MEXICO CITY—Mexico on Saturday began imposing a 50 percent tariff on white corn imports, a move the president says looks to boost national production and prevent imports of genetically modified corn.
The measure, published late Friday in the Mexican government’s official gazette, will be in force until the end of the year and occurs amid a trade dispute between Mexico and its North American trade partners, Canada and the United States, over genetically modified corn.
White corn was among the basic foods that were exempted from tariffs earlier this year in an attempt by the Mexican government to control inflation. But according to the decree, the decision “has not generated a significant impact on the decrease in prices in the national market, so it’s considered appropriate to eliminate it.”…