U.S. President Donald Trump speaks April 18 at Snap-on Tools’ headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin. (Video screengrab from Whitehouse.gov)

White House readies order to quit NAFTA

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The White House is considering a draft executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the North American Free Trade Agreement, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday. It was unclear whether the order would be enacted by President Donald Trump, who has vowed to pull out from the U.S./Mexico/Canada trade […] Read more

(Dave Clark photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Corn tumbles on weather forecasts, NAFTA jitters

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. corn futures fell more than one per cent Wednesday on forecasts for better Midwest planting weather and news that the White House is considering an executive order on withdrawing from North American Free Trade Agreement, analysts said. Soybeans also declined and wheat turned lower as corn sagged. Chicago Board of […] Read more


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks March 30 at a Ford plant in Windsor, Ont. (PMO photo by Adam Scotti)

Trudeau defends dairy system against Trump protectionist charge

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday brushed off an attack by U.S. President Donald Trump on Canada’s system of dairy protections, saying every nation defended its agricultural industries. Trudeau told Bloomberg Television that the U.S. in fact ran a dairy surplus with Canada. Trump took aim at Canada’s dairy industry […] Read more

Prince Edward County landowner and political commentator David Frum spoke to the GFO March Classic in London. (John Greig photo)

Take advantage of growth, guard against risk with new U.S. regime: Frum

Reading Time: 3 minutes Political commentator David Frum says there’s good, bad and potentially ugly for Canadian farmers in the United States’ new and unpredictable Trump administration. Frum, a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine and, more recently, an owner of Ontario farmland, told the Grain Farmers of Ontario March Classic in London recently that global markets have been […] Read more


Former deputy U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer, shown here in 2007, is President Donald Trump’s pick for the USTR job. (Dole Institute of Politics via YouTube)

Trump’s trade nominee pledges tough enforcement

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice for the top trade negotiator on Tuesday pledged an “America First” strategy to aggressively enforce U.S. laws and trade deals to stop unfair imports and push China to scrap excess factory capacity. Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative nominee, told senators at his confirmation hearing that […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. Commerce chief sees no major NAFTA talks until later this year

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday that substantial negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement likely will not get started until the latter part of this year and could take a year to complete. Ross, speaking to Bloomberg Television, said U.S. legal notification requirements with partners Mexico and […] Read more


(CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Mexico will only stay in NAFTA if it suits it, minister says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Mexico City | Reuters — A defiant Mexico said on Tuesday it would only stay in NAFTA if it suited it and rejected the imposition of any tariffs or quotas when renegotiating the trade deal U.S President Donald Trump wants to recast to benefit the United States. Trump has vowed to exit the North American […] Read more

(Portosdobrasil.gov.br via Flickr)

Mexico eyes Brazil farm products as hedge on Trump threat

Reading Time: 2 minutes Brasilia | Reuters — Amid trade tensions with the U.S., Mexico plans to send a delegation next month to visit Brazilian corn, beef, chicken and soy producers as an alternative to U.S. suppliers, its representative in Brazil said on Friday. Mexican charge d’affaires Eleazar Velasco said Brazil is uniquely positioned to expand agricultural commodity sales […] Read more