The Montana Standard writes that a renewed, made-in-America beef labeling push is drawing support from Montana’s congressmen.

The latest version of the USA Beef Act was introduced last week, authored by Senator Mike Rounds. (R-SD). This bill requires that any beef sporting a “Product of the USA” label originate from a United States ranch. Currently, the labels are applied to beef processed at United States meatpacking plants, regardless of whether the cattle are from another country. The bill was first introduced in 2019.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines has signed on as an original co-sponsor in the Senate. Rep. Matt Rosendale is the bill’s primary sponsor in the House.

Ranching groups struggled to get the Trump administration’s attention on the labeling issue and, without it, the issue went nowhere in Congress. Last month, President Joe Biden announced that beef labeling was part of his executive order on restoring competition in U.S. markets. Interest in Congress is again increasing.

The history of labeling beef is complex, according to the article.

An earlier effort known as Country of Origin Labeling, or COOL, was panned by the World Trade Organization. The WTO ruled in favor of Canada and Mexico in 2015, giving the two nations the right to impose tariffs on imported US products, a move that was expected to raise the price on imports from the United States by $1.01 billion.

Congress repealed COOL in 2015 with the support of ranch groups who wanted to avoid tariffs but also called on lawmakers to come up with an alternative for COOL which had been in place starting in 2011.

Read more about it HERE