WASHINGTON, D.C., March 12, 2026 – Yesterday, a coalition of 38 organizations sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, urging him to act on mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef during the ongoing U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations.
The coalition, led by the National Family Farm Coalition, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Western Organization of Resource Councils, and the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, highlighted the consumer demand for transparency that MCOOL would bring to the marketplace. The groups, many of whom represent independent agricultural producers nationally and regionally, also emphasized the need for MCOOL to create more competitive markets for U.S. producers so that they can secure a fairer price.
“Trade policy should not prevent common sense popular measures like COOL that help markets function properly and facilitate competition,” the letter explains. “Mandatory COOL facilitates fair competition by providing accurate information in the marketplace. With mandatory COOL, U.S. producers can communicate their products’ attributes, including being produced under U.S. rules for safety, quality and environmental impact. And consumers can make informed decisions based on their priorities, like supporting U.S. producers or reducing food miles. Without mandatory COOL, the market is operating with incomplete information.”
The letter argues that the USMCA review process, due by this summer, presents an important opportunity to negotiate a new solution to prior challenges to MCOOL. “This could be accomplished through the inclusion of an annex on Transparency in Food Labeling to the USMCA Chapter on Technical Barriers to Trade in which the three countries agree not to bring challenges to COOL and related food labeling issues to the WTO, followed by ongoing negotiations to permanently carve out measures related to transparency in food labeling from trade disputes,” the letter says.
The letter is available to view here.
