U.S. wins dispute with Mexico over GMO corn

The U.S. has prevailed in its dispute with Mexico over genetically modified corn that threatened shipments to America’s top customer of the grain.

An arbitration panel under the USMCA trade agreement issued its final ruling agreeing with the U.S. that Mexico’s efforts to halt imports of GMO corn were not based on science and violated the trade pact, according to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. A preliminary decision had come out last month, but the Dec. 20 ruling makes it official.

“The panel’s ruling reaffirms the U.S.’s longstanding concerns about Mexico’s biotechnology policies and their detrimental impact on U.S. agricultural exports,” Tai said in a statement.

Mexico has been bringing in record amounts of U.S. corn, largely for use as animal feed, after severe drought hit local harvests.

Mexico’s policy had officially banned the import of GMO corn for human consumption, but U.S. growers were concerned that the policy could be expanded to include the corn destined for use as animal feed.

In a statement, Mexico’s Economy Ministry said it doesn’t agree with the panel’s ruling and that it considers the measures in question as aligned with protecting public health and indigenous rights.

Still, it added that it will accept the decision.

In a separate statement, the government stressed the ruling only applied to imports and gave its backing to bills in congress that would ban the planting of genetically engineered corn within the country. The measure looked to “protect the genetic diversity of Mexico’s native corn,” it said.