In December 2020, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), issued a decree banning genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption. Mexico is the US’s third top trading partner for agricultural products and the number two export market for US corn. The ban poses concern for many American corn farmers because more than 90 percent of US corn is genetically modified.
Complicating matters is that the GM corn ban and the application of these tariffs is likely illegal under the United States‐Mexico‐Canada Agreement (USMCA). The ban could violate the agriculture and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapters, while the tariffs could violate the national treatment and market access for goods chapter.
Moreover, the trade agreement specifically includes provisions for standards that are “science‐based.” The Mexican government has not provided any scientific evidence that GM corn poses a risk to human, animal, or plant life or health, and it cannot legitimately argue that the scientific evidence about the safety of GM corn is insufficient.
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The longer that this matter goes unresolved, not only will Mexicans and Americans lose but the disruptions to North American trade will cost Canadians too. Bypassing important trade rules only serves to create turmoil while providing little (if any) new value for Mexicans.
