Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday described as “unfair” the decision by the Trump administration to suspend imports of Mexican beef cattle for 15 days due to the detection of screwworm in shipments.
Advertisement
Sheinbaum, who has spent the past few months scrambling to offset tariff threats by US President Donald Trump, said she hoped the suspension would not result in another economic blow for her country.
“We do not agree with this measure,” she said at her morning press conference on Monday. “The Mexican government has been working an all fronts from the very first moment we were alerted to the screwworm.”
The United States restricted Mexican cattle shipments in late November following the detection of the pest, but lifted the ban in February after protocols were put in place to evaluate the animals before entry into the country. But there has been an “unacceptable northward advancement” of the screwworm, the US Department of Agriculture said in a statement on Sunday.
“The last time this devastating pest invaded the US it took our livestock industry 30 years to recover,” US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on social media. “This can never happen again.”
Advertisement
The screwworm is a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly that can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters the skin, causing serious and life-threatening damage and lesions.