agricultural trade

In a joint statement, Canada and Mexico said the United States must repeal its country-of-origin label (COOL) scheme or face $1.01 billion in retaliatory tariffs. “Canada and Mexico recognize that the U.S. House of Representatives repealed COOL for beef and pork last June, and we renew our call on the U.S. Senate to quickly do the same in order to avoid retaliation against U.S. exports," said the statement,

Agricultural trade rules "should be crafted with an eye to improving countries' food security and other development objectives," said the Food and Agriculture Organization in releasing the biennial update of one of its flagship reports.

The government lowered its forecast of U.S. farm exports by 5 percent from August. The $7 billion cut was due to "lower prices, strong competition and diminishing Chinese demand," said USDA in a quarterly report.

If negotiators cannot resolve major agricultural disputes, "then in my view, you are not going to have a TTIP [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at a farm conference in Brussels.

Days after the United States threatened to suspend favorable agricultural trade rules, South Africa and America reached an agreement that will pave the way to imports of up to 65,000 tonnes of U.S. poultry meat, says news site AllAfrica.

At the end of the first official USDA visit to Cuba since 1961, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said U.S. farm and food products could gain a significant share of the island's $2 billion food-import market, reports the Des Moines Register.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is due to arrive in Havana on Wednesday, leading the first official USDA visit to Cuba in half a century as part of the administration's decision to normalize relations with the nation.

The first reorganization of the Agriculture Department in a generation may have to wait for the president who takes office in 15 months, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters. "It is not a simple matter. It is rather complex." Congress mandated the creation of an new USDA post, undersecretary for trade, in the 2014 farm law to give American agriculture more muscle in dealing with other nations.

Decrying "cheating by foreign countries," House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway called for tougher action to protect U.S. exports. "Things must change. Our agreements must be enforced," said Conaway at a hearing on international trade as the World Trade Organization tries to wrap up the long-running Doha Round of negotiations.

President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed by telephone to push for speedy agreement of a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership on trade, says the Xinhua news agency.

Russian President Putin says his country should retaliate against economic sanctions imposed by the West in the crisis over Ukraine, steps that could affect...

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is on a whirlwind tour of Europe this week with the goal of expanding trans-Atlantic agricultural trade.

At a "Made in Rural America" forum, the administration unveiled a Web portal for rural businesses interested in the export market.

Japanese and U.S. negotiators explored various factors that control market openings for farm imports during President Obama's visit, a senior administration official told reporters.

President Obama will meet the leaders of four nations - Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines - during a trip through Asia that begins on Tuesday.

The new soybean marketing year opens on Saturday, and early orders for the U.S. crop are the smallest in years, says a research brief from rural lender CoBank. Global demand is down in the face of the strong dollar, slow economic growth, and uncertainties about U.S. trade policy in an election year.