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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Thursday, December 07, 2023
The first thing U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack did after the U.S. lost its second USMCA dairy battle with Canada was vow to keep on fighting – reminiscent of statements released by U.S. lawmakers and U.S. dairy groups, but that fight may be at an end after two exhaustive legal fights that both ended in a decision by a three-member dispute panel.
It’s all political. That’s the message from the U.S. to the three-member U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement panel that will be ruling on the U.S. complaint against Mexico’s attempt to block imports of genetically engineered corn.
The U.S. lost its latest dispute with Canada over the country’s operation of a tariff rate quota for dairy imports under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, according to a Friday announcement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Mexico wants more than just a presidential decree on its genetically modified corn ban in place as it enters the final phase of a dispute with the U.S., so the country is working to solidify the prohibition in its national food production standards.
The U.S. is escalating its dispute with Mexico over the country’s ban on genetically modified white corn and its intent to eventually bar all biotech corn from food and animal feed by calling for the establishment of a dispute panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
U.S. farmers understand that the outcome of the dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over Mexico’s attempt to block imports of genetically modified corn could set a precedent that will be key for trade with other countries around the world, U.S. Chief Agricultural Trade Negotiator Doug McKalip said Thursday.
Farm and biotech groups cheered when U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the Biden administration would take on Mexico in a dispute over Mexican biotech corn restrictions, but the process is likely to stretch on for months.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Friday that she is calling for dispute consultations with Mexico over the country’s efforts to ban genetically modified corn and its recent history of rejecting biotech seed traits.
