U.S. wins trade dispute with Mexico over genetically modified corn

MEXICO CITY — The United States has won a ruling in a long-running trade dispute with Mexico, which had sought to ban imports of genetically modified corn for human consumption and potentially to feed livestock.

U.S. growers, who had worried about the potential loss of the single biggest export market for U.S. corn, welcomed the decision, calling it “a major win.”

“Today is a huge win for Iowa farmers!” Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a statement. “After continued pressure, finally, we are ending Mexico’s absurd and baseless biotech corn ban.”

Mexico’s Economy Department said it disagreed with the ruling Friday by a panel of experts convened under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, known as the USMCA, but said it would abide by it.

"The Mexican government does not agree with the panel’s finding, given that it considers that the measures in question are aligned with the principles of protecting public health and the rights of Indigenous communities," Mexico’s Economy Department said. “Nonetheless, the Mexican government will respect the ruling.”

Mexico was where corn was first domesticated starting around 9,000 years ago, and its government said it was taking steps to protect native species and expressed fear over whether genetically modified corn harms public health, but has not offered evidence.

Mexico relies mainly on its domestically produced white corn for human consumption, which in Mexico consists mainly of fresh white corn and white corn tortilla flour. But yellow corn — some of it genetically modified — is sometimes used in flours or prepared snacks like corn chips.

The country doesn’t produce enough feed corn to supply its livestock, pork and poultry producers, and relies on the United States for about 40 percent of its animal feed. Mexico has been importing GM corn from the United States for years, buying about $3 billion worth annually. Iowa farmers supply about 16 millions tons a year, Ernst said.

Mexico announced in 2020 plans for a ban on using GM corn for human consumption, including a possible future ban on using GM corn for livestock as well.

After trade talks failed, the U.S. government formally requested the dispute settlement panel over Mexico's limits on GM corn in 2023. Mexico long claimed “the measures under debate had no effect on trade” and did not violate the trade agreement.

The U.S. Trade Representatives Office said Friday the panel has agreed with the United States on all legal claims, "finding that Mexico’s measures are not based on science and undermine the market access that Mexico agreed to provide in the USMCA."

The decision was met with praise from the U.S. National Corn Growers Association. “This outcome is a direct result of the advocacy efforts of corn grower leaders from across the country," said the association's president, Kenneth Hartman Jr.

Mexico previously had appeared eager to avoid a major showdown with the United States on the issue — but not eager enough to completely drop talk of any ban.

In early 2023, Mexico’s Economy Department issued new rules to soften its stance, dropped the date for substituting imports for GM corn. The new rules say Mexican authorities would carry out “the gradual substitution” of GM feed and milled corn, but set no date for doing so and said potential health issues would be the subject of study by Mexican experts “with health authorities from other countries.”

Under a previous version of the rules, some U.S. growers worried a ban on GM feed corn could happen as soon as 2024 or 2025.

While the date of the ban was dropped, the language remained in the rules about eventually phasing out GM corn, something that could have caused prices for meat to skyrocket in Mexico, where inflation is already high.