trade war, either. Alison Bodor, the vice-president of their lobby group, the National Confectioners Association, noted that Canada’s published list of potential tariffs includes different types of chocolate and sugar-free sweeteners.