trade war
On trade: Long-term gain or long-term pain?
The Trump administration says its policy of confrontation with trading partners, such as the trade war with China and tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico, will lead to more advantageous relations for the United States. But Bill Reinsch, of the think tank Center for Strategic and International Relations, says the promise of "short-term pain, long-term gain" is unlikely to come true.
Trade war could slow Chinese soy imports for years, says USDA
China will remain the world’s largest soybean importer in coming years even if the trade war with the United States is not settled, but it won’t be buying as much of the oilseed, said USDA analysts on Wednesday.
Trump asks China to remove tariffs on U.S. ag exports
With the trade war stunting U.S. farm exports after two years of growth, President Trump said he has asked China to remove its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. food and ag exports. Trump announced the request on the same day four large farm groups opened their annual meetings with a joint endorsement of the new North American trade pact negotiated by the White House.
WTO rules China gave its growers unfair wheat and rice subsidies
The Trump administration, with the weight of a WTO ruling behind it, called on China on Thursday to eliminate trade-distorting wheat and rice subsidies that cost U.S. farmers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in export sales. The WTO panel report may provide impetus to negotiations to resolve the Sino-U.S. trade war.
China will buy 8 percent of U.S. soybean crop, says Trump administration
President Trump put his weight behind an announcement that China, amid negotiations to end the trade war, committed to buy 10 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans. The decision, announced on social media by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Friday, would more than double Chinese purchases this marketing year but still
U.S. ag trade surplus narrows
The U.S. agricultural trade surplus will shrink to $13.5 billion this fiscal year, the smallest in at least six years, as exports stagnate at $141.5 billion and imports tick upward to $128 billion, said the USDA in a quarterly forecast.
Soybeans may lose less land to corn than expected
The United States is awash in soybeans, the result of the trade war with China and a string of bumper crops. But although farmers were expected to respond by planting more corn this year while cutting back sharply on soybeans, it's no longer clear that this rush to corn will actually occur.
Trump: Trade talks may end with ‘a lot more’ corn to China
U.S. and Chinese officials opened their second consecutive week of negotiations to resolve the countries' trade war on Tuesday with President Trump saying the "very complex talks...are going very well." Trump told reporters at the White House, "We're asking for everything that anybody has ever even suggested. These are not just, you know, 'let's sell corn or let's do this.' It's going to be selling corn, but a lot of it, a lot more than anyone thought possible."
Agriculture remains an issue as Sino-U.S. trade talks resume
The White House is looking for additional progress in negotiations this week to resolve the Sino-U.S. trade war even as it cautions that “much work remains.” Agriculture is among the structural issues under discussion, according to the administration.
Net farm income to rebound in 2019 as farmers pare expenses
After hitting a pothole in 2018, U.S. net farm income will recover this year under the combined effects of financial belt-tightening and rising crop prices, said the USDA on Thursday. It projected net farm income of $77.6 billion in 2019, which would be the highest total since the commodity boom collapsed in 2014.
Potentially more profitable, cotton takes over soybean ground
Cotton growers plan to expand their plantings by a sharp 3 percent this spring, taking away land from soybeans, the most prominent casualty of the Sino-U.S. trade war, said the National Cotton Council over the weekend. Meanwhile, the USDA said the soybean stockpile will double in size by the time this year's crop is ready to harvest, creating the largest "carryover" ever.
China boosts its soybean purchases to 3.8 million tonnes this week
For the third day in a row, the USDA confirmed a large sale of U.S. soybeans to China, this time 586,000 tonnes. With the purchase, reported by private exporters on Wednesday, China bought 3.8 million tonnes of soybeans in three days and is well on its way to the 5 million tonnes promised during a White House meeting last week.
Trump tariff payments top $6.4 billion as deadline nears
The USDA has received nearly 805,000 applications and paid out $6.41 billion so far in the Trump tariff payments created to buffer the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war, said the USDA on Monday. The Trump payments are the largest element of a mitigation package that was announced as a maximum of $12 billion but could turn out smaller in the end.
China and U.S. are a long way from ending trade war
The tenor of Sino-U.S. negotiations is heartening but "we're still a long way" from resolving trade war between the world's two largest economies, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at a cattle industry conference. Meanwhile, China was following through on a pledge, announced at the White House, to buy U.S. soybeans, with some trade sources putting the purchases as high as 4 million tonnes, worth $1.35 billion.
At the White House, Chinese official says his country will buy more U.S. soybeans
In a letter read aloud at the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing will buy more U.S. farm exports, a decision that President Trump hailed on Thursday as a sign of good faith in ongoing negotiations to end the trade war between the nations.
Trump tariff payment total? ‘Maybe $8 billion.’
U.S. farmers may receive noticeably less in Trump tariff payments than originally expected, a senior USDA official said on Thursday. And with no end in sight for the five-week partial government shutdown, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters that food stamps could be in jeopardy.
Trump trade war: ‘We’re going to hang with him,’ says Farm Bureau chief
The Sino-U.S. trade war, which as stymied U.S. farm exports, "is going to be a long one, and we keep delivering the message, 'We're with you, Mr. President,'" said the leader of the largest U.S. farm group on Sunday, adding a caveat. "The runaway of our patience is going to be determined by the financial situation of our farms. We went into the battle very weak." <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Ag trade is a top topic at Sino-U.S. trade talks
Trade officials from China and the United States discussed “China’s pledge to purchase a substantial amount of agricultural, energy, manufactured goods, and other products and services from the United States” during three days of talks in Beijing, said the Trump administration on Wednesday.
A ‘Trump bump’ on the farm, with a dollop of trade war anxiety
As it did eight years ago, Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election has ignited a surge of enthusiasm among farmers, although two-fifths of them say there is a risk of a damaging trade war, said a Purdue University poll released on Tuesday. The Ag Economy Barometer, a gauge of farmer confidence, surged 30 points to its highest reading since May 2021.