Trade
With the expansion of the U.S. soybean processing industry due to the push for green fuels farmers are looking for a new home for the extra meal...and they’re finding it in Morocco.
The 2018 farm bill was stamped with a $428 billon price tag when passed. With the bill set to expire on Sept. 30, here’s a breakdown of the topics ag groups look to push on the negotiating table.
Mexico’s new decree will indicate that if U.S. GMO corn passes the sanitary filters of the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), it will have no problem entering Mexico.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Alexis Taylor for Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. According to Taylor, her priorities include addressing export markets and food insecurity.
“With 90% of corn acreage in the U.S. being planted to biotech seeds and Mexico being the number one purchaser of U.S. corn, I’m concerned this decree is not being met with urgency it deserves,” said Sen. Grassley.
While Mexico wants to reduce its imports of corn by 30% to 40% by 2024, Mexico’s Deputy Ag Minister Victor Suarez told reporters that it cannot replace its imports of U.S. corn for livestock feed.
Reps. Dusty Johnson and Jim Costa on Tuesday introduced the Safer Highways and Increased Performance for Interstate Trucking (SHIP IT) Act to expand the trucking workforce and offer flexibility in times of need.
U.S. officials told Mexico its approach on biotech crops are still “not grounded in science,” and will face a USMCA battle if the matter is not resolved.
If the nation’s debt hits $31.4 trillion—it’s on track to do so by this Thurs.—the Treasury will need to take “extraordinary measures” to help pay the government’s operations and ward off a historic default.
Mexico and Canada had challenged the U.S. method for calculating the regional content required under the USMCA trade pact for cars to have tariff-free access to the U.S.
Export tariffs on aluminum and aluminum alloys will be raised. The current import tariff will stay on seven types of coal until March 31, with tariffs adopted for most favored nations from April 1.
Under the USMCA, Canada conceded to granting lower tariff access across dairy products. But Canada was allocating a bulk of those imports to processors, limiting the ability of other groups to buy U.S. products.
Government officials asked U.S. Trade Rep. Katherine Tai to capitalize on the success of the USMCA and expand relations in the Western Hemisphere.
The Fertilizer Institute applauded the passage of the legislation, which it dubbed an “integral” component of the fertilizer distribution system.
“We agreed to review their proposal closely and follow up with questions or concerns,” said Tai and Vilsack in a joint statement.
Mexican Secretary of Economy Raquel Buenrostro told reporters in Mexico Wednesday the decree to bar imports of GMO crops into Mexico will be pushed back to 2025.
Europeans argue that the act is a beggar-thy-neighbor scheme designed to lure investors away from Europe, just as the region’s economy teeters on the verge of recession.
The top official in charge of China’s COVID-19 response told health officials Wednesday that the country faced a “new stage and mission” in pandemic controls.
Vilsack urged Mexico to “find a way forward” and said that if Mexico’s plans went unchanged, the U.S. government would be forced to consider all options, including legal action under the USMCA.
China moved to close parks, malls and museums on Tues. as COVID-19 cases hit near-record levels. Lockdowns follow reports that, days before COP27, Xi sent policy and business advisers to New York to meet U.S. executives.
Unions and railroads are back at the negotiating table. By law, Congress can intervene to impose an agreement if the two sides remain deadlocked. However, one union is now on schedule to strike Dec. 5.
“We need to find the right direction for the bilateral relationship going forward and elevate the relationship,” Xi said, while Biden stressed that the two countries can compete without it turning into a conflict.
Congressmen who penned the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 are calling on the Federal Maritime Commission to mend the gap and provide “reasonable opportunities” for U.S. exporters to get their goods to foreign markets.
Shipping giant Maersk on Wednesday warned of gloomy times ahead for global trade, even as it reported record profits stemming from high rates charged by its ocean business.
“In the last 2,500 years, every Chinese government that has fallen, has fallen over food,” says Kuehl, Armada chief economist. “They need those import markets—be it from the U.S, Canada, Brazil or Australia.”
Global diesel and distillate fuel stocks have fallen to dangerous levels and the U.S. has been exporting a lot of diesel to Europe and Latin America, but now things are changing.
Data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food shows the country shipped 6.9 million metric tons of grain, vegetables and edible oils last month, nearly matching the 7.1 million tons exported in Sept. 2021.
The U.S. is projected to have record ag exports for the marketing year but is still posting a trade deficit. Plus, headwinds such as slow water levels on the Mississippi River are adding to trade concerns.
As backlogs at U.S. ports and climbing shipping rates plague the supply chain, new data shows container shipping rates between the U.S and China are dropping by more than 50% in just a month.
According to a senior administration official, the presidents are still planning to meet but there’s “too much work to do” in too short of a time period to flesh out a deal with China.