Mexico is a key buyer of US GM yellow corn, purchasing nearly $6 billion annually.
Mexico’s new government has said it will abandon its ambition to reduce imports of yellow corn and achieve self-sufficiency in the production of this type of grain.
Mexico and the United States are in the midst of a dispute over corn trade that is being settled by a dispute resolution panel of the North American trade agreement, USMCA, with a resolution expected in the last quarter of the year.
The dispute is based on a 2023 decree that bans yellow corn for “human consumption,” understood as any corn for direct use, especially in flour and dough for tortillas, a staple food in the Mexican diet.
The United States claims that this ban has no scientific basis and violates commitments under the USMCA. Mexico insists that this is not the case and does not affect grain imports.
The decree does, however, allow the use of genetically modified yellow corn as livestock feed, which accounts for the majority of Mexico’s annual U.S. corn imports, and for industrial use.
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