Trade

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Marketing Effective April 18, China began imposing duties of almost 179 percent on U.S. sorghum imports this week. China’s Ministry of Commerce said that Chinese importers of U.S. sorghum will be required to put down a 178.6 percent deposit, even on sorghum cargoes already en route, in anticipation of the anti-dumping tariffs. China had initiated an investigation into U.S. sorghum imports in February. China imported more than 5.2 million metric tons of U.S. sorghum during the last marketing year. The National Sorghum Producers ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President The Asia-Pacific Working Group of the broad-based U.S. Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade on April 19 urged President Trump and his administration to expeditiously begin “intense, high-level negotiations” with the Chinese government to resolve distortive trade practices before the imposition of additional tariffs “that would harm both countries.” The group also urged the president to use bilateral or multilateral negotiations to reengage in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as additional leverage during ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media Farm-state senators and governors who attended a private meeting on trade with President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed afterward that the president indicated he is reconsidering his stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., told reporters following the meeting that Trump said he will direct U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow to analyze re-entering the TPP negotiations. In one of his first actions in office, Trump ... Read More

China warned on Friday it would fight back “at any cost” with fresh trade measures against the United States if the White House follows through on its proposed imposition of tariffs on up to $53 billion worth of Chinese imports. “We don’t want a trade war, but we aren’t afraid of fighting one,” the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement. “If the U.S. side disregards opposition from China and the international community and insists on carrying out unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will take them on until the end at any cost.” Meanwhile, President Trump on ... Read More

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer this week is hosting his counterparts from Canada and Mexico in a round of intensive negotiations with the goal of arriving at an agreement-in-principle on how to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) so it can be announced by as early as a Summit of the America’s meeting next week in Peru.  Lighthizer began the discussions with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo over dinner April 5, with the negotiations expected to continue through the weekend. There were ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The United States and South Korea have reached an agreement in principle to revise and preserve the six-year-old U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the administration announced on March 28. As revised, KORUS retains the agricultural provisions of the original pact.  Trump administration officials said the updated agreement will boost exports of U.S.-manufactured motor vehicles and auto parts to South Korea, which agreed to increase its cap on imports of U.S. motor vehicles to 50,000 cars per manufacturer per ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media President Donald Trump on March 8 signed a presidential proclamation ordering that the United States impose a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports, exempting, for the time being, imports from Canada and Mexico. The tariffs take effect in 15 days. During a cabinet meeting earlier that day, Trump said he would increase or reduce tariff rates depending on the country and would consider adding or excluding other nations in the future. “We’re going to be very flexible,” he said. “At ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media Following the seventh round of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations on Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed his frustration at the slow pace of the talks and indicated the United States would be ready to seek separate, bilateral deals with Canada and Mexico if progress isn’t made soon. “We hope for a successful completion of these talks, and we would prefer a three-way, tripartite agreement,” Lighthizer said in a statement following a press conference in Mexico City with Mexican ... Read More

President Donald Trump on March 1 said he intended to impose steep tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum products, causing major concerns in the agricultural industry and other business sectors about the repercussions for global trade and trade retaliation. In his preliminary announcement, Trump said he intends to set tariffs of 25 percent for steel imports and 10 percent for aluminum. A formal announcement is expected next week. “We'll be signing it next week,” Trump said during a White House meeting with steel and aluminum sector representatives. “And you'll have protection for a ... Read More

The Senate today confirmed Gregg Doud to be the next chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).  “I’m pleased the U.S. Senate has advanced Gregg’s nomination,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. “Our hard-working farmers, ranchers, end-users, and folks in rural America have waited too long to be represented at the trade negotiating table.” Meanwhile, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue offered support on Twitter, writing: “Great news that Gregg Doud has ... Read More