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Enforcing trade agreements takes time

An ag trade consultant tells Brownfield it will take time to address Mexico’s GMO corn ban through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement process.

Former U.S. Trade Representative for Foreign Agricultural Affairs Sharon Bomer Lauritsen says there’s a special provision in the USMCA designed to address disagreements faster than before and now that the United States has Mexico’s scientific reasoning for the ban, the U.S. will request technical consultations.

“Then, there’s a period of up to 180 days from that request where the two parties would sit down and try to come to a resolution.”

She says if a solution cannot be reached in that time, a formal dispute can be filed, but that’s a much longer process. Bomer Lauritsen says a dispute with the World Trade Organization can take even longer.

Missouri Corn CEO Bradley Schad says corn growers continue to encourage the Biden administration to enforce the biotech provisions in the USMCA.

“Whether it’s white corn, soybeans or whatever, it goes back to the agreement we signed onto. We have to uphold that.”

Mexico is the largest destination for U.S. corn exports.