Bipartisan USTR President Biden is said to be likely to name long-time aide Sarah Bianchi as Deputy USTR. Bianchi’s closest work in trade involved serving as Deputy Assistant to President Obama for Economic Policy. While other Biden appointees have faced confirmation challenges due to harshly partisan rhetoric in the past, Bianchi compared the impeachment of Trump in 2019 to the previous impeachment of Bill Clinton, describing it as a potential hindrance to achieving other legislative goals such as prescription drug pricing legislation and the USMCA. She expressed concern that it would just further polarize the country. She was concerned about alienating moderate, middle of the road voters. USTR Katherine Tai was confirmed to her pos...
What You Need to Know Today: President Trump claimed the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was over, as both sides accused one another of violating the terms of the agreement. Commercial vessels are increasingly steering clear of the Strait of Hormuz as security risks escalate following Iran...
Key Takeaways: The CME Group is launching new 90 percent Lean Beef and 50 percent Lean Beef futures and options contracts in July. There are five key factors that must be present in physical markets and futures contract specifications for futures contracts to become successful. The two l...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.