Policy Conflicts and Solutions Policymakers are realizing that the three big issues of climate change, sustainability and food security are conflicting. The Cairns Group is comprised of highly competitive agricultural exporting countries and so their frustration with the conflicts at the WTO is understandable. They want expanded market access and are proposing a plurilateral approach on agriculture to bypass the large number of protectionist members of the WTO. They have proposed three possible solutions:
a critical mass plurilateral agreement in agriculture; sectoral agreements that bring into play both market access and domestic support; and a comprehensive new global compact on subsidies, including agriculture, industri...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Congress is moving forward with its FY 2027 spending bills, while also still working to address FY 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is still in a shutdown. The House Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2027 bill. The House bill prov...
The overarching concern for China is that the rising cost of energy will reduce global trade demand at the same time that countries are becoming more protectionist. Trump Visit to China President Trump’s visit to China is in just over two weeks, though some question whether the trip...
The House will vote on the farm bill this Thursday. This afternoon, the House Rules Committee is meeting to consider the rule for the House’s consideration of the farm bill, specifically determining which amendments can and cannot be offered. There are a number of controversial amendments...
