There is a new front of commercial tension between Mexico and the US. Two Republican senators asked the White House on Monday to open consultations under the TMEC against the Mexican ban on imports of transgenic corn, which should enter into force in 2024. In a In a letter addressed to the US trade representative, Katherine Tai, the politicians point to multimillion-dollar losses for farmers and point out that the measure contravenes the provisions of the trade agreement. Tai already mentioned the matter two weeks ago in her first meeting with the newly appointed Economy Secretary, Raquel Buenrostro.
Senators Chuck Grassley, the oldest among the Republican ranks, and Joni Ernst point out in the letter that the prohibition conflicts with the provisions of the TMEC that establish that sanitary rules must be based on “relevant scientific principles” and that this is not the case of the measure against transgenic maize. “Despite the negotiations with the Mexican government in the last two years, there are few signs from the country’s leadership that it will adhere to the TMEC commitments,” they point out. “The time has come for the Office of the Trade Representative to intervene on this issue.” The request for consultations requested by the senators is the step prior to the establishment of an arbitration panel to resolve the conflict.
The controversy over the ban on transgenic corn was one of the topics discussed at the meeting between Tai and Secretary Raquel Buenrostro in early November. At the meeting, the US representative noted “the importance of avoiding an interruption in US corn exports and returning to a science-based regulatory process for all agricultural biotech products in Mexico,” according to a statement from the her office. The reference to a “science-based” process is in line with what the senators are now saying. On the other hand, at the end of September, the US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, pointed out that he was going to seek “clarity” on the impact of the ban. “We need to press the issue,” he said.
The ban was approved through a decree by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in December 2020. The measure was applauded by environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, which pointed out the risk posed by GMOs for the diversity of agricultural crops and for people’s health. . Faced with pressure from the US, Lopez Obrador said last week that during a visit to the neighboring country he had been asked to continue buying yellow corn from US farmers, to which he refused. “We are a free, sovereign country and we are not going to get sick by selling yellow corn and we are going to put aside our native corn,” he said.
The measure by the Mexican government has sown fear among US farmers. Senators Grassley and Ernst are from Iowa, a state that exports 16 million tons of corn to Mexico each year, and cite a study that points to multimillion-dollar repercussions: $3.5 billion in losses for the sector during the first year of application and 5,500 million in the second year. In addition, the senators cite, this economic impact would cause the loss of 32,000 jobs. “President Obrador’s decree is not only a bad starting point, but it is impossible to implement,” they say in the letter. “92% of the corn planted in the US is genetically modified.”
The tension around transgenic corn is not the only commercial front open between the two countries. The US and Mexico, in addition to Canada, are already in a high-voltage consultation process due to regulatory changes in the Mexican energy sector. The White House has affirmed that the energy policy of the Government of Lopez Obrador clashes with the opening commitments signed in the TMEC, by hindering the investments of North American companies in the sector. Negotiations to avoid going to an arbitration panel began in the summer and should have ended in October. Although no agreement has yet been reached, the governments have decided to hold consultations.
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