The U.S. and Mexico plan to reach an agreement in January over a pending Mexican ban on imports of genetically modified corn, the Mexican foreign ministry says.

According to USDA, several senior Mexican officials visited with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Washington, D.C., on Friday to talk about a potential compromise on a dispute over biotech corn.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Mexican foreign ministry said talks will continue as the sides strive to reach a “mutual understanding” that provides “legal certainty to all parties.”

The dispute is over a decree Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador issued in 2020 aiming to phase out genetically modified corn imports for human consumption, culminating in a ban by 2024. Obrador’s decree also plans to phase out the weedkiller glyphosate.

The issue is critical to U.S. corn producers because Mexico is the second-largest export market for them, according to 2021 data from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Most corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified, USDA says.

The latest meeting between U.S. and Mexican officials involved possible revisions to Obrador’s 2020 decree.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Trade Representative Tai said they had a “candid conversation” with the Mexican officials.

The Mexican delegation included Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, Agriculture Secretary Victor Manuel Villalobos, Economy Secretary Raquel Buenrostro, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Luisa Albores Gonzalez and other officials.

Corn industry experts say the fact that Mexico’s government is now willing to negotiate is a “step in the right direction,” as the government previously seemed unwilling to budge.

“The Mexican delegation presented some potential amendments to the decree in an effort to address our concerns,” Vilsack and Tai said in a joint statement. “We agreed to review their proposal closely and follow up with questions or concerns in short order. There is a joint recognition that time is of the essence and we must determine a path forward.”

A USDA official declined to provide the Capital Press with further details on the amendments.

An industry source familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Mexican delegation offered the Biden administration a possible compromise that included postponing the decree for one year, meaning it would not go into effect until January 2025.

According to the source, Mexico also committed to reconsidering its previous rejections of petitions from seed companies for GM corn traits.

The Mexican government might also exempt imports of U.S. feed corn from the coming ban.

GM white corn might be allowed into the country, but Mexican officials would likely bar food companies from using it to make tortillas or other products for human consumption.

Industry experts say if Mexico severely restricts U.S. corn imports, the global price of corn will likely nose-dive due to oversupply.

U.S. officials have threatened to take action under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, if a deal both countries are comfortable with cannot be reached.