The United States Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, announced on Monday that she has asked Mexico to initiate technical consultations to resolve a ban that the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador imposed on transgenic corn. The Office of Tai (USTR, for its acronym in English) considers that the restrictions imposed by decree in Mexico, which refer only to corn for human consumption, are not based on scientific knowledge. Mexico buys about 3,000 million dollars of genetically modified grain a year.
This is the second request for consultations that USTR has opened with Mexico. In July, the White House began a first front to resolve their differences over López Obrador’s energy policy, which limits the participation of private companies to grant state-owned companies a dominant position in the market. Mexico and Canada, for their part, were successful in the process they initiated against the US in 2021 on the interpretation of the rules of origin for export products.
“Mexico’s policies threaten to disrupt billions of dollars in agricultural trade and will stifle the innovation that is needed to tackle the climate crisis and food security challenges if not addressed,” Tai said in a statement. “We hope these consultations will be productive as we continue to work with Mexico to address these issues,” she concluded.
The free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada, the TMEC, offers countries an initial stage of technical consultations to resolve their disputes. If this is not achieved, the countries can take the issue to an independent panel of experts, made up of specialists chosen by the countries themselves. If it rules against Mexico, the US could impose tariffs on products with great exposure to the US market.
“As this secretariat has pointed out on several occasions, the objective of the Decree is to preserve that the tortilla is made with native corn, thus ensuring the conservation of the biodiversity of the more than 64 breeds of corn that exist in the country, of which of which 59 are endemic,” the Mexican Ministry of Economy said in a statement on Monday. “The Ministry of Economy, hand in hand with the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) and other relevant authorities, will coordinate the position of the Mexican State in order to find a mutually satisfactory solution.”
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