Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard attends a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France March 5, 2018.  Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Tariff relief for Canada’s farmers at issue in Quebec election

Montreal |Reuters – Quebec farmers want further relief from a global tariff dispute ahead of Oct. 1 elections in the mostly French-speaking Canadian province, which has seen a recent rise in nationalist sentiment. Quebec’s ruling Liberals, centrists but separate from the federal Liberal party, launched their campaign on Thursday. They trail in polls behind the center-right Coalition Avenir Quebec […] Read more




(Assnat.qc.ca)

Quebec offers aid to lessen brunt of U.S. tariffs

Montreal | Reuters — The Quebec government on Wednesday said it would spend $863 million over five years to mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs on companies and the province’s agriculture sector. The plan would provide direct financial aid to some companies affected by the tariffs and would support investments to improve productivity, worker training […] Read more



China will be looking to other markets to fill its annual shortfall of 90 million tonnes of soybeans, a third of which the U.S. had traditionally supplied.  Photo: Thinkstock

China expects its U.S. agricultural imports to fall sharply

Beijing | Reuters – China’s imports of U.S. agricultural products will fall sharply once Beijing implements retaliatory trade measures and the country is able to cover its demand for cooking oil and animal feed, vice agriculture minister Han Jun said on Friday. The trade dispute will have a limited impact on China’s agriculture sector, but hit its U.S. counterparts […] Read more



Photo: Thinkstock

Argentina plans to export major amounts of soymeal to China in 2019

Beunos Aires | Reuters – Argentina expects to export significant amounts of soymeal to China starting after the next harvest in May, a top agriculture ministry official said on Friday, as the South American grains powerhouse moves to take advantage of U.S.-China trade strife. Argentine officials were in Beijing on Friday finalizing the paperwork needed to ship […] Read more


China has proposed tariffs that would include LNG, semiconductors, beef, aircraft.  Photo: Darwel/iStock/Getty Images

China plans tariffs on $60 bln of U.S. goods in latest trade salvo

Beijing | Singapore | Reuters – China proposed retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods ranging from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to some aircraft on Friday, as a senior Chinese diplomat cast doubt on prospects of talks with Washington to solve their bitter trade conflict. The Trump administration tightened pressure for trade concessions from […] Read more

Bunge wrongly bet that soybean prices would rise as U.S.-China trade tensions eased.

Bunge posts surprise loss on trade-related soy hedges

Chicago | Reuters – Global grains merchant Bunge Ltd reported a surprise quarterly loss on Wednesday as its agribusiness unit took a $125 million hit from soybean hedges tied to the trade dispute between the United States and China. Shares of the White Plains, New York-based company fell 2.9 percent in early trading to $67.10 […] Read more