Canada (and US) Have Big Mads About Mexico Not Wanting Their Mutated Corn.
Canada has asked for formal consultations with Mexico over its restrictions on genetically modified (GM) agricultural imports under the North American free-trade agreement, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Canada requested the talks on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, a day after the U.S. requested formal trade consultations over its objections to Mexico's plans to limit imports of GM corn and other agricultural biotechnology products.
"Canada will always work with the U.S. and Mexico to strengthen our trade relationship and grow a clean, green agriculture sector," a spokesperson for Canada's Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.
Call me crazy, but I don't think "clean" or "green" when I read the phrase "genetically modified agricultural imports." I think of things like chips made with olestra, that was FDA approved and ended up being on Time's list of 50 Worst Inventions.
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade (USMCA) "has the ability to hold technical consultations to better understand how our policies are to be implemented under this agreement," the spokesperson said, without explicitly confirming the report.
Mexico plans to regulate GM corn for human consumption, which U.S. officials say puts some $5 billion of U.S. corn exports to Mexico at risk and could stifle biotechnology innovation.
This is the real concern: money. The American economy is suffering (more than usual) and the smoke and mirrors aren't working the way they used to (did you know that Silicon Valley Bank crashed over the weekend?). Also, if $5 billion is enough to "stifle biotechnology innovation," you have to wonder how "innovative" the biotechnology was in the first place.
Canada however is not a major corn exporter and Ottawa is concerned overall about Mexico putting arbitrary prohibitions on agriculture produced using biotechnology, Bloomberg reported.
It is also concerned about Mexico's lack of respect for the USMCA trade pact, according to the report.
A spokeswoman for Mexico's economy ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
Mexico says GM seeds can contaminate the country's age-old native varieties and has questioned their impact on human health. U.S. officials have criticized Mexico's plans as not being science-based and warn that any restriction of genetically modified corn could morph into an all-out trade dispute under the USMCA.
Remember: a country is either a coerced customer business partner of the United States, or a target for their military adversary.
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