OTTAWA — Newly-elected Canadian Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay has said he plans to uphold his country’s Conservative party’s decision to seek trade retaliation against the United States over country-of-origin labeling, also known as COOL.

His announcement follows in the footsteps of new Prime Minister-elect and fellow Liberal Party member Justin Trudeau, who had said he plans to get tough on COOL after he was voted into office last month.

COOL requires that meat be labeled with the countries where livestock were born, raised and harvested. This rule also applies to fish and shellfish, as well as fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and certain nuts.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in 2012 that COOL violates international trade laws and discriminates against Canadian and Mexican livestock sent to the United States to be fed out and processed.

“You cannot have a deal with foreign countries and not have them comply with the rules and then continue on,” MacAulay told the Reuters news agency.

“You have to take measures. Do we want to? No. But if we have to, I suspect we will.”

MacAulay, a former dairy and potato farmer from Prince Edward Island, said he has spoken with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and is optimistic the United States will comply with the WTO’s ruling. Canadian officials have asked a WTO arbitrational panel to authorize $3.1 billion Canadian (about $2.3 billion U.S.) per year in retaliatory tariffs on the United States.

The previous administration identified sev-eral goods they would like to see tariffs imposed upon, including U.S. beef, pork, wine, cherries and mattresses. MacAulay said the current party in power has not specified which products it will target.

The WTO decision on the retaliation amount is expected to be issued on Dec. 7.