A trade dispute over a potential Mexican veto on the import of genetically modified corn raises the stakes. The dispute commission, requested by the United States and joined weeks later by Canada, already has names and titles in its ranks. The Swiss examination body will be headed by Christian Haberle, an expert in international trade. From the United States side, the speaker will be Jan Kalecki, while lawyer Hugo Perezcano Díaz will defend the Mexican government’s point of view. The Committee, established in accordance with the guidelines of Chapter 31 of the USMCA, is responsible for addressing one of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the trade sphere between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
Haberle (72 years old) has been a member of the arbitration panel and a World Trade Organization arbitrator in twelve cases, and has a wide range of publications on multilateral trade and food security. In the case of American specialist Jean Kalecki, she served as Vice President of the London Court of International Arbitration and specialized in investment disputes. For his part, lawyer Berezcano Díaz has worked for the Mexican government for nearly 20 years. He was Head of the Trade Practices Unit from 2007 to 2011 and was also a member of the Mexican legal team in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations and was appointed legal coordinator in the negotiations of multiple trade agreements with Latin American countries.
In Mexico, the federal administration has tried to restrict the use of genetically modified corn since 2020. The executive’s main argument is to protect domestic corn and the health of the population from agrochemicals. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued a final decree banning the use of grains for human consumption on February 13, but this decision sparked international tensions because it jeopardizes grain exports worth more than $5 billion annually. Mexican territory of the United States.
The United States and Canada assert that the decree issued by the Mexican President regarding the use of genetically modified grains for human consumption has no scientific basis and violates trade between the three countries. Millions of dollars are at stake. Mexico is a major importer of US corn. It buys more than 15 million tons of these inputs from the United States each year, although the majority is yellow corn intended for animal feed.
Far from giving up, the Mexican Ministry of Economy, led by Raquel Buenrostro, has remained firm in supporting the executive decree on the international stage. “In the committee, we will do a very good job. We go to the committee and feel calm, because all the political cloud has been removed.” The federal official predicted that a final ruling on this issue will not be reached until next year.
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