House Democrats on Ag Committee Complain That Barriers to Biotech Exports Persist
Democratic members of the House Agriculture Committee, including Chairman David Scott, D-Ga., told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and the agriculture secretary that they are dissatisfied with progress toward dismantling trade barriers to biotech crops in China and Mexico. Their letter, signed by eight committee members, says that when countries like China and Mexico don't allow the imports of these crops, that decision has "a chilling effect on global adoption and commercialization of new technologies. As a result, farmers at home and abroad are forced to choose between innovative technologies or access to foreign markets."
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The members say that the pace of biotech approvals has not improved since the Phase One agreement, even though the issue was part of the agreement. And, they said, "Despite committing to enhanced biotechnology measures and sanitary and phytosanitary standards in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Mexico has demonstrated a troubling reversal in its treatment of U.S. biotechnology products. Mexico’s regulatory authority has not issued a biotechnology approval in over three years. In addition, the Government of Mexico published a decree on December 31, 2020, intending to ban the use of biotechnology corn by 2024."
They argue that biotech crops can help farmers improve the sustainability of production, such as no-till farming.