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TAKE ACTION: Support Fair Trade with Mexico & Canada for GMOs, Avocados & Beef!

International trade agreements help corporations evade national laws.

Just like they've done with the WTO and NAFTA, companies like Monsanto (Bayer) are using the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to force countries to import food their people don’t want to eat and make local farmers compete with cheap, industrially produced imports.

The Trump Administration is currently reviewing the USMCA. We need to stop the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade agreement from undermining food labeling & farmer protections! This is our opportunity to make our voices heard about the following issues:

The U.S. and Canada using the USMCA to force Mexicans to eat Bayer’s Roundup-soaked GMO corn.
Canada and Mexico using the USMCA to trick Americans into eating beef from across the border that’s misleadingly labeled “Product of the U.S.A.”
The USMCA blocking the U.S. from protecting American avocado farmers driven out of business by importers like Del Monte, West Pack, Calavo, and Mission that are clearcutting the forests of Michoacan and Jalisco to plant hyper-industrial plantations.
A USMCA provision known as the Junk Food Annex that would prevent the labeling of ultra-processed foods to disclose health-harming chemical additives.

TAKE ACTION BY NOVEMBER 3: Tell the U.S. Trade Representative to Protect Food & Farming!

In 2009, Canada and Mexico used the World Trade Organization to challenge the U.S.'s mandatory country of origin labels for beef that limited “Product of the U.S.” labels to meat from cattle born, raised, and harvested in the U.S. Beef cattle born in one country and raised or slaughtered in another would say “Product of the U.S. and [Country or Countries].”

They won. In 2015, the WTO authorized Canada and Mexico to impose $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs, so Congress repealed the country of origin labeling requirement (including for chicken, even though Canada and Mexico hadn't challenged those labels).

The same thing has happened to Mexico's “Vía Orgánica” effort to restrict the use of genetically engineered corn for human consumption, phase out the use of Monsanto (Bayer)'s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide, and reduce imports of genetically engineered corn for animal feed and industrial uses, actions that were a response to years of advocacy and campaigns by Mexican farmers and social movements, including Organic Consumers Association's partner Via Organica.

In 2024, the U.S. erased all that, using the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to get an international trade ruling against Mexico and force the country to withdraw its GMO corn restrictions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has done nothing to protect American avocado farmers who are being driven out of business by importers like Del Monte, West Pack, Calavo, and Mission that are clearcutting the forests of Michoacan and Jalisco to plant hyper-industrial plantations. When the Trump Administration imposed tariffs on Mexican imports, avocados were given a free pass under the USMCA rule that protects products with no parts foreign to North America. (Oddly, this year, only 56.5 percent of avocados from Mexico have come in under that exemption. Apparently, importers are voluntarily paying the tariff to avoid the hassle of going through Customs & Border Protection red tape.)

Expect things to get worse. A USMCA provision known as the Junk Food Annex (“Proprietary Formulas for Prepackaged Foods and Food Additives”) would prevent the labeling of ultra-processed foods to disclose health-harming chemical additives by allowing challenges on the grounds of "necessity," "effectiveness," and "appropriateness," subjective standards that could prove impossible to meet.

TAKE ACTION BY NOVEMBER 3: Tell the U.S. Trade Representative to Protect Food & Farming!

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PETITION TO THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement should be better for the U.S. than NAFTA and the WTO were.

The USMCA could have opened up huge new opportunities for non-GMO and organic farmers, while helping industrial farmers ween themselves off Monsanto (Bayer)'s expensive genetically engineered seeds and carcinogenic pesticides. Instead, when Mexico asked the U.S. for non-GMO corn, it crushed the request with a successful USMCA challenge claiming that the Mexican government’s actions violated the USMCA's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards.

Under the USMCA, the U.S. has done nothing to protect American avocado farmers who are being driven out of business by importers like Del Monte, West Pack, Calavo, and Mission that are clearcutting the forests of Michoacan and Jalisco to plant hyper-industrial plantations. When the Trump Administration imposed tariffs on Mexican imports, avocados were given a free pass under the USMCA rule that protects products with no parts foreign to North America. (Oddly, this year, only 56.5 percent of avocados from Mexico have come in under that exemption. Apparently, importers are voluntarily paying the tariff to avoid the hassle of going through Customs & Border Protection red tape.)

I am concerned that things will only get worse. A USMCA provision known as the Junk Food Annex (“Proprietary Formulas for Prepackaged Foods and Food Additives”) would prevent the labeling of ultra-processed foods to disclose health-harming chemical additives by allowing challenges on the grounds of "necessity," "effectiveness," and "appropriateness," subjective standards that could prove impossible to meet.

As a supporter of America’s farmers and ranchers, I urge the U.S. Trade Representative to make these issues top priorities in the administration’s joint review of the USMCA.

Thank you.