OTTAWA, March 8 (Reuters) – Canada has requested formal consultations with Mexico over the Latin American country’s restrictions on the import of genetically modified crops under a free trade agreement that also includes the United States, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing close sources. About.
Ottawa’s request came on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg, a day after Washington requested formal trade consultations over its objections to Mexico’s plans to limit imports of genetically modified corn and other agricultural biotech products.
“Canada will always work with the United States and Mexico to strengthen our trade relationship and develop a clean and green agricultural sector,” a spokeswoman for Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said in a statement.
The Trilateral Trade Agreement (TMEC) “has the ability to conduct technical consultations to better understand how our policies will be implemented under this agreement,” the spokesperson added, without explicitly confirming the report.
Mexico plans to regulate genetically modified corn for human consumption, which US officials say jeopardizes some $5 billion in corn exports to its southern neighbor and could hamper biotech innovation.
However, Canada is not a big exporter of corn, and Ottawa is generally concerned about Mexico imposing arbitrary bans on biotechnology-based agriculture, Bloomberg reported.
He is also concerned about the Mexican government’s lack of respect for TMEC, according to the report. A spokeswoman for the Latin American country’s economy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Mexico says GM seeds can contaminate the country’s old native varieties and questioned their impact on human health.
US officials have criticized Mexico’s plans for saying they are not based on science and warning that any restrictions on GM corn could escalate into an outright trade dispute under a regional treaty.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Cassandra Garrison in Chicago; Editing in Spanish by Marion Giraldo and Aida Peláez-Fernández)
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