Mexico’s new president vows commitment to the USMCA. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
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.
“Now, she has said, immediately after being elected, she wants to continue the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement,” Sheinbaum said. “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.
“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,” she said.
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.
“Mexico for 2024, will be the U.S.’ number one export destination at about 28.7 billion dollars,” she said.
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.
Listen to Sabrina Halvorson’s This Land Of Ours program here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.