More trade rows with Washington at boiling point

Nebraska corn growers are very angry with our country, and they are demanding that the administration of President Joe Biden reach an agreement with the government of Mexico as soon as possible about what they say… “It is the science of genetically modified corn”

There are more than 40,000 corn producers in the United States who support this requirement. They say that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador clearly violated the trade pact between the United States and Canada, which in Mexico we call USMCA, by issuing a decree phasing out GM corn for human consumption in Mexico by January 2024.

Mexican response

President López Obrador responded to this demand by reaffirming that Mexico is a sovereign country and that its decisions are sovereign.

On the one hand, President López Obrador is absolutely right. Mexico is the client, it is the one that pays and as such it decides from whom it buys, from whom it does not buy and under what conditions. Mexico has been reasonable in making it clear that it is willing to agree to an annual exemption for US feed corn, but no agreement on white corn for direct human consumption is being considered.

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American farmers want the office of Katherine Tai, the current US Trade Representative, who is in charge of foreign trade, to initiate a USMCA enforcement case so that the terms of that North American Trade Agreement include farmers. transgenic products. But to do so represents a sure firefight over foreign trade in which, whatever the outcome, everyone would lose. Mexico is not obliged to buy what it does not want.

The problem would be that in Mexico they want to turn a commercial conflict into a political matter, or even worse into an ideological banner.

This situation is very delicate and deserves a careful solution. Mexico is the largest customer of US yellow corn, each year it buys more than 17 billion tons, and more than 3 billion dollars.

Transgenic Products

These products since 1996 have grown in popularity and therefore in production not only in the United States, but throughout the planet.

GMOs are living organisms, plants that produce fruits, grains and vegetables, genetically modified and whose characteristics and original composition have been transformed, in the most advanced laboratories, to alter one or more of their original genes, and introducing them as an original part of the product. modified, one or several genes of other species.

For example, the transgenic maize grown in Spain contains a gene from the bacterium “Bacillus thuringiensis”.

This bacillus known in agriculture as “BT” is a bacterium, it is not toxic to humans or other mammals, but it is highly deadly to certain insects that kill them when ingested. Bacillus thuringiensis works as an insecticide, producing a toxin crystal protein called “Cry” that specifically kills insects that would eat the plant in the fields.

This example is very useful to clarify that this modification managed to make Spanish maize much more resistant to pests.

You, like everyone, are wondering if genetically modified foods are dangerous for human consumption.

The answer from scientists is a resounding no.

That’s why US farmers insist that GM plants are among the most extensively tested products in the history of agriculture. And as background, they say that farmers around the world have cultivated these products for sale for more than 26 years.

For farmers in the American Midwest, including Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota, corn has been transformed to make it more resistant to insects. Plants are disturbed to avoid using herbicides.

Many other farmers in the United States are doing the same. In Florida and California, tomatoes have their enzymes inhibited so that they decompose more slowly.

In California, Oregon, and the state of Washington, grapes have their resistance increased by removing the seeds, so that the plants resist their natural degradation and this is necessary to allow time for the product to leave the fields and be distributed to the stores where need more time waiting for consumers.

Another reason to modify products with genetics are droughts and climate variations.

This anger is rising in tone

Andy Jobman, president of the Nebraska Farmers Association, wrote a letter to his members about the case of Mexico in which he says; “We must stand up for what is right, based on science, and ultimately the best decision for the US economy. We cannot and will not allow opinion to trump science.”

In October Jobman published an opinion piece, urging the President of Mexico and US Trade Representative Ambassador Tai. “To protect, support, and expand trade in genetically modified American products, including genetically modified corn.”

But, in daily reality, the Biden government and the Trade Representative herself have been very moderate when it comes to presenting the arguments about transgenic products in trade discussions abroad. Imagine! The farmers are warbling against Biden who they call “Tepid” and worse still they call him “Shy.”

Growers would like the US government to affirm that GM corn is not only safe, but also necessary to produce enough food and agricultural products for a growing world.

People in Mexico would pay more for their food

On the other hand, regarding Mexico and its economy, “World Perspectives, Inc.” an independent and impartial agricultural market analysis and consulting firm based in Washington, DC, says that the consequences of not buying genetically modified corn, for our country, would create additional burdens of more than 5.6 billion dollars and that would be only to maintain the same amount of corn that you currently consume.

The WPI report also finds that the first year the GMO ban was implemented, tortilla prices would rise 30% and 42% in the second year. This, says World Perspectives, would be destructive for the Mexican economy and for its consumers. The other big question is whether Mexico could completely replace the US products that would stop arriving. In addition, the costs of feed used for cattle feed would increase no matter where the replacement corn is purchased, and that in turn would dramatically increase the price of beef.

Raquel Buenrostro, Mexico’s Secretary of Economy last Thursday and Friday in Washington DC, indicated her willingness to reach an agreement on US feed corn, but made it very clear that Mexico is not considering any concessions on transgenic white corn for consumption. direct human.

The old fights and the new fights

The United States and Mexico have been trying to resolve disputes over energy policy for months. In July, the US demanded resolution talks stating that current Mexican energy policies discriminate against US companies and violate the North American trade pact. As a concession to Buenrostro, Washington will now extend those talks through December, although Katherine Tai insisted that “rapid and significant progress” is urgently needed.

Negotiations will include Canada. The three need the agreements already ironed for the meeting of the 3 leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States on January 9 and 10 in Mexico City.

In love and war… anything goes.

First there were disagreements over energy, now over corn, the three partners seem headed for a serious trade dispute. Obviously, it would hurt the US to stop selling corn to Mexico, because it could not find another customer to buy so much product from them.

The new complication is that, in apparent retaliation, Washington is demanding further progress in Mexico’s “enforcement of fisheries-related environmental laws”. Which is a reference to Mexican fishing practices that the US says endanger the vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, as well as pose a threat to sea turtles, dolphins and other animals.

As you can see, these fights have been heating up for some time… only now they are reaching their boiling point.