The United States will request this Thursday a dispute settlement panel under the USMCA related to its GM corn exports to Mexico, according to sources consulted by Bloomberg.

In the first half of 2023, U.S. corn exports to the Mexican market were $3.027 billion, a year-over-year increase of 15.1 percent.

Mexico is the top destination for these U.S. sales, with Japan as the second largest export market, to where corn shipments totaled $1.242 billion in the first half of the year, according to U.S. Commerce Department data.

The United States has used the tools provided by the USMCA to address concerns with Mexico’s biotechnology policies, including meetings of the USMCA Free Trade Commission, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Committee and the Biotechnology Working Group.

On January 30, 2023, the United States sent a formal written request to Mexico under the SPS Chapter of the Agreement (Article 9.6.14) for «an explanation of the reasons for» and «relevant information on» certain Mexican measures relating to biotech products.  Mexico responded in writing on February 14.

In March 2023, the United States requested and held technical consultations with Mexico on its biotech measures under the SPS chapter of the USMCA , but the consultations did not resolve the issue.

On this case, the USDA indicated that the United States has been clear that it would consider all options, including additional measures to enforce U.S. rights under the USMCA, if Mexico did not return to science- and risk-based biotechnology policies that comply with Treaty commitments.

Panel

On January 1, 2021, a decree went into effect revoking existing authorizations «for the use of genetically modified corn grain in the diet of Mexicans» and prohibiting new authorizations until genetically modified corn grain is completely replaced by January 31, 2024.

A decree published on February 13, 2023 repealed the 2021 decree and contains prohibitions and phase-out of biotech corn for certain uses.