Trade

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The NGFA and North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) made several recommendations in a Dec. 10 statement regarding the Trump administration’s intention to enter into negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a U.S.-EU Trade Agreement. NGFA and NAEGA called on the administration to include food and agriculture as a principal tenet in any trade agreement with the EU, including low or no tariffs and obtaining greater market access and integration for agricultural and other products.  “…[T]he United States ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President; and Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations U.S. exporters this week reported the first sales of U.S. soybeans to China in the aftermath of the Dec. 1 working dinner meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Under the law requiring reporting of export sales activity to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. exporters on Dec. 13 reported that China had purchased 1.12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans for delivery during the 2018/19 marketing year, which began Sept. 1. That was followed up by an ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President Trump administration offcials hailed the inclusion of language in the final communiqué of the G20 economic forum that pledges leaders to work toward reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO). One of the communiqué’s provisions commits the leaders to “work together to improve a rules-based international order that is capable of effectively responding to a rapidly changing world.” The second declares that the WTO currently is “falling short of its objectives and there is room for improvement. We therefore support the necessary reform of the WTO to improve its ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President There was uncertainty at week’s end about how quickly, and to what extent, China will begin what the White House maintained would be “very substantial” imports of U.S. agricultural, energy, industrial and other products following the working dinner on Dec. 1 between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 13th annual G20 economic summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Specifically, the statement issued Dec. 1 by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said China had “agreed to start purchasing agricultural product (sic) from ... Read More

The NGFA and North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) submitted a joint statement Nov. 26 in response to a request for information on how the federal government, through the United States-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), could reduce or eliminate unnecessary regulatory differences between the United States and Canada to facilitate trade between the two countries. The United States and Canada have a symbiotic trading relationship with ongoing market and regulatory cooperation that has allowed North America to become a leader and supplier of choice for customers throughout ... Read More

The NGFA and North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) this week outlined several priorities the United States should pursue in a future trade agreement with Japan. The U.S. and Japan announced intentions to start negotiations on a new free trade agreement in September. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump said the two countries would not impose new tariffs on each other’s countries during the negotiations. In a statement submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on Nov. 26, the NGFA and NAEGA said an agreement with Japan should expand ... Read More

Prior to departing for the G-20 summit in Argentina on Nov. 29, President Trump again raised the prospect of imposing U.S. tariffs starting Jan. 1 on up to an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports – and increasing the rate to 25 percent from the previously announced 10 percent – as he prepared for a Dec. 1 dinner meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The president also again reiterated he was prepared to impose tariffs on the remaining roughly $267 billion of Chinese imports to the United States if China does not fundamentally reform its trade practices. To underscore the ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group tasked with monitoring the national security implications of U.S.-China trade relations, on Nov. 14 released its 2018 annual report, which includes some recommendations for agricultural policies The commission’s report recommended that Congress direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to identify the extent to which China’s asynchronous biotech review and approval system for agricultural products adversely affects U.S. industry. As part of its review, ... Read More

In testimony before the U.S. International Trade Commission on Nov. 15, NGFA President and CEO Randy Gordon said the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would bring about several significant advancements in facilitating the trade of grains, oilseeds and their derived products in the North American marketplace. Gordon testified on behalf of NGFA and the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) during the commission’s public hearing conducted as part of its investigation into the impact of the USMCA on the U.S. economy, selected industry sectors and consumer interests. As required by ... Read More