U.S. sugar import rules need an update, says GAO
The government should replace outdated sugar import rules that guarantee higher revenue to domestic growers and drive up food costs, said the Government Accountability Office on Tuesday. “The program creates higher sugar prices, which cost consumers more than producers benefit, at an annual cost to the economy of around $1 billion,” it said.
WTO backs U.S. in challenge of Chinese trade war tariffs
China wrongly imposed retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products including pork, wine, and fruits and nuts in response to Trump-era tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, said a WTO dispute panel on Wednesday. The trade war levies were an additional 25 percent on pork and an additional 15 percent on fruits and derived products.
U.S. files new challenge to Canada’s dairy quotas
Accusing Canada of backsliding on its commitments, the United States requested consultations on Wednesday with its northern neighbor over dairy import quotas that limit American access to the Canadian market. U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai said Canada has expanded its restrictions despite being the loser in a USMCA trade ruling.
Apple industry asks Biden to remove tariffs on Chinese goods
Exports of U.S. apples "have taken a big hit in recent years," with the Sino-U.S. trade war as a leading reason, said the U.S. Apple Association on Thursday. The trade group called on the Biden administration to remove U.S. tariffs on Chinese products so that China would eliminate its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that include apples.
Trade war price tag: $27 billion in lost ag export sales
China accounted for 95 percent of the $27 billion in U.S. farm export sales that were lost in 2018 and 2019 as a result of the trade war begun by President Trump, said a USDA report. Sales to China rebounded after the "phase one" trade agreement, but U.S. market share has remained lower than before the tit-for-tat tariffs.
Trade agency approves tariffs on imported phosphate fertilizer
U.S. fertilizer companies are "materially injured" by imports of subsidized phosphate fertilizer from Russia and Morocco, said the U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday, so it approved, on a 4-1 vote, the imposition of countervailing duties on the imports.
China gets to two-thirds of ‘phase one’
China failed to meet its "phase one" target for imports of U.S. food, agriculture, and seafood products despite a surge in purchases that began late last summer, said the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Thursday.
Tariff-rate quotas are more likely to stay than be negotiated away
The Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, concluded in 1994, created tariff-rate quotas for agriculture with the expectation that they would be a stepping stone to freer trade. Instead, most of those TRQs are still in place and new WTO members have added 43 more, says a report by three USDA researchers.
First USMCA challenge is over dairy quotas
The Trump administration said it was challenging Canadian quotas on dairy imports as unfair to U.S. milk producers. The challenge, announced on Wednesday, was the first under the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
Biden: Fast on broadband, slow on China
President-elect Joe Biden supports greater broadband access and more funding for rural healthcare, and says he will not immediately remove President Trump's tariffs on Chinese products, according to a column in the New York Times on Wednesday.
China on track for $31 billion in U.S. ag imports over 12 months
While China may not meet the first-year target under the "phase one" trade agreement, it is buying huge amounts of U.S. food, agriculture, and seafood products that could total $31 billion over 12 months, said Iowa State economist Wendong Zhang at a farm conference on Thursday. Neither Zhang nor Ohio State professor Ian Sheldon said they expected the Biden administration to roll back U.S. tariffs on China in the near term.
EU targets U.S. agriculture and aircraft in airplane dispute
The European Union announced higher tariffs on $4 billion worth of U.S. products, including agricultural exports, industrial goods, and aircraft on Monday in an escalating dispute over government support of the airplane industry on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The Trump administration …
U.S. hits Thailand for blocking American pork
The United States suspended $817 million in trade preferences granted to Thailand "based on its lack of sufficient progress [in] providing the United States with equitable and reasonable market access for pork products," said the Office of the U.S. trade representative on Sunday. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer said when countries fail to meet the criteria to participate in the General System of Preferences, "we will take action by limiting their preferential duty-free access to the U.S. market."
Pence: ‘We have a ways to go’ in settling trade war with China
In a speech at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Vice President Mike Pence pointed on Thursday to China's promises to roughly double its purchases of U.S. farm exports as evidence that there is "no greater fighter on trade than President Donald Trump." The pledge was part of the "phase one" agreement that de-escalated the Sino-U.S. trade war and is scheduled for a six-month review by the two nations this weekend.
Biden says he would remove tariffs on China
President Trump is "going after China the wrong way" in a go-it-alone trade war that has damaged U.S. agriculture and manufacturing, said Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, in an interview to be aired on Thursday.
Farm income, stressed this year, may drop sharply in 2021
U.S. farm income, under pressure this year from the trade war and coronavirus pandemic, could fall off a cliff next year when record-setting federal payments are due to end, according to early assessments. A plunge in income could be avoided by cost-cutting on the farm, a recovery in commodity demand, or a new multibillion-dollar round of federal aid, but they are not assured, say analysts.
China pauses on buying U.S. ag exports pause, then sputters ahead
On the same day that Beijing reportedly told state-run trading houses to pause purchases of U.S. farm exports, the companies bought a small amount of U.S. soybeans on Monday, according to unnamed sources. The pause was described as saber rattling and also a sign that the "phase one" trade agreement was in jeopardy as Sino-U.S. relations sour.
Soybean stocks to surge if Sino-U.S. trade war flares
President Trump says “it’s certainly an option” to impose additional tariffs on China, a step that could end hopes of large U.S. farm exports to the Asian rival. A resumption of trade hostilities could mean larger U.S. soybean carry-over stocks this Sept. 1 and in fall 2021, possibly 500 …