WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today welcomed a dispute panel’s ruling under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to allow genetically-modified U.S. corn exports to Mexico. The panel sided with the U.S., confirming Mexico’s restrictions on genetically-modified corn exports are not based in science and violate the USMCA. Mexico now has 45 days to bring its trade policies into compliance.
Download Grassley’s video statement HERE.
Excerpts from Grassley’s statement follow:
“Today, the good news is this: the United States won the decision, before an independent board, that Mexico was violating the USMCA.
“This is a tremendous victory for Iowa corn growers, and it’s a tremendous victory for what we call decisions on international trade based on sound science, as opposed to political science.”
Background:
In 2020, then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree to phase out Mexico’s use of genetically-modified corn by 2024. Following Grassley’s urging, the U.S. Trade Representative in 2023 officially challenged Mexico’s proposed ban. Today’s decision is the result of that challenge.
Iowa, the number one corn producer in the U.S., exports 16 million tons of corn to Mexico annually. Over 90 percent of all corn acreage in the U.S. is planted with genetically-engineered seeds.
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