Canada Sides With US in Trade Dispute With Mexico Over GMO Corn

Activists of Greenpeace hold a protest against GM corn and the Monsanto Law on the National Day of Corn, in front of the Judicial Power in Mexico City on Sept. 29, 2015. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images)

Canada is joining forces with the United States in a trade fight over a Mexican ban on genetically modified corn products in tortillas and dough.

Canada will participate as a third party in dispute settlement proceedings that were initiated by the United States under the Canada–United States–Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement, Ottawa said in an Aug. 25 statement issued by Global Affairs.

The U.S. position is that the Mexican ban on corn is not based on science and argues the evidence shows that genetically modified corn is safe. The dispute over the ban would impact U.S. exports of approximately 17 million tonnes of corn, mostly genetically modified organisms (GMO), to Mexico each year, which has been estimated as worth $3 billion in trade.

The Canadian government said it shared the concerns of the United States, stating, “Mexico is not compliant with the science and risk analysis obligations under CUSMA’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Chapter.”

Ottawa said that it also believes that the measures being taken by Mexico lack scientific support and have the “potential to unnecessarily disrupt trade in the North American market.” Ottawa said it has to ensure continued stability and resilience for Canadian farmers and the agricultural sector.”

Ban on GMO Corn

Mexico first issued a presidential decree on Feb. 13 that banned use of genetically engineered corn in tortilla and dough products, and said the country plans to gradually substitute biotechnology corn in any products intended for human consumption and animal feed. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has stated that he is worried about contamination of native varieties of corn being grown in his country and has concerns about the effects of GMO corn on public health.

Tortillas produced in Mexico are manufactured with non-GMO white corn, but the country still imports about US$5 billion annually from the United States, using yellow grain that has been genetically modified for livestock feed.

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Earlier this year, the Mexican administration offered to exempt yellow corn used for livestock feed from its ban, but the U.S. Biden government declined, according to The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

In July, Mexico imposed a 50 percent tariff on white corn imports amid the trade dispute, which the president of Mexico said would boost national production and prevent GMO corn importation. Earlier, white corn had been exempted from tariffs.

“White corn is of the utmost importance in the diet of Mexicans, with an annual per capita consumption of 346 kg, and it is the grain with the highest production in the country with an 88.2 percent participation in the national production of grains,” President Lopez Obrador said in the June 23 decree.

“That the supply and production of white corn in our country are important factors in determining its price and, therefore, also of the various consumer products made from it, mainly tortillas, therefore, to promote the strengthening national production, the internal market and the productive chain of said grain, as well as ensuring market conditions that allow stabilizing its price, it is pertinent to temporarily modify the tariff,” said Mexico.

Agriculture officials say the tariffs could potentially negatively impact Mexican consumers and possibly even American farmers in the long run.

“This has been ongoing for over a year. First they were going to have tariffs on all imported corn, yellow dent is by far the largest corn they import, it is used for livestock feed,” Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller told The Epoch Times. “In negotiations, we’ve negotiated that now they say they’re only going to have the tariff on white corn which we don’t sell much of at all.”

The dispute settlement proceedings will see a panel of experts assembled to spend about six months studying the dispute between the countries. It would then release findings. Trade sanctions could follow if Mexico was found to have violated the U.S.–Mexico–Canada free trade agreement.

Mexico’s president said he is not afraid of controversy and said that only domestic white corn should be used for human consumption.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.