U.S.-Mexico corn dispute could drag on all year
If the United States takes its complaint against Mexico's ban on imports of GMO white corn to a USMCA panel, it could take 155 days — until late December or even January — for a final resolution, although a U.S. victory is likely, said three Ohio State University analysts.
Shift in Sino-U.S. dialogue: How to protect U.S. economic interests
While pressing China to live up to its trade commitments, the United States will focus increasingly on how to defend its economic interests in dealing with an unreliable partner, said U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai. China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world and their overall relationship is "profoundly consequential," said Tai on the closing day of USDA's annual Outlook Forum.
Sino-U.S. trade deal: Big numbers, few details, many questions for ag
Although President Trump declared "a very large Phase One Deal with China," the White House put few agricultural details in writing over the weekend, saying the agreement calls for "substantial purchases" of farm exports, rather the quadrupling trumpeted by U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer. Analysts such as Joe Glauber of IFPRI were dubious that U.S. exports, forecast at $11 billion this year, could leap overnight to the $40-billion-a-year level cited by the administration.
Branstad covers for Perdue, as USDA makes first crop projections of the year
Traders believe U.S. farmers are stampeding into soybeans this year and are looking for confirmation at USDA's two-day Agricultural Outlook Forum, which opens this morning with speeches by President Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to China and the House Agriculture chairman, Michael Conaway of Texas. This is the first time since 1995 that the secretary of agriculture will not speak at the forum.