Trade War Fractures
Today was National Agriculture Trade Day, an effort to boost awareness about the benefits of trade to the sector. However, the milestone also sparked debate about the increasing U.S. agricultural trade deficit, and the advisability of the Trump tariff war. President Trump’s goal is...
‘Dirty 15’; Ukraine’s Ag Exports; WTO and National Security
‘Dirty 15’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Trump Administration may provide one unique number as the newly applied general tariff on each country supplying goods to the U.S. The few countries that have a trade deficit with the U.S. may escape receiving a number but fo...
Budget Deal Made Just in Time
The House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have both passed the full-year Continuing Appropriations Act, which would fund the government under a continuing resolution (CR) for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that this bill would set...
Deciphering Trump
The first 100 days of the second Trump presidency doesn’t end until 30 April and is a meaningless metric because Donald Trump’s initiatives will last four years. Washington and the world are not handling the first 55 days very well and they need to figure it out or there will contin...
Section 301 Measures Will Fail to Make America Great Again
The U.S. grain export industry – and the transportation sector broadly – are increasingly concerned about the USTR’s proposed Section 301 measures in connection to the “Investigation of China's Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance&...
Tariff Waste; Changing the EU; Cost of Data; Fake Food Safety
Tariff Waste Now that Trump tariffs are going into full swing, the question is for what objective? The President says other countries treat America unfairly, indicating he sees an imbalance in trade concessions. That is why he warned he would double punitive duties on Canadian steel and aluminu...
New Canadian Prime Minister Selected
Last night, Canada selected a new prime minister-elect, as Justin Trudeau's reign, since November 2015, comes to a close amid a trade war with the U.S. On 6 January, Trudeau announced his resignation, opening up his seat. In the meantime, Canada's Liberal Party announced that Mark Carney was ch...
Small Ideas; Technical Barriers; Advice to DOGE
Small Ideas U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the objective is to reduce the role of the government. This makes sense considering the explosion in government debt to the point investor Ray Dalio says otherwise there will be a debt crisis in three years. There are two ways to addr...
It’s Tarriff Day!
It’s tariff day! President Trump followed through on his plan to impose tariffs on various imported products across the economy. At 12:01 a.m. EST today, 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods and an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy products went into effect. Pres...
Tariff Tuesday; Profit for Eggs; Green Goals Implode
Tariff Tuesday As usual, there is some agreement with Donald Trump on his goal, in this case – improved terms of trade for a country running a perpetual trillion-dollar trade deficit. But then his negotiating tactic is so over-the-top kinetic that it throws the baby out with the bath wate...
Everything Will Be OK, Says Secretary Rollins
As President Trump gears up to roll out his sweeping tariff plans tomorrow, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising farmers she’ll be “in the room” to protect them from the economic consequences. Speaking to producers and industry groups at the Commodity Classic in C...
USDA Oversight by Senate Committee
Yesterday, Judge William Alsup, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District, said the USDA firings were likely unlawful and ordered that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) halt the action. That is a follow-on to 14 February when USDA issued a statement outlining the ac...
Jones Act on Steroids; Aller Anfang ist Schwer; Copycat Limits
Jones Act on Steroids The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) requires that shipping between U.S. ports involve U.S.-built, owned, flagged and manned vessels. Cruise ships intentionally make a two hour stop in a foreign port to avoid the law. Half of U.S. overseas food aid must follow the l...
Monday Policy Shorts
Pesticide Policy: New and controversial Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says “Nothing is off limits” including agricultural chemicals in his proposed overhaul of U.S. food and drug safety policy. Meanwhile, Iowa is pursuing legislation that would exempt pesticide companies...
Rollins versus Kennedy; Move Over Eggs; FSC and VAT
Rollins versus Kennedy With a vote of 72 – 28, Brooke Rollins became the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and she achieved the fifth best Senate approval of Trump Cabinet members thus far. By contrast, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. received 20 fewer approval votes, and 20 more disapproval vote...
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins
After getting a slow start to the nomination process, Brooke Rollins is now the confirmed USDA Secretary, by virtue of a 72-28 confirmation vote last week. She’s just the second woman to head the agency as Ann Veneman of California was Secretary in 2001 during President George...
EU’s Agriculture Vision; Reciprocal Trade; AI Pivot; War in Europe
EU’s Agriculture Vision The EU’s draft proposed “Vision” for agriculture will be released tomorrow and it is said to be “farmer centric,” which means it involves complications for the market. Its ‘Vision & objectives for 2040’ has many rhetori...
No GMO Corn Ban by Mexico
Last Wednesday, the Mexican government formally repealed an import ban on genetically modified corn after the U.S. successfully argued the measure violated its commitments under a North American free trade deal. Here’s how we got here. In 2018, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, i.e., “t...
India Concessions; Reciprocal Tariffs; Fighting for Relevance
India Concessions U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet tomorrow at the White House. Trump says other countries treat the U.S. badly and perhaps none more than India. Its trade policy is dominated by protectionism. It has led the movement by developing countri...
Powell and Trump Showdown on Capitol Hill
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last month that he would not resign from his position, even if asked to by Trump. Since the President did not move to oust him, he’s stayed in place. Moreover, at today’s hearings before the Senate Banking Committee, the Federal Reserve se...
U.S. Africa Relations; Money versus Regulation
U.S. Africa Relations The Biden Administration started but failed to complete regional agreements like the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Prosperity (IP3) and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. Some House members still think U.S. relations in Asia are important and have called for...
Trump’s World
China is set to implement retaliatory tariffs on a variety of U.S. goods starting as soon as today, further intensifying trade tensions between the two economic giants. The new tariffs, ranging from 10 to 15 percent will target American exports such as crude oil, liquefied natural gas, farm equ...
Greer Approval; Tariffs and Trading Partners; Executive Power; Tech Reality
Greer Approval Jamieson Greer is expected to win approval from the Senate Finance Committee tomorrow to become the next U.S. Trade Representative. His hearing last week was notable mostly for the dissatisfaction in the Congress over trade policy under Biden and now under Trump. Former USTR Kath...
Divergence of Markets; Fear No Beer; Little Net Gain
Divergence of Markets Food away from home has been outpacing food at home as the cost of human services has written. The categories on the rise include meat, eggs, produce, and alcohol. Food prices are unlikely to descend and even food price discounter Walmart has struggled to restrain what the...
Trade War Fractures
Today was National Agriculture Trade Day, an effort to boost awareness about the benefits of trade to the sector. However, the milestone also sparked debate about the increasing U.S. agricultural trade deficit, and the advisability of the Trump tariff war. President Trump’s goal is...
‘Dirty 15’; Ukraine’s Ag Exports; WTO and National Security
‘Dirty 15’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Trump Administration may provide one unique number as the newly applied general tariff on each country supplying goods to the U.S. The few countries that have a trade deficit with the U.S. may escape receiving a number but fo...
Budget Deal Made Just in Time
The House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have both passed the full-year Continuing Appropriations Act, which would fund the government under a continuing resolution (CR) for the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2025. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that this bill would set...
Deciphering Trump
The first 100 days of the second Trump presidency doesn’t end until 30 April and is a meaningless metric because Donald Trump’s initiatives will last four years. Washington and the world are not handling the first 55 days very well and they need to figure it out or there will contin...
Section 301 Measures Will Fail to Make America Great Again
The U.S. grain export industry – and the transportation sector broadly – are increasingly concerned about the USTR’s proposed Section 301 measures in connection to the “Investigation of China's Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance&...
Tariff Waste; Changing the EU; Cost of Data; Fake Food Safety
Tariff Waste Now that Trump tariffs are going into full swing, the question is for what objective? The President says other countries treat America unfairly, indicating he sees an imbalance in trade concessions. That is why he warned he would double punitive duties on Canadian steel and aluminu...
New Canadian Prime Minister Selected
Last night, Canada selected a new prime minister-elect, as Justin Trudeau's reign, since November 2015, comes to a close amid a trade war with the U.S. On 6 January, Trudeau announced his resignation, opening up his seat. In the meantime, Canada's Liberal Party announced that Mark Carney was ch...
Small Ideas; Technical Barriers; Advice to DOGE
Small Ideas U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the objective is to reduce the role of the government. This makes sense considering the explosion in government debt to the point investor Ray Dalio says otherwise there will be a debt crisis in three years. There are two ways to addr...
It’s Tarriff Day!
It’s tariff day! President Trump followed through on his plan to impose tariffs on various imported products across the economy. At 12:01 a.m. EST today, 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods and an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy products went into effect. Pres...
Tariff Tuesday; Profit for Eggs; Green Goals Implode
Tariff Tuesday As usual, there is some agreement with Donald Trump on his goal, in this case – improved terms of trade for a country running a perpetual trillion-dollar trade deficit. But then his negotiating tactic is so over-the-top kinetic that it throws the baby out with the bath wate...
Everything Will Be OK, Says Secretary Rollins
As President Trump gears up to roll out his sweeping tariff plans tomorrow, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising farmers she’ll be “in the room” to protect them from the economic consequences. Speaking to producers and industry groups at the Commodity Classic in C...
USDA Oversight by Senate Committee
Yesterday, Judge William Alsup, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern California District, said the USDA firings were likely unlawful and ordered that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) halt the action. That is a follow-on to 14 February when USDA issued a statement outlining the ac...
Jones Act on Steroids; Aller Anfang ist Schwer; Copycat Limits
Jones Act on Steroids The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920) requires that shipping between U.S. ports involve U.S.-built, owned, flagged and manned vessels. Cruise ships intentionally make a two hour stop in a foreign port to avoid the law. Half of U.S. overseas food aid must follow the l...
Monday Policy Shorts
Pesticide Policy: New and controversial Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. says “Nothing is off limits” including agricultural chemicals in his proposed overhaul of U.S. food and drug safety policy. Meanwhile, Iowa is pursuing legislation that would exempt pesticide companies...
Rollins versus Kennedy; Move Over Eggs; FSC and VAT
Rollins versus Kennedy With a vote of 72 – 28, Brooke Rollins became the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and she achieved the fifth best Senate approval of Trump Cabinet members thus far. By contrast, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. received 20 fewer approval votes, and 20 more disapproval vote...
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins
After getting a slow start to the nomination process, Brooke Rollins is now the confirmed USDA Secretary, by virtue of a 72-28 confirmation vote last week. She’s just the second woman to head the agency as Ann Veneman of California was Secretary in 2001 during President George...
EU’s Agriculture Vision; Reciprocal Trade; AI Pivot; War in Europe
EU’s Agriculture Vision The EU’s draft proposed “Vision” for agriculture will be released tomorrow and it is said to be “farmer centric,” which means it involves complications for the market. Its ‘Vision & objectives for 2040’ has many rhetori...
No GMO Corn Ban by Mexico
Last Wednesday, the Mexican government formally repealed an import ban on genetically modified corn after the U.S. successfully argued the measure violated its commitments under a North American free trade deal. Here’s how we got here. In 2018, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, i.e., “t...
India Concessions; Reciprocal Tariffs; Fighting for Relevance
India Concessions U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet tomorrow at the White House. Trump says other countries treat the U.S. badly and perhaps none more than India. Its trade policy is dominated by protectionism. It has led the movement by developing countri...
Powell and Trump Showdown on Capitol Hill
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last month that he would not resign from his position, even if asked to by Trump. Since the President did not move to oust him, he’s stayed in place. Moreover, at today’s hearings before the Senate Banking Committee, the Federal Reserve se...
U.S. Africa Relations; Money versus Regulation
U.S. Africa Relations The Biden Administration started but failed to complete regional agreements like the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Prosperity (IP3) and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. Some House members still think U.S. relations in Asia are important and have called for...
Trump’s World
China is set to implement retaliatory tariffs on a variety of U.S. goods starting as soon as today, further intensifying trade tensions between the two economic giants. The new tariffs, ranging from 10 to 15 percent will target American exports such as crude oil, liquefied natural gas, farm equ...
Greer Approval; Tariffs and Trading Partners; Executive Power; Tech Reality
Greer Approval Jamieson Greer is expected to win approval from the Senate Finance Committee tomorrow to become the next U.S. Trade Representative. His hearing last week was notable mostly for the dissatisfaction in the Congress over trade policy under Biden and now under Trump. Former USTR Kath...
Divergence of Markets; Fear No Beer; Little Net Gain
Divergence of Markets Food away from home has been outpacing food at home as the cost of human services has written. The categories on the rise include meat, eggs, produce, and alcohol. Food prices are unlikely to descend and even food price discounter Walmart has struggled to restrain what the...