Country of Origin Labelling: Econometric Evaluation of the New Rule

Abstract

In recent years, many agricultural products, namely beef and pork, have been subject to country of origin labelling (COOL)provisions at the retail level in the United States (U.S.)This has caused uproar from many participants in the meat industry due to the law's implications on trade. More recently, the U.S. has adopted revised COOL provisions that became effective in May 2013. Canada and Mexico, the two most affected trading partners of the U.S., have claimed that these new rules are even more restrictive than the original ones and will do further damage to trade. This paper's purpose is to evaluate if this new rule is actually more restrictive on trade as proposed by Canada and Mexico. To accomplish this, I conduct an econometric analysis whereby I test if there was a structural break in imports to the U.S. from Canada after the implementation of the new rule. I find that there is no significant evidence of the new rule having an effect on the industry as of the end of October 2013.