Mexico is ready to attack the US. It’s corn.
Mexico is one of the largest purchasers of American corn in the world today. And Armando Rios Pitel, a Mexican senator who heads Congress’ foreign relations committee, said he would introduce a bill this week that would allow Mexico to buy corn from Brazil and Argentina instead of the United States.
This is one of the first signs that Mexico may take concrete action in response to President Trump’s threats against Mexico.
“We will send you an invoice for the corn we buy in the Midwest and change it to Brazil or Argentina,” Rios Piter, 43, told CNN’s Leila Santiago on Sunday. Anti-Trump Demonstration in Mexico City.
He added: “It’s a good way to tell them that this adversarial relationship has consequences. I hope that changes.”
American corn is used in many of the country’s foods. Corn-based favorites like tacos are everywhere in Mexico City, from fine dining restaurants to street taco stands.
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America is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn. Shipments of U.S. corn to Mexico have soared since NAFTA, a free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
In 2015, the most recent year for available data, American farmers sent $2.4 billion worth of corn to Mexico. In 1995, the year after NAFTA was signed, corn exports to Mexico were just $391 million.
Experts say such a bill would be very expensive for U.S. farmers.
“If a trade war actually happened where Mexico would start buying from Brazil…it would affect the corn market and spill over into the rest of the agricultural economy,” says DTN senior analyst Darrin Newsom, a farm management firm. is.
Rios Piter’s bill is another sign that Mexico is willing to meet Trump’s threats. Trump wants Mexico to pay for the border wall and threatens to impose taxes ranging from 20% to 35% for imports from Mexico.
Trump also wants to renegotiate NAFTA.He blames it for the flood of manufacturing jobs into Mexico. research Reports have found that is not true.
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Still, Trump says he wants better trade deals for American workers, but doesn’t say what a better deal might look like.
All sides signaled two weeks ago that negotiations would begin in May after a 90-day consultation period.
However, Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if negotiations do not lead to the deal he wants.
Such harsh talk is unacceptable to a Mexican leader like Rios Piter. he is not alone. Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in January that Mexico would respond “immediately” to any tariffs from President Trump.
“It is very clear that we must be prepared to neutralize the effects of measures of that nature immediately,” Guajardo told a Mexican news program on Jan. 13.
— Shasta Darlington contributed reporting for this article
CNNMoney (Mexico City) First published February 13, 2017: 12:06 PM ET
