Mexico is able to hit the U.S. the place it hurts: Corn.
Mexico is one of the top buyers of American corn on this planet right now. And Mexican senator Armando Rios Piter, who leads a congressional committee on overseas relations, says he’ll introduce a invoice this week the place Mexico will purchase corn from Brazil and Argentina as an alternative of america.
It is one of many first indicators of potential concrete motion from Mexico in response to President Trump’s threats in opposition to the nation.
“I will ship a invoice for the corn that we’re shopping for within the Midwest and…change to Brazil or Argentina,” Rios Piter, 43, advised advised CNN’s Leyla Santiago on Sunday at an anti-Trump protest in Mexico City.
He added: It is a “good solution to inform them that this hostile relationship has penalties, hope that it modifications.”
American corn goes into plenty of the nation’s meals. In Mexico Metropolis, from fantastic eating eating places to taco stands on the road, corn-based favorites like tacos may be discovered all over the place.
Related: Mexican farmer’s daughter: NAFTA destroyed us
America can be the world’s largest producer and exporter of corn. American corn shipments to Mexico have catapulted since NAFTA, a free commerce deal signed between Mexico, America and Canada.
American farmers despatched $2.4 billion of corn to Mexico in 2015, the newest yr of accessible knowledge. In 1995, the yr after NAFTA turned regulation, corn exports to Mexico have been a mere $391 million.
Consultants say such a invoice can be very pricey to U.S. farmers.
“If we do certainly see a commerce conflict the place Mexico begins shopping for from Brazil…we’ll see it have an effect on the corn market and ripple out to the remainder of the ag financial system,” says Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN, an agricultural administration agency.
Rios Piter’s invoice is one other signal of Mexico’s willingness to reply to Trump’s threats. Trump needs to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border, and he is threatened taxes on Mexican imports starting from 20% to 35%.
Trump additionally needs to renegotiate NAFTA. He blames it for a flood of producing jobs to Mexico. A nonpartisan congressional research report discovered that to not be true.
Related: Mexico doubles down on Trump ‘contingency plan’
Nonetheless, Trump says he needs a greater commerce deal for the American employee — although he hasn’t mentioned what a greater deal appears like.
All sides signaled two weeks in the past that negotiations would start in Might after a 90-day session interval.
However Trump says if negotiations do not bear the deal he needs, he threatens to withdraw from NAFTA.
Such robust discuss is not obtained effectively by Mexican leaders like Rios Piter. He is not alone. Mexico’s financial system minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, mentioned in January Mexico would reply “instantly” to any tariffs from Trump.
“It is very clear that we have now to be ready to instantly be capable of neutralize the impression of a measure of that nature,” Guajardo said Jan. 13 on a Mexican information present.
–Shasta Darlington contributed reporting to this story
CNNMoney (Mexico Metropolis) First revealed February 13, 2017: 12:06 PM ET
