Editorials

Jan 5, 2023

Key Issues: Trade

Author: Brooke S. Appleton

As we enter 2023, we are reminded that we are now one year out from the effective date of the decree banning most corn imports from the U.S. into Mexico.   The National Corn Growers Association, along with state corn partners, ended 2022 sounding the alarm about this issue and we’re seeing results, though there is still work to do. The current predicament emerged last year when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to enact a decree that would ban all imports of biotech corn into Mexico, effective January 31, 2024.   Since 90% of U.S. corn is biotech corn and because Mexico is one of our top trading partners, the president’s promise threatened to upend a major economic partnership for our nation’s farmers. A study by World Perspectives showed that it also would adversely affect the Mexican economy and lead to issues of food insecurity.   NCGA and state corn partners began an aggressive campaign to bring attention to the issue. We continue to call for the U.S. Trade...