Sources: WTO Ruled Against U.S. on Country-of-Origin Labeling

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against the U.S. in a trade dispute with Canada and Mexico over country-of-origin labeling for meat products, according to anonymous sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.  The final ruling has been released to the governments involved with the dispute, but has not yet been officially released to the public.  The sources say that WTO determined that U.S. rules to place mandatory labels on meat packages identifying where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered were unfair, reinforcing a previous ruling from 2012 that prompted the U.S. to revise its rules.  Canada and Mexico have argued that the labeling rule put their meat exports at a disadvantage on the market. Canada has said that, since 2009, exports of pigs and cattle to the U.S. have declined.  Earlier this month, members of Congress advised the U.S. Department of Agriculture to drop the labeling law if WTO ruled against it.