Farmers protest U.S. imports

Thousands of Mexican farmers, some herding cows, flooded into the capital and set a tractor on fire to demand government protection against U.S. farm imports.

Final trade barriers to agricultural products in North America were lifted this month under the North American Free Trade Agreement, opening Mexico for the first time to tariff-free U.S. exports of staple foods such as corn and beans.

Farmers complain the government is not doing enough to protect them from competition from subsidized U.S. goods. They are demanding that Mexico renegotiate the treaty to maintain protections for home-grown corn and beans.