WTO Ruling Delays Threat Of Trade Sanctions Over U.S. Dolphin-Saving Food Label

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -- Today, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of the dolphin-saving U.S. labeling program for tuna after having repeatedly ruled against the program as a “technical barrier to trade.” As recently as April 2017, the WTO authorized Mexico to impose trade sanctions against the U.S. for the program. In today’s ruling, the WTO deemed that recent changes to the program bring it into compliance. The Mexican government has announced it will appeal today’s ruling.

In response, Ben Beachy, director of the Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program, released the following statement:

“While today’s ruling is a positive step, dolphin-saving policies should never have been challenged as a trade violation in the first place. Over the course of two decades, the U.S. has repeatedly had to spend taxpayer dollars to defend this common sense environmental protection from corporate trade rules. With Mexico appealing today’s ruling, we’re still not out of the woods. To shield our democratic protections from such trade challenges, we clearly need a new trade model that prioritizes communities and the environment over corporate profits. Suffice it to say, we're not banking on the Trump administration to deliver on that.”  

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Background on the case: Tunas and dolphins can commonly be found together in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Taking advantage of this, fishing companies have set upon dolphins to catch tuna, often killing and injuring dolphins in the process. In 1990, the United States enacted a ban on imports of tuna caught with dolphin-unsafe practices and regulated “dolphin-safe” tuna labeling. The “dolphin-safe” label has contributed to a 97-percent reduction in dolphin deaths since the 1980s in Pacific waters where dolphins and tuna cohabitate. After Mexico launched trade challenges against the import ban, the U.S. Congress gutted the ban and made the “dolphin-safe” label voluntary. Mexico then launched a WTO case against the voluntary label in 2008. The WTO ruled against the U.S. label in 2011, 2012, and 2015. In November 2015, the WTO decided the label violated WTO rules, despite the fact that it protects wildlife, is voluntary, and applies equally to domestic and foreign firms. In April 2017, the WTO authorized Mexico to impose trade sanctions on the U.S., totaling $163 million per year, for the dolphin-saving label.