Trade

By Max Fisher, Vice President of Economics and Government Relations After Japan’s legislative body ratified “phase one” of the U.S.-Japan trade agreement on Dec. 3, the deal is expected to take effect on Jan. 1, 2020.  U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer commended Japan’s “quick action” to approve the trade agreement, and said he expects President Donald Trump to sign the implementing proclamation for the United States next week. “The positive results the United States and Japan will gain from these agreements would not be possible without the strong leadership of ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations According to a Nov. 3 report from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Thailand’s ban on glyphosate and other chemicals incited widespread controversy in the country and potentially will shut down imports of several agricultural products. Thailand’s National Hazardous Substance Committee (NHSC) on Oct. 22 acted to ban two chemical herbicides – glyphosate and paraquat – as well as the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Subsequently, Thai farmers have filed a petition with the Administrative Court ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media House Democrats and the White House have not reached a deal on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), raising concerns about the possibility of getting the trade deal through Congress by the end of the year. After House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met on Nov. 21, Neal told reporters that they hadn’t reached an agreement, but it’s still “possible” to have a vote in the House by the end of December. Neal ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The NGFA and more than 30 food and agricultural associations expressed their strong support of the “phase-one” trade agreement between the U.S. and Japan in a Nov. 19 letter to the House Ways and Means Committee. “A trade agreement between the United States and Japan is critical since Japan is already the United States’ fourth‐largest agricultural export market and our major competitors have received impactful tariff reductions under the Comprehensive and Progressive for Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CP-TPP),” the ... Read More

China has agreed to lift its ban on U.S. poultry imports after more than four years, which could lead to more than $1 billion in sales of U.S. poultry products, government officials announced Nov. 14. China had banned all U.S. poultry since January 2015 after an outbreak of avian influenza, but the U.S. has been free of the disease since August 2017, said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a joint statement. “The United States welcomes China’s decision to finally lift its unwarranted ban on U.S. poultry and poultry products,” U.S. Trade ... Read More

Brazil is set to implement an annual duty-free tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 750,000 metric tons for wheat imports, more than two decades after its World Trade Organization commitment, said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a joint statement issued Nov. 14. “This solution to a long-standing problem is a result of the administration’s advocacy for American farmers and will allow our wheat exporters to compete on a level playing field,” Lighthizer said. “We look forward to increased exports of American wheat to Brazil.” Brazil committed to ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue led a trade mission to Mexico from Nov. 6-8 “to forge new opportunities with U.S. agriculture’s largest bilateral trading partner and second-largest export market,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced. Ted McKinney, USDA’s under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, and several state departments of agriculture officials joined Perdue on the trip. During a call with media on Nov. 7, Perdue said Mexican officials want Congress to approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media China’s Commerce Ministry said on Nov. 7 that Chinese and U.S. negotiators have agreed to roll back some tariffs if the “phase one” trade accommodation between the two nations is finalized. “If the phase-one deal is signed, China and the U.S. should remove the same proportion of tariffs simultaneously based on the content of the deal,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a Nov. 7 press briefing in Beijing. President Trump had expected to sign a “phase one” deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping in mid-November ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations NGFA and the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) on Oct. 31 submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on foreign trade barriers confronted by the grain; feed; grain and oilseed processing and milling; and export sectors that need to be addressed and resolved. Several of the most significant barriers cited by the organizations are outlined below: Soybeans to China: NGFA and NAEGA noted that on Jan. 1, 2018, a non-tariff barrier for U.S. soybean shipments began when ... Read More