China
Buy our farm exports, Trump tells China
On Thursday, for the second time this week, the White House called on China to buy U.S. farm exports. After meeting with President Xi Jinping nearly two weeks ago, President Trump said China would begin “almost immediately” to buy large amounts of U.S. food and ag exports. So far, those purchases have not materialized.
Ag purchases would show good faith by China, says Kudlow
Brazil’s JBS wins a quarter of Trump-tariff contracts for pork
A Brazilian-owned meat processing company undercut its competition by more than $1 per pound to win nearly $78 million in pork contracts through a federal program launched to help American farmers offset the impact of the ongoing trade war. As a result, JBS USA has won more than 26 percent of the $300 million the USDA has allocated so far for pork purchases — more than any other company, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
U.S. pork producers got creative to fill the gap left by trade war with China
When China raised its tariff on U.S. pork in April 2018, it sent producers scrambling to replace the lost export sales. A year later, the scramble paid off, as U.S. producers replaced a big chunk of the lost sales by striking deals with smaller markets, according to an analysis by Reuters.
Farmers will be ‘great beneficiary’ as U.S.-China talks resume, says Trump
American farmers may benefit doubly during efforts to end the Sino-U.S. trade war, suggested President Trump over the weekend. They will get billions of dollars in payments intended to mitigate the impact of the trade war on the agricultural sector, and China will buy "a tremendous amount" of U.S. food and ag exports while bilateral negotiations are ongoing.
Trump tariff payments may prop up financially weak farms
Time for a deal with China, say farm-state senators
Half a dozen farm-state senators urged Trump trade officials on Thursday to speedily resolve the Sino-U.S. trade war that is compounding hard times on the farm. Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts brushed aside assurances of a rosy future when trade deals are completed. “Some farmers aren’t going to make it,” he said.
Trump tariffs target top U.S. ag trade partner
Just months after retaliatory tariffs deposed China as the leading customer for U.S. farm exports, President Trump threatened import duties of up to 25 percent on Mexico, the No. 1 food and ag trade partner of the United States. Farm groups fear the trade war will cut deeper into the shrinking global market for U.S. crops and livestock.
Smallest U.S. ag exports in three years amid trade war
The trade war with China and low commodity prices will combine to slash U.S. farm exports by 4.5 percent this fiscal year, said the USDA on Thursday in a quarterly forecast. Exports of $137 billion would be the smallest since 2016, when exports bottomed out following the collapse of the commodity boom.
JBS, under fire for taking Trump’s tariff bailout, is accused of polluting a Colorado river
In a new lawsuit, environmental advocates say a Colorado beef-packing plant owned by JBS has been dumping polluted wastewater into a river for years. The suit comes as the Brazilian company is under fire for taking millions in President Trump's tariff bailout payments. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Trump tariff payments could triple farm subsidies this year
When Congress passed the 2018 farm policy law, analysts estimated farm subsidies would cost an average $6.1 billion a year. The Trump tariff payments, ordered by the White House to mitigate the impact of trade war, could triple the total for expenditures to farmers this year.
Trump announces $16-billion farm bailout, Perdue says more possible
President Trump announced a $16-billion aid package on Thursday to buffer the impact of the trade war on farmers and ranchers this year. Speaking separately to reporters, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said billions of dollars of additional aid may flow in the future.
Trade war expands government role in agriculture, despite decades of free-market reforms
Farmers in Plains lean heavily on Trump tariff payments
Due to the trade war, more than a third of net farm income for Kansas farmers comes from Trump tariff payments, but that won't make up for lost export sales, said Republican Sen. Jerry Moran on Monday. The second-term Republican was part of a Farm Belt chorus that, after applauding the end of a trade dispute with Canada and Mexico, called for trade deals with China, Japan and the European Union.
China a factor as U.S., Mexico, Canada agree to remove tariffs
The three largest countries in North America announced an end to the 11-month battle of tariff and retaliatory tariff that pinched U.S. farm exports to Canada and Mexico, the two largest customers in the world in the for the goods. The agreement, which took effect over the weekend, improved the prospects for ratification of the new NAFTA and altered the dynamics of the Sino-U.S. trade war.
USDA to test sick or dead hogs for evidence of African swine fever
The highly contagious African swine fever, rampant in China, has never been found in the United States, but the USDA said on Thursday that it will step up its surveillance efforts against the viral disease, which kills pigs but does not harm people.
USDA looking at $15-$20 billion for new Trump bailout
As it did with the Trump tariff payments on 2018 crops, the administration is likely to send money directly to producers in the upcoming round of aid, which may total $15-$20 billion, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. That total would be a larger package than the president himself has suggested.
U.S. vote on the new NAFTA could slip to late 2020, says Grassley