Mexico is able to hit the U.S. the place it hurts: Corn.
Mexico is among the prime consumers of American corn on the earth in the present day. And Mexican senator Armando Rios Piter, who leads a congressional committee on international relations, says he’ll introduce a invoice this week the place Mexico will purchase corn from Brazil and Argentina as an alternative of the US.
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, instructed instructed CNN’s Leyla Santiago on Sunday at an anti-Trump protest in Mexico Metropolis.
He added: It is a “good strategy to inform them that this hostile relationship has penalties, hope that it adjustments.”
American corn goes into a whole lot of the nation’s meals. In Mexico Metropolis, from superb eating eating places to taco stands on the road, corn-based favorites like tacos could be discovered all over the place.
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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 12 months of obtainable information. In 1995, the 12 months after NAFTA grew to become regulation, corn exports to Mexico have been a mere $391 million.
Consultants say such a invoice could be very expensive to U.S. farmers.
“If we do certainly see a commerce warfare 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 answer Trump’s threats. Trump desires 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 desires to renegotiate NAFTA. He blames it for a flood of producing jobs to Mexico. A nonpartisan congressional analysis report discovered that to not be true.
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Nonetheless, Trump says he desires a greater commerce deal for the American employee — although he hasn’t stated what a greater deal appears to be like 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 desires, he threatens to withdraw from NAFTA.
Such robust speak is not obtained nicely by Mexican leaders like Rios Piter. He isn’t alone. Mexico’s financial system minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, stated in January Mexico would reply “instantly” to any tariffs from Trump.
“It’s extremely clear that now we have to be ready to instantly be capable to neutralize the influence of a measure of that nature,” Guajardo stated 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