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Mexico’s New President Vows Commitment to USMCA

Mexico has a new president, and that could have implications for U.S. farm trade with our number one foreign market. Claudia Sheinbaum became the first woman and first Jewish person elected president of predominantly Catholic and patriarchal Mexico.

But American Farm Bureau senior director of government affairs Dave Salmonsen says early indications are Sheinbaum will continue the status quo in farm trade. He says, “Now, she has said, immediately after being elected, she wants to continue the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Her number one priority is strong relations with the United States.”

But that will depend on many factors, including how Sheinbaum deals with U.S. trade irritants. Salmonsen says, “Maybe a little, we hope, at least on agricultural trade and some of the issues, thinking specifically of biotech corn, somewhat less confrontational there, while there is an ongoing case, which we think will be resolved in November.”

Almost three billion dollars a year on average, or a quarter of U.S. corn exports, went to Mexico in the last ten years and almost five billion in 2021. And Mexico is now tops for the U.S. in farm trade. Salmonsen adds, “Mexico for 2024, will be the U.S.’ number one export destination at about 28.7 billion dollars.”

With Canada slightly behind, and China now number three. Meantime, Salmonsen says the USMCA comes up for review in 2026, where issues like GMO corn and separately, dairy with Canada, get another look.

Story courtesy of Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau and NAFB News Service

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