Mexico’s proposed ban on GM corn is of ‘grave concern’ to the US

On Monday, tensions between US and Mexico escalated over the latter’s proposal to outlaw the import of genetically modified corn by 2024.

 

Mexico’s president was forewarned by US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that if an ‘acceptable resolution’ could not be reached, the US would be compelled to file a lawsuit.

 

Mexico claims that its own historic natural corn varieties are in danger from GM seeds.

 

However, the president of Mexico declared on Tuesday that he would look to negotiate with the US.

 

Mr. Vilsack had before warned that a ban would have a ‘significant impact’ on US-Mexico trade.

 

Mexico purchases a significant amount of its corn from the United States, making it the second-largest corn importer in the world behind China.

 

But a Mexican minister warned news agency Reuters last month that this embargo would cause Mexico to cut its imports of yellow corn from the US in half.

 

On December 31, 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed a presidential decree mandating the phase-out of genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption by January’s end of 2024.

 

The directive greatly worried US grain exporters, and as the deadline draws near, the US is working harder to persuade President López Obrador to remove or relax the proposed embargo.