Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump has asked his trade advisers to look at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade pact he withdrew the U.S. from last year, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. Republican senators met with Trump on Thursday and he told them that he has asked U.S. Trade Representative […] Read more
U.S. to take another look at Pacific trade pact
Trump administration weighs high-ethanol fuel waiver to placate farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — The Trump administration is considering allowing the sale of a higher-ethanol fuel blend in the summer, a source familiar with the issue said, a move that would placate corn growers worried about the future of U.S. biofuels policy. U.S. President Donald Trump recently met with the heads of the Environmental […] Read more
U.S. lawmakers skeptical of promises to shield farmers from trade dispute
Reading Time: 3 minutes Overland Park, Kan. | Reuters — U.S. lawmakers and the farm industry were skeptical of the Trump administration’s promise to shield farmers from the rapidly escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China, concerned about the lack of details in protecting the agricultural export sector now embroiled in the back-and-forth. Major farming states supported U.S. […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans close firm despite trade threats
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures rose on Friday, with traders shrugging off rhetoric about escalations in a trade war between China and the U.S. to focus on fresh export deals. China warned on Friday it was fully prepared to respond with a “fierce counter strike” of fresh trade measures if the U.S. follows […] Read more
Trump proposes US$100 billion more in new tariffs on China
Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider US$100 billion in additional tariffs on China, fueling an already heated trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump said in a statement the further tariffs were being considered “in light of China’s unfair retaliation” […] Read more
Canada reports progress on NAFTA, says ‘we’re not there yet’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa/Mexico City | Reuters — Mexico, Canada and the U.S. have made good progress in their bid to modernize the NAFTA trade pact but still have work to do, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday. Freeland also said she would be flying to Washington for a meeting on Thursday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert […] Read more
U.S. meat groups fear for market growth with China beef tariff hike
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — China’s proposal on Wednesday for tariffs on U.S. beef confirmed the worst-case scenario for the U.S. cattle industry, trade groups said Wednesday, even as they remained hopeful the dispute could be resolved quickly. China listed U.S. goods from soybeans to beef that could potentially incur a 25 per cent import tariff […] Read more
Corn-state senators seek Trump meeting as biofuel changes loom
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A group of senators from U.S. corn states have asked President Donald Trump for a meeting about the nation’s biofuels law, amid expectations the administration will soon act to lower the regulation’s costs to the oil refining industry. The group of Republican senators wrote a letter to Trump on Thursday in which they […] Read more
U.S. farm group targets Trump with free-trade ads
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — A farm lobbying group is spending US$500,000 to air television ads on channels near U.S. President Donald Trump’s home in Florida to encourage free trade, with the group worried recent metal tariffs could result in retaliation against U.S. agricultural goods. Farmers for Free Trade, a bipartisan group, on Tuesday said it […] Read more
China says U.S. soybeans ‘prime target’ over tariffs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Chinese officials have said U.S. soybeans are a prime target for retaliation against tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on steel and aluminum imports, according to the American Soybean Association. Farm groups have long feared that China, which imports more than a third of all U.S. soybeans, could slow their purchases […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
