The still-unresolved dispute with Mexico over its limits on GM corn made for a tense exchange between a Nebraska GOP lawmaker and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai at a Ways and Means hearing.
Adrian Smith (R-NE) didn’t mince words with Biden trade chief Tai after she confirmed Biden was briefed on the USMCA dispute case against Mexico’s phase-out of U.S. yellow feed corn and ban on GM white corn for human use. Smith said, “My research shows that the president has had exactly nothing to say. That’s disappointing. It would lead most reasonable people to believe that it’s not a priority, it doesn’t matter.”
Smith accused the White House of giving Mexico a “pass” on corn. He said, “The filing for the dispute resolution was roughly two years after the decree, the flagrant violation of USMCA was made, and I’m concerned that our president has had exactly nothing to say. Is there a downside to our president speaking up and saying that what Mexico is doing to our corn is wrong?”
Tai’s said in response, “Mr. Smith, I am the U.S. Trade Representative in President Biden’s cabinet, and I’m here to talk about the president’s trade policy agenda, today. And I’m telling you that we are actively pursuing litigation with Mexico using the tools of the USMCA precisely to address what we consider to be an illegitimate and unscientifically based restriction on our trade in biotech corn to Mexico.”
But Smith told Tai her response meant Biden chose to stay silent, and he didn’t accept that as “being concerned” about Mexico’s restrictions on U.S. GM corn.
Story courtesy of NAFB News Service and Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau Washington
