Awaiting US Action, Pesticide and Biotech Industries Talk Trade Issues in Mexico
Representatives of major pesticide and biotech seed companies gathered earlier this month in Mexico City to meet with Mexican ag groups and U.S. and Canadian government officials to flesh out concerns about the potential impacts of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s campaign against genetically modified corn and glyphosate.
While the meeting of representatives from CropLife International, CropLife America, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and companies such as Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and Corteva was routine, it took place in the shadow of the Biden administration’s ongoing deliberations over whether or not to call for dispute consultations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and growing alarm over the threat to U.S-Mexico trade.
The presidential decree that Mexico unveiled on Feb. 13 immediately banned Mexican tortilla makers from buying GM white corn from the U.S. and set a Jan 31, 2024, deadline for the ban of glyphosate imports, but the ramifications are even more substantial when combined with Mexico’s evolving and “grim” regulatory system.
While the decree only bans the importation of glyphosate by Jan 31, 2024, and does not address the potential for future reductions in MRLs, it is nonetheless a significant concern for U.S. corn exporters, Mexican corn importers and U.S. technology companies.
And when it comes to Mexico’s biotech trait approval process, U.S. industry sources are still concerned despite the fact that Mexico has reversed course and issued approvals of some traits that it previously rejected.
While the meeting of representatives from CropLife International, CropLife America, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and companies such as Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and Corteva was routine, it took place in the shadow of the Biden administration’s ongoing deliberations over whether or not to call for dispute consultations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and growing alarm over the threat to U.S-Mexico trade.
The presidential decree that Mexico unveiled on Feb. 13 immediately banned Mexican tortilla makers from buying GM white corn from the U.S. and set a Jan 31, 2024, deadline for the ban of glyphosate imports, but the ramifications are even more substantial when combined with Mexico’s evolving and “grim” regulatory system.
While the decree only bans the importation of glyphosate by Jan 31, 2024, and does not address the potential for future reductions in MRLs, it is nonetheless a significant concern for U.S. corn exporters, Mexican corn importers and U.S. technology companies.
And when it comes to Mexico’s biotech trait approval process, U.S. industry sources are still concerned despite the fact that Mexico has reversed course and issued approvals of some traits that it previously rejected.