Mexico has issued more than 200 event authorizations for 11 different GM crops (alfalfa, canola, two types of cotton, corn, maize, lemon, potato, rice, soybean, sugar beet and tomato).

Notably, the number of authorizations for corn (scientific name, Zea mays) alone nearly equals the number of authorizations for the other 10 GM crops combined, according to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). 

After allowing the importation and sale of GM corn in Mexico for decades, Mexico reversed its policy. 

Mexico now bans the use of GM corn in tortillas or dough, and its federal government is following an order to gradually replace the use of biotech corn in all products for human consumption and animal feed.

The USTR challenged these changes, and is pursuing a dispute settlement panel on the matter under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

In support of its position, among other points, USTR said that Mexico has not experienced any adverse effects on human, animal or plant life or health.

GM Crops

For more than four years, the United States has used the mechanisms available under the T-MEC to urge Mexico to return to a science- and risk-based approach that is consistent with Mexico’s obligations under the T-MEC. 

But Mexico issued a presidential decree on February 13, 2023 that bans the use of GM corn in masa and tortillas, and instructs Mexican government agencies to gradually replace the use of GM corn in all products for human consumption and animal feed.

From the point of view of Raquel Buenrostro, Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, she said that pollination affects the corn breed and in Mexico there are 57 of about 64 corn breeds. 

She further argued that Mexico is self-sufficient in corn used in masa and tortillas, and does not consequently affect trade flows from the United States. 

Mexican corn imports from the U.S. were put at around $3 billion in the first half of 2023.

Often the subject of polarized debate, GM crop varieties are a controversial and rapidly expanding technology.