US Wins GMO Corn Dispute with Mexico

Bloomberg’s Michael Hirtzer reported this past Friday that “the US has prevailed in its dispute with Mexico over genetically modified corn that threatened shipments to America’s top customer of the grain.”

“An arbitration panel under the USMCA trade agreement issued its final ruling agreeing with the US that Mexico’s efforts to halt imports of GMO corn were not based on science and violated the trade pact, according to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. A preliminary decision had come out last month, but Friday’s ruling makes it official,” Hirtzer reported. “‘The panel’s ruling reaffirms the US’s longstanding concerns about Mexico’s biotechnology policies and their detrimental impact on US agricultural exports,’ Tai said in a statement.”

“In a statement, Mexico’s Economy Ministry said it doesn’t agree with the panel’s ruling and that it considers the measures in question as aligned with protecting public health and indigenous rights. Still, it added that it will accept the decision,” Hirtzer reported. “In a separate statement, the government stressed the ruling only applied to imports and gave its backing to bills in congress that would ban the planting of genetically engineered corn within the country. The measure looked to ‘protect the genetic diversity of Mexico’s native corn,’ it said.”

Dispute Background

Reuters’ David Lawder reported this past Friday that “the corn dispute began six months after USMCA came into force in July 2020 when then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador decreed that GM corn be banned by the end of 2024 — a move largely targeting U.S. corn exports. His successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum, has supported the policy.”

“After years of little movement in consultations, USTR requested arbitration to settle the dispute, challenging Mexico’s 2023 decree that immediately banned use of GM corn in tortillas and dough, and instructed government agencies to gradually eliminate its use in other foods and in animal feed,” Lawder reported. “The U.S. argued the Mexican government’s claims that GM corn is harmful to human health were not based on science.”

Lawder reported that “Mexico, birthplace of modern corn, prohibits planting of GM corn due to fears it would contaminate native strains of the grain. Yet the country is the top foreign buyer of U.S.-grown yellow corn, nearly all of which is genetically modified.”

“Mexico’s government expects local buyers will import a record 22.3 million metric tons during the 2023/24 agricultural season,” Lawder reported. “In 2024 through October, the U.S. exported $4.8 billion worth of corn to Mexico, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.”

Ag Industry Reaction

Successful Farming’s Natalina Sents Bausch reported that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said that “we commend the dispute settlement panel for its thorough and impartial assessment, which affirms that Mexico’s approach to biotechnology was not based on scientific principles or international standards. Mexico’s measures ran counter to decades’ worth of evidence demonstrating the safety of agricultural biotechnology, underpinned by science- and risk-based regulatory review systems.”

“The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is a farmer-led trade organization that represents the interests of more than 300,000 farmers. The organization’s leaders argued that the ban would significantly harm growers and rural communities, especially because Mexico is the number one export destination for U.S. corn,” Sents Bausch reported. “‘This is an incredible development for the nation’s corn growers and rural communities,’ said Illinois farmer and NCGA President Kenneth Hartman Jr. ‘This outcome is a direct result of the advocacy efforts of corn grower leaders from across the country. We want to thank the nation’s growers for speaking out and U.S. officials for listening and acting.'”

In addition, Sents Bausch reported that “U.S. Grains Council (USCG) President and CEO Ryan LeGrand was quick to thank the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, saying, ‘Mexico has always been a powerful partner to U.S. corn growers and exporters, so when the country tried banning GM corn imports that would have severely affected our industry, we appreciated the extra effort the U.S. Trade Representative gave in filing the dispute and seeing it through to its logical conclusion. The Council worked with the USTR and in Mexico to help ensure the dispute result was fair, and we look forward to continuing our work with our top U.S. grains-in-all-forms customer.'”