Dive Brief:
- A trade dispute panel ruled against Mexico’s restrictions on imports of genetically modified corn, a win for U.S. farmers who worried the ban would limit access to what’s become an important export market.
- The panel said late last month that Mexico’s ban was not grounded in science and violated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. Mexico has until Feb. 3 to comply with the panel’s decision.
- The ruling affects trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexico’s government said in a statement that while it disagreed with the ruling, the country will respect the ultimate decision.
Dive Insight:
Mexico banned the use of genetically modified corn for human consumption in a 2023 presidential decree, which included additional provisions advocating for the gradual replacement of biotech grain for animal feed and industrial uses.
In response, the U.S. filed a challenge to a dispute settlement panel under the USMCA, saying Mexico’s ban undermines market access the country agreed to provide as part of the trade pact.
Mexico imports very little white corn, used in tortillas and masa, though it is the largest foreign buyer of U.S. yellow corn — most of which is used for animal feed.
The U.S. exported $4.8 billion of corn to Mexico from January through October 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“U.S. corn farmers and exporters understood how devastating this ban could have been had it been implemented, so it’s only right that mechanisms are in place within a trade agreement like USMCA when something like this happens,” U.S. Grains Council Chairwoman Verity Ulibarri said in a statement.
Mexico banned biotech corn over human health concerns and concerns that genetically modified crops could contaminate native varieties. The ban, first announced in 2020, included a prohibition on biotech corn and the herbicide glyphosate, which is widely used by U.S. farms to control pests.
While those restrictions were set to go into effect by the end of 2024, Mexico paused implementation and softened some of the limitations in February 2023. The country paused the ban on glyphosate, and instead instructed the government to find and promote alternatives to the herbicide.
Mexico is also looking to prohibit farmers from planting genetically modified corn as part of this year’s legislative session, Reuters reported.
Civil groups in the U.S. and Mexico criticized the dispute panel’s decision, saying it ignored scientific evidence and wrongly anticipated economic harm to U.S. corn farmers. Farm Action President Angela Huffman added in a statement that the ban on genetically modified corn could have presented a “tremendous premium market opportunity for non-GM corn producers in the U.S.”
“We are disappointed in the panel’s ruling today, which shows the U.S. successfully wielded its power on behalf of the world’s largest agrochemical corporations to force their industrial technology onto Mexico,” Huffman said in a statement. “This ruling will make winners out of agrochemical corporations and losers out of everyone else.”