China’s Commerce Ministry has issued a report on trade relations with the U.S. and publicizes the government’s commitment to increase imports from America. There are at least three problems with this. Trumped Agenda Donald Trump is fiddling away while his policy agenda burns. His week-long foreign trip is a great big waste of time. Even amateur foreign policy analysts know that spending presidential time on Middle East peace is folly. Trump is not Catholic, and the Pope has articulated opposing viewpoints – so what is up with that awkward meeting? NATO isn’t going away, no matter what Trump said in the campaign, and Europeans will not grow to like him, so why execute a bunch of fake socializing in Brussels? By contrast, a focus on negotia...
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...