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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
U.S. and Mexican officials met behind closed doors last week to discuss Mexico’s ban on tortilla makers using genetically modified white corn, even as Mexico tries to publicly justify its action with claims that the grain is a threat to the country.
Lawmakers express relief that the Biden administration is taking the first steps toward a formal USMCA challenge to Mexico's planned ban on genetically modified white corn, but they stress they don’t want extensive delays that could harm U.S. corn farmers.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador may have thought he was offering a reasonable compromise when he told U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that Mexico would remain open to importing genetically modified feed corn, but American farmers don’t see it that way.
Mexico is willing to make a deal to annually exempt U.S. feed corn from a coming ban on genetically modified corn, but no deal is being considered on white corn for direct human consumption, according to a statement issued by the office of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
