Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that he will sign an agreement this week for Mexican tortilla shops not to use genetically modified corn. The agreement also includes the imposition of tariffs to curb the imports of such corn and incentivize the commercialization of grains among domestic producers.

The announcement came amidst a series of tensions between Mexico and the USA following the publication of a controversial decree in 2020. This decree established the gradual prohibition of yellow genetically modified corn to protect the diversity of regional corn and the health of Mexicans.

As expected, these measures did not sit well with the USA. Why? Because slowing down the commercialization and consumption of genetically modified corn implies the disruption of billions of dollars in agricultural trade. For this reason, the 2020 decree was modified last year. It specified that the prohibition would only apply to human consumption and that this corn could still be used in the industrial sector or to feed livestock.

Nevertheless, the change was not satisfactory for the USA, so it requested that Mexico provide the scientific foundations on which it based the suspension of human consumption. Additionally, it requested a consultation under the protection of the USMCA, the free trade agreement among Mexico, the USA, and Canada, considering that Mexican policies against genetically modified grains are discriminatory.

Canada recently joined this request, arguing that Mexico's biotechnological policies are not based on science and threaten to disrupt exports of US grains to the country. In this context, AMLO stated that it is likely that Mexico, Canada, and the USA will resort to a panel for the resolution of trade disputes to settle the case.