Trade
Exports rose 2.1% in March from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $256.2 billion while imports declined 0.3% to $320.4 billion, the Commerce Department said.
Currently, foreign meat that is processed in U.S. plants can be labeled “Product of USA.” Arun Alexander, Canada’s deputy ambassador, isn’t convinced this is a good practice.
Non-tariff barriers “are real and can be more significant hurdles than tariffs,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says.
While Tai has faced strong criticism about a lack of new trade agreements being pursued, she claimed this week that the U.S. is “nearing a consensus on the need to do things differently.”
Former President Donald Trump placed tariffs on more than $300 billion in Chinese goods during his presidency, raising costs for American companies, according to the ITC.
“It would be a lost opportunity if we just sit on the sidelines and watch other countries engage while the playing field continues to tilt against us,” said Rep. Smith (R-Neb.).
“In this current situation, the traditional approach to free trade agreements — which isn’t just tariff cuts, but that they do tariff cuts on a fully comprehensive basis — isn’t what we need right now,” Tai says.
The 2018 farm bill was stamped with a $428 billon price tag when passed. With the bill set to expire on Sept. 30, here’s a breakdown of the topics ag groups look to push on the negotiating table.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Alexis Taylor for Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. According to Taylor, her priorities include addressing export markets and food insecurity.
Reps. Dusty Johnson and Jim Costa on Tuesday introduced the Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking (SHIP IT) Act to expand the trucking workforce and offer flexibility in times of need.
If the nation’s debt hits $31.4 trillion—it’s on track to do so by this Thurs.—the Treasury will need to take “extraordinary measures” to help pay the government’s operations and ward off a historic default.
Export tariffs on aluminum and aluminum alloys will be raised. The current import tariff will stay on seven types of coal until March 31, with tariffs adopted for most favored nations from April 1.
Minister Victor Villalobos said U.S. officials were satisfied with a proposal to delay a ban on the import of GMO corn until 2025, according to a published report.
Government officials asked U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai to capitalize on the success of the USMCA and expand relations in the Western Hemisphere.
The Fertilizer Institute applauded the passage of the legislation, which it dubbed an “integral” component of the fertilizer distribution system.
Europeans argue that the act is a beggar-thy-neighbor scheme designed to lure investors away from Europe, just as the region’s economy teeters on the verge of recession.
Vilsack urged Mexico to “find a way forward” and said that if Mexico’s plans went unchanged, the U.S. government would be forced to consider all options, including legal action under the USMCA.
The change will reduce the probability that U.S. beef could be hit with higher Japanese tariffs, according to the Office of the USTR.
China moved to close parks, malls and museums on Tues. as COVID-19 cases hit near-record levels. Lockdowns follow reports that, days before COP27, Xi sent policy and business advisers to New York to meet U.S. executives.
Unions and railroads are back at the negotiating table. By law, Congress can intervene to impose an agreement if the two sides remain deadlocked. However, one union is now on schedule to strike Dec. 5.
Congressmen who penned the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 are calling on the Federal Maritime Commission to mend the gap and provide “reasonable opportunities” for U.S. exporters to get their goods to foreign markets.
“In the last 2,500 years, every Chinese government that has fallen, has fallen over food,” says Kuehl, Armada chief economist. “They need those import markets—be it from the U.S, Canada, Brazil or Australia.”
Global diesel and distillate fuel stocks have fallen to dangerous levels and the U.S. has been exporting a lot of diesel to Europe and Latin America, but now things are changing.
As backlogs at U.S. ports and climbing shipping rates plague the supply chain, new data shows container shipping rates between the U.S and China are dropping by more than 50% in just a month.
U.S. beef has full access into the Japanese market for the first time in 16 years, but it is still not at a level playing field compared to countries who remained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.
Industry groups react to details of a new United States-Mexico-Canada (USMC) Agreement with Canada and Mexico.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) hasn’t released its November numbers past October due to the government shutdown. If they’re anything like October’s numbers, then they could be record-shattering.
Consumer and wholesale beef demand are currently at 30-year highs, and economists say there are currently limited signs of that demand slowing down, as beefed up demand is a story across the U.S. and around the world.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said that he will not immediately act to remove the Phase 1 trade agreement, which President Donald Trump inked with China, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Have the Pacific Coast port bottleneck issues been resolved, or moved somewhere else? The East Coast may now be carrying the burden.