US, Canada, Mexico agriculture ministers to meet this month, says USDA’s Vilsack

(Reuters) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday that he will meet later this month with the agriculture ministers of Canada and Mexico.

The meeting will likely take place in Colorado, Vilsack said at the Commodity Classic in Houston.

The U.S. and Mexico are in the midst of a trade dispute over a 2020 Mexican decree to ban consumption of genetically modified corn, which could affect the country’s U.S. imports of the grain.

U.S. Chief Agriculture Negotiator Doug McKalip said in February that the dispute is expected to be resolved by the end of this year.

The U.S. lost a trade dispute with Canada last year over the country’s restrictions on U.S. dairy import quotas.

Vilsack said that at the meeting, he will “continue to raise the concern we have in Mexico and their approach to biotechnology in terms of corn, and for me to also raise the need for Canada to continue to look for ways in which their dairy market can be more open to us.”