This article by Braulio Carbajal originally appeared in the April 6, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.
In the first two months of 2026, the United States exported 3,952,249 tons of corn to Mexico, mostly yellow and genetically modified, an unprecedented amount for a similar period, in a context in which the US government intensifies its pressure by pointing out that non-tariff barriers to grain imports from that country persist in Mexico.
According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the amount of corn that Mexico bought from that country in the first two months of 2026 represented an increase of 11 percent compared to the 3 million 549 thousand tons of the same period in 2025.
In the first two months of the year alone, it represented a business of $895,815,000 for US companies, 9 percent more than the $822,117,000 of a year ago.
Our country is the United States’ main customer for corn. Far behind are Japan, which purchased 2,460,108 tons between January and February, and South Korea, with 1,198,203 tons. In fourth and fifth place are Colombia, with 697,000 tons, and Taiwan, with only 384,000 tons.
The grain market in the country is controlled by US multinationals, analysts say. Photo: La Jornada
According to USDA data, the sale of corn from the United States to Mexico represents a lucrative business worth over $5 billion annually, largely controlled by transnational corporations such as Archer Daniels Midland, Bayer, Bunge, Cargill, DeBruce, and Bartlett Grain, among others.
According to Ana de Ita, director of the Center for Studies for Change in the Mexican Countryside, these companies dominate the country’s market because they intervene in financing, have taken over the infrastructure, have first-hand information on global supply and demand, participate in the purchase of physical and futures contracts, are importers and also exporters, in addition to acquiring significant volumes of the national harvest and influencing the setting of international prices based on real and speculative movements.
Despite the multi-billion dollar business that the export of corn from the United States to Mexico represents, in its most recent National Trade Estimates Report, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) continues to point out that in Mexico there are a series of non-tariff barriers that prevent the free access of genetically modified corn to Mexican territory.
In particular, the United States government is challenging the decree issued by Mexico in February 2023, which prohibited the use of genetically modified corn in the production of tortillas and masa, and mandated the gradual replacement of this grain in other products intended for human consumption and animal feed. According to Washington, these provisions restrict effective access for its exports, given that most of the corn it sells abroad, including that destined for Mexico, is genetically modified.
As a result of this policy, in August 2023 the United States requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), arguing that the Mexican measures were not supported by scientific evidence and violated market access commitments. The panel ruled in favor of the United States in December 2024, after which, in February 2025, the Mexican government repealed the challenged provisions.
However, US authorities have indicated that they will remain vigilant regarding Mexico’s compliance with the commitments made under the USMCA, particularly concerning the fact that any measures related to agricultural biotechnology must be based on scientific criteria and guarantee agreed market access conditions.
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