Posted: May 28, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 28 There is talk again the United States about resurrecting mandatory country-of-origin labelling for beef, a discussion that has the Canadian sector watching closely.(Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press) In the annals of North American trade disputes, the fight over mandatory country-of-origin labelling on beef and pork probably deserves its own chapter. When the U.S. wielded the rules early in the last decade, it cost Canadian producers dearly and was blamed for sharp declines in livestock exports south of the border. Ultimately, it took the World Trade Organization, which ruled the U.S. violated international trade law, and the threat of hefty sanctions for American lawmakers to repeal the regulations in 2015.