Washington | Reuters — The European Union and United States have not yet agreed on the scope of trade negotiations, but the bloc will not include agriculture in the talks, its trade commissioner said on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump has sought better terms of trade with the EU, as well as China, Japan, Canada […] Read more
EU trade chief says U.S. talks won’t include agriculture
U.S. investigators question shareholders of Brazil’s JBS
Brasilia | Reuters –– U.S. investigators this week visited Brazil to question shareholders of J+F Investimentos, the holding company that controls meatpacker JBS SA, as part of an existing plea deal, Brazilian prosecutors said on Friday in a statement. U.S. authorities have been investigating the companies controlled by J+F since their largest shareholders — brothers […] Read more
Soybean exports face stiff U.S. competition
CNS Canada — Although the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. has been a good opportunity for Canada to increase its soybean exports to China, industry experts say there have been tradeoffs elsewhere. That trade war between the world’s two largest economies is expected to continue, or perhaps flare up, as the G-20 […] Read more
There’s light at the end of the trade war tunnel
Prices will return to normal and ag exports will continue to grow
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s battle to renegotiate a free trade deal with the U.S. appears to be over, but global trade wars rage on — and that means producers can expect volatile markets for some time to come. But in the long run, it should all work out fine, says a new analysis by Farm Credit Canada on […] Read more
U.S. dairy farmers get little help from Canada trade deal
Madison, Wisconsin/St. Claude, Manitoba | Reuters – Minnesota farmer Paul Fritsche can no longer afford health insurance as he struggles to sustain a dairy farm that has been in his family for nearly a century. With U.S. milk prices in the fourth year of a slump due to chronic oversupply, Fritsche, 58, is unsure whether […] Read more
U.S. seen likely to win in effort to shut down WTO’s appeals court
Geneva | Reuters — The United States is likely to succeed in shutting down the World Trade Organization’s supreme court because other WTO members are powerless to stop it, diplomats, lawyers and officials said at a conference in Geneva on Friday. The United States has blocked appointments of judges to the Appellate Body, throwing the […] Read more
The milk in the middle of the high-stakes NAFTA drama
A new milk category thrust dairy farmers into a political firestorm — so what is Class 7 all about?
Reading Time: 3 minutes It seemed like a win-win — until a new milk category caught the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump and unexpectedly became one of the key sticking points in NAFTA negotiations. It’s called Class 7, which is milk protein isolates (dried milk powders high in protein). It was introduced in 2016 in response to diafiltered […] Read more
U.S.-China talks on trade war resume as new tariffs kick in
Beijing/Washington | Reuters – The United States and China escalated their acrimonious trade war on Thursday, implementing punitive 25 percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of each other’s goods, even as mid-level officials from both sides resumed talks in Washington. The world’s two largest economies have now slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on a combined $100 billion of products […] Read more
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
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
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
