Since the Mexican government published its much-awaited presidential decree on New Year's Eve to restrict the use of the herbicide glyphosate and genetically modified corn, IATP has actively worked to defend the government against threats from U.S. agribusiness using the revised North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
I covered the decree and the looming threats in a February article. Now agribusiness interests have filed for an injunction in Mexican courts to stop the government phaseout of glyphosate.
On April 16, IATP joined the National Family Farm Coalition and the Rural Coalition on a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack calling for respect for Mexico's right to regulate in the public interest.
"We read with concern the March 22, 2021 letter to you from food and agricultural trade associations raising objections to health, consumer and farmer protections and agricultural policies of the government of Mexico and seeking your intervention," states the letter. "We urge both USTR and USDA to respect Mexico’s domestic policy choices and refrain from any action to interfere with policies that support healthy food and diets and that advance sustainable and environmentally sound agroecological practices. Mexico is well within its rights to adopt these provisions, as the U.S. would be if it implemented similar policies."
IATP signed on to a similar letter drafted by Pesticide Action Network, along with 80 other organizations and nearly 7,000 citizens. The IATP and PAN letters support a letter signed by hundreds of Mexican organizations objecting to the agribusiness lobbying effort and calling on the U.S. government to respect Mexico's sovereignty.
Bayer/Monsanto, Mexican agribusiness seek glyphosate injunction
The pressure by agribusiness interests continues. Bayer/Monsanto and Mexico's National Agribusiness Council (CNA) filed for an injunction in Mexico courts to stop the glyphosate regulations. The coalition Sin Maiz No Hay Pais (Without Corn There is No Country) is collecting signatures on a petition opposing the injunction. Please sign on.
IATP will continue to work with its Mexican partners to ensure the U.S. government does not invoke trade agreements to undermine Mexico's right to legislate and regulate in the public interest. As Mexico's Undersecretary of Agriculture Victor Suarez told us, "We are a sovereign nation with a democratic government, which came to power with the support of the majority of citizens, one that places compliance with our constitution and respect for human rights above all private interests.”
Related news coverage
The flurry of correspondence directed at USTR and USDA follows arguments made by IATP program staff in the press:
- Karen Hansen-Kuhn and I wrote for American Prospect in a March 15 article: "Stopping the race to the bottom in trade policy."
- IATP Senior Attorney Sharon Anglin Treat in The Hill challenged the Biden Administration: "Will new NAFTA block Biden's progressive regulatory policies?"
- Executive Director Sophia Murphy, also writing for The Hill, questioned arguments that the WTO and USMCA were appropriate places for the Biden administration to question Mexico's actions. "It is hardly surprising that the Mexican government wants to revitalize rural areas devastated by the dumping of U.S. corn at prices below production costs," she wrote. "Perhaps the U.S. government will learn from the example."
Read more
For more on Monsanto and Mexico, read "Monocultures of the Genetically Modified Mind: My Surreal Encounter with Monsanto in Mexico."
