Reading Time: < 1 minute 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
Quebec offers aid to lessen brunt of U.S. tariffs
G20 ag ministers slam protectionism, pledge WTO reforms
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Agriculture ministers from the G20 countries criticized protectionism in a joint statement on Saturday, and vowed to reform World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, but did not detail what steps they would take to improve the food trade system. In the statement, they said they were “concerned about the increasing use […] Read more
Dwindling diesel supplies could boost price
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Strong global demand and a looming North American harvest could send diesel prices higher in coming months. According to one energy analyst in Chicago, farmers may want to buy some fuel before prices get too high. “We’re telling our people to hedge some of your exposure, because we do think that, barring […] Read more
Trump says agreed with EU to work to lower trade barriers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States and the European Union were kicking off talks aimed at lowering trade barriers as officials looked to head off a brewing trade war. “This was a very big day for free and fair trade, a very big day indeed,” Trump told […] Read more
Canada feeds Europe’s corn appetite as tariff war shrinks U.S. sales
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Canadian corn is flowing into Europe at the fastest pace in four years, helped by retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. by the European Union that has shut American corn out of the bloc, traders said. Corn shipments to western European countries rose 85 per cent year over year during the nine […] Read more
Trump to offer U.S. farmers billions to ease trade pain
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington/Kansas City | Reuters — The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would provide up to US$12 billion in aid for U.S. farmers to shield them from the repercussions felt by trade spats between the United States and China, the European Union and others. China has targeted U.S. agricultural exports with tariffs in retaliation to […] Read more
‘Hi, I’m a soybean’: China deploys cartoon legume to reach U.S. farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters –– In the tense trade war with the United States, China’s government has turned to an unlikely weapon: a cartoon bean. “Hi, everybody. I am a soybean. I may not look like much, but I’m very important,” says the animated character in a video posted on Friday on the website of China […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soy rises from 10-year low set on trade war
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures jumped on Monday after dropping to their lowest prices in a decade earlier in the session, as the U.S.-China trade dispute looms over agricultural markets. Technical buying helped soybeans to recover after the most-active contract lost more than five per cent last week, traders said. The trade dispute […] Read more
Trump pardons Oregon ranchers who inspired refuge standoff
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned two imprisoned Oregon ranchers whose sentencing on arson convictions sparked the 2016 occupation of a wildlife refuge, part of a long-simmering dispute over federal land policies in the U.S. West. The armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote southeast Oregon followed a judge’s […] Read more
U.S. biofuels industry, advocates see hope in Pruitt’s successor
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Corn growers and biofuel producers cheered the resignation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt in the hope that his successor may give them more access and fewer threats to reducing domestic requirements. Pruitt led U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to roll back environmental protections. He drew the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
