Tough Time for WTO Robert Zoellick was U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) before he ran the World Bank and he knows a thing or two about politics and Washington. Those in Geneva should take notice when he warns that a Biden administration will not place much emphasis on fixing the WTO. It will be busy on policies important to its base, like racial inequality, the climate, and a domestic economy that will be restructuring due to COVID and what is likely to be policy whiplash. Given the political priorities of a new White House, Mr. Zoellick advises the hiring of a strong USTR to manage trade affairs. But the underlying message is clear – there are no electoral votes for fixing the WTO. Dem’s Rural Strategy Many Washington, DC ba...
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...