Latest News From U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement

During a bilateral meeting on Thursday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai discussed with Mexico's Secretary of Economy Tatiana Clouthier various issues concerning energy and biotech corn.

Representatives from the U.S., Mexico and Canada will meet in Cancun, Mexico this week to discuss a series of disputes, including Mexican energy and biotech policies and Canadian dairy barriers.

Over the 29 years of free trade, U.S. ag exports to Mexico increased both in terms of volume and value, although there were some years where growth was not positive.

“We fundamentally disagree with the position Mexico has taken on the issue of biotechnology, which has been proven to be safe for decades,” said Tom Vilsack, USDA secretary.

In April 2017, Ray Starling, Special Assistant to the President for Ag, Trade and Food Assistance during the Trump administration, received some important news. What happened next helped change the course of history.

Iowa Senator encourages U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to move toward instituting USMCA dispute settlement process.

By requesting consultations, the U.S. Trade Representative began a process to come to a settlement on ag biotechnology imports to Mexico. If a settlement is not reached, the issue will move to a full-blown trade dispute.

Mexico is accusing the U.S. of playing politics over the GMO corn issue, but NCGA CEO Neil Caskey says if Mexico wants non-GMO, they'll need to pay a premium for it instead of violating a trade pact already in place. 

The U.S. appears to be pursuing a case via USMCA on the matter: “That is going to happen, because we're essentially in a circumstance where this is not a situation that lends itself to a compromise,” Vilsack said.

Mexico's new decree will indicate that if U.S. GMO corn passes the sanitary filters of the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), it will have no problem entering Mexico.

U.S. officials told Mexico its approach on biotech crops are still “not grounded in science," and will face a USMCA battle if the matter is not resolved.

Mexico and Canada had challenged the U.S. method for calculating the regional content required under the USMCA trade pact for cars to have tariff-free access to the U.S.

Mexican President López Obrador hosted President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau this week to discuss everything from methane reduction to the U.S./Mexico border wall.

Under the USMCA, Canada conceded to granting lower tariff access across dairy products. But Canada was allocating a bulk of those imports to processors, limiting the ability of other groups to buy U.S. products.