US-Mexico Corn Saga Continues
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office is requesting technical consultations with Mexico regarding its proposed ban on GMO corn imports from the U.S. The request is under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Chapter of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke at the National Farmers Union’s Annual Convention in San Francisco, California. He says the dispute over GMO corn imports is just one of the topics the trading partners need to work out…
“There have been a variety of decrees that have come from Mexico. I think the underlying issue here is the need for our relationship with Mexico, and to be a trade relationship, to be science-based, whether it's corn or whether it's soybeans or whether it's cotton or whatever it is. If you are creating a concern about the safety or the effectiveness of a particular technology based on culture, that's an issue that undermines the whole trading process.”
He also says the U.S. remains hopeful that America’s concerns can be fully addressed. If not, the U.S. will continue to pursue all necessary steps to enforce our rights under the USMCA to make sure America’s producers and exporters have full and fair access to the Mexican market.
