According to a note from the “Successful Farming” portal, the US government officially accused México of violating North American trade rules by banning imports of genetically modified white corn used to make tortillas, a food staple of the Mexican diet. México, one of the United States’ main trading partners, said it was ready to defend its ban before a USMCA dispute panel.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said months of informal negotiations over corn trade had proved fruitless. “Today the United States is taking the next step to enforce México’s obligations under the USMCA. Through the USMCA dispute panel, we seek to resolve our concerns and help ensure that consumers can continue to access safe and affordable food and produce.”
The United States, the world leader in agricultural biotechnology, fiercely defends that GM crops are safe to eat. Biotech crops are grown on 55 percent of US farmland, with most corn, soybeans, cotton, and sugar beets grown with GM seeds.
For its part, the Ministry of Economy of México declared that it does not agree with the position of the United States. In a statement, he said that he “is prepared to defend the Mexican position before this international panel.” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he is defending México’s biocultural heritage and preserving the purity of the food supply.
The USMCA dispute panel could take eight months to reach a decision, three Ohio State University analysts said earlier this year. They said that while the United States is likely to win, México, rather than modify its trade rules, could refuse to comply and instead accept the US suspension of an equivalent amount of trade benefits.
In February, México published a decree that would block imports of genetically modified white corn that would be used to make tortillas or other foods for human consumption. White corn accounts for about 4 percent of México’s US corn imports. México is the second largest market for US agricultural exports and is the main source of imports of food and agricultural products. Bilateral trade is forecast to total $75 billion this year, or $1 in $5 of agricultural imports and exports.
Therefore, this dispute can have very serious consequences for the trade of both nations, not only due to the decrease in the commercial activity of the disputed products, but also when one of the parties wins, which everything seems to indicate that it would be the United States. , could seek punitive measures to force the hand of the Mexican government, which could impact the booming agri-food exports to our neighbor.
Source: https://www.agriculture.com/us-files-usmca-challenge-to-México-s-corn-import-rules-7692835
Source: from Noroeste Culiacán on 2023-08-20 04:03:00
