Racializing Trade in Corn: México Fights Maíz Imports and GMOs

Ernesto Hernández-López

Journal of International Economic Law, 2022, vol. 25, issue 2, 259-276

Abstract: International economic law (IEL) is racialized in México. This is evident with the North American Free Trade Agreement, US Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), and ongoing litigation changing how Mexicans grow, buy, and consume corn. Racialization develops from law privileging foreign access, at the cost of domestic abilities to counter economic entry. This has domestic and international consequences. Mestizo, campesino, and Indigenous sectors disproportionately bear the domestic effects of corn imports and GMO (genetically modified organism) corn. Imports and GMOs displace rural labor. Meanwhile, GMOs irreparably harm biodiversity. The USMCA protects ‘trade in’ GMOs while simultaneously discounting sovereign determinations by Mexican regulators. This echoes international law’s history of racist reasoning to exclude Global South states. This article proposes racial capitalism methods to pinpoint how and where IEL racializes cross-border trade. They show how neoliberal laws resulted in price spikes, labor migration, and unhealthy diets. Current GMO controversies open the door to two IEL paths: resistance or market access. As resistance, Mexican court rulings based on Precautionary Principle norms prohibit GMO corn seeds. With market access, the USMCA harmonizes biotechnology regulations, effectively trumping determinations by Mexican authorities. In sum, as neoliberal and current developments show, IEL racializes trade with disproportionate consequences felt domestically and by displacing Mexican sovereignty internationally.

Date: 2022
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