LATAM POLITICS TODAY-United States escalates fight with Mexico over GMO corn

The latest in Latin American politics today: U.S. demands formal talks with Mexico over ban on GMO corn CHICAGO/WASHINGTON - The United States has requested formal trade consultations with Mexico over U.S. objections to a push by the Mexican president to ban the imports of genetically modified corn for human consumption as well as the weed killer glyphosate.

The latest in Latin American politics today: U.S. demands formal talks with Mexico over ban on GMO corn

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON - The United States has requested formal trade consultations with Mexico over U.S. objections to a push by the Mexican president to ban the imports of genetically modified corn for human consumption as well as the weed killer glyphosate. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador argues that GMO corn imports, mostly from U.S. suppliers, as well as glyphosate pose harms to human health, and has ordered a gradual ban on both.

The subject is especially sensitive in Mexico, the birthplace of modern corn, and part of Lopez Obrador's push to produce more of the staple crop at home. U.S. trade officials announced the request for technical talks in a step toward a dispute settlement panel that could lead to retaliatory U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods if no resolution is reached.

Later, Mexico said it would will demonstrate with data and evidence there has been no harm to trade. Chile launches new drive to draft updated constitution

SANTIAGO - Chile kicked off a second attempt to write a new constitution as a group of experts that Congress appointed to start preparing a preliminary draft have been installed. The new proposal is expected to be more moderate than the first one, which voters overwhelmingly rejected last September and which would have been one of the world's most progressive charters.

The experts are set to work for three months to start updating the country's current constitution, which dates back to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Nicaragua shuts down business group in latest crackdown

MANAGUA - Nicaraguan authorities closed down COSEP, the country's largest business association, in the latest blow in a years-long crackdown on any opposition to the government of President Daniel Ortega. Once a key business player and ally of the increasingly authoritarian Ortega, the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP) has in recent years become a target of the former Marxist rebel's entrenched government.

An alliance between Ortega and top business leaders broke down after the government waged a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests in 2018, during which more than 360 people died mostly at the hands of police and other security forces, according to tallies by rights groups. Brazil's Lula speaks to Britain's King Charles on climate action

Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he had spoken with Britain's King Charles III about deepening collaboration between the two nations on climate change. Both leaders have stressed the need to urgently address climate change.

"We talked about the desire to deepen partnerships and discussions between our countries on the climate issue and environmental protection," Lula wrote in a tweet. (Compiled by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Sandra Maler)

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