The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association would like the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to address at least five non-tariff trade barriers for agriculture in the next year. MSGA Executive Director Joe Smentek says there are issues with GMO tolerance levels in China and the United Kingdom. “They are proposing to go down to a zero percent tolerance for GMOs in non-GMO crops. That’s problematic because when you get close to zero there are lots of false positives. If you have a little bit of dirt in organic or non-GMO corn, you’ll find Bt in it from the soil and that can result in shipments being sent back.” The USTR will combine and summarize all of the submitted comments to create its annual National Trade Estimate Report on foreign trade barriers. The 700-page report is used as a to-do list during the next year as the USTR negotiate trade agreements.
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