Chuck Grassley: “I have come to the floor before to speak about the value of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the value to…”

“I have come to the floor before to speak about the value of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the value to all three countries, but most importantly the United States. I am here again in honor of National Agriculture Week. I would like to continue my review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short, and I do it today by thanking President Trump for what he called 'the largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved.' I hope that President Trump remembers those words--and they were very appropriate words--as he leads the reconsideration of USMCA today. One little provision, but an important provision in the USMCA, in 2020, when the agreement was signed, it may have been difficult to see just how big an impact the first ever biotechnology provision in a trade agreement would make and how important the dispute settlement piece would be for that agreement, and, in this particular case, helping American farmers. It happens that in 2022, Mexico tried to ban genetically modified corn. In Iowa language, we say GMO product. This could have led to more bans and shutting off billions of dollars in markets for U.S. ag products. After a significant push by this Senator and the junior Senator from Iowa, the U.S. Trade Representative filed a successful dispute settlement in the process that was laid out in the USMCA, and that dispute settlement resulted in Mexico reversing its ban on GMO corn.”