The international trade committee in the European Parliament is voting today on a trade pact with the U.S. secured last year in Turnberry, Scotland.
The agreement has faced a bumpy road to get to this point. An earlier vote was delayed after Trump threatened new tariffs on European countries over Greenland.
The committee will take up the deal, with some important proposed amendments, including a “sunrise clause” that makes Europe’s commitments conditional on the U.S. sticking to the deal. Committee chair Bernd Lange has also included a “sunset clause” to end the deal shortly in 2028 and protections for EU industries.
Take note: Lange will lead a delegation of European Parliament lawmakers to Washington after the vote, according to Politico EU.
“They'll probably want an assurance the Section 122 tariffs will not go up to 15% as the president indicated,” former U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler told Agri-Pulse this week. Further, she said, they’ll want “confirmation that even with the new [Section] 301 investigations, that the tariff rates, and particularly that 15% tariff ceiling they negotiated, will remain intact.”
Greer: Canada is behind on USMCA review
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says Canada is behind Mexico on its preparations for the forthcoming U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement review.
The triennial review is set to formally begin in July, but officials from the U.S. and Mexico met this week for bilateral talks on the free trade deal ahead of it.
“With Mexico, we’re already at a stage of some formal talks,” Greer said on Fox Business Wednesday. “Canada is behind on this.”
In a statement, USTR said Greer met with Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard Wednesday to discuss rules of origin and how the countries can ensure USMCA benefits are limited to the deal’s participants.
The two sides agreed that technical teams would meet regularly ahead of July to move discussions forward and determine deliverables.
Take note: U.S. relations with Canada have been frostier than those with Mexico since Trump returned to office. Although both faced higher tariffs, the Canadian government retaliated while Mexico did not. Ontario’s government also hit back in an ad denouncing tariffs last year, sparking further ire from Trump.
Cesar Chavez sexual abuse allegations grow
Allegations of sexual abuse by the late- Cesar Chavez grew on Wednesday as well-known labor leader Dolores Huerta also said she was a victim of the legendary farmworker advocate.
Huerta, who cofounded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez, said in a statement Wednesday she had two separate sexual encounters with Chavez. In the first, she said she was “manipulated and pressured into having sex with him.” In the second, she said she was “forced, against my will, and in an environment where I felt trapped.”
"I have kept this secret long enough,” she wrote. "My silence ends here.”
Huerta’s statement was released Tuesday after the New York Times published a years-long investigation detailing claims that Chavez raped and sexually abused women and minors, including Huerta, during his time as a labor leader.
Huerta, 96, told the newspaper she had borne two of Chavez’s children and “arranged for them to be raised by others.”
Fallout: The United Farm Workers Union and Cesar Chavez Foundation have withdrawn from planned Cesar Chavez day celebrations this year. Other celebrations have been cancelled in cities across the U.S., and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said her state would not recognize this year's holiday, which falls on March 31. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also canceled Cesar Chavez in his state.
Soil health push on Capitol Hill
Farmers took to the halls of Congress on Wednesday to pitch a message on the importance of federal funding support for sustainability practices like cover cropping, no-till and smart fertilizer use.
Rep. Dusty Johnson is on board. The South Dakota Republican said he had a “light bulb” moment after meeting with producers from South Dakota, Iowa and Colorado.
“These are things that they can choose to do, not things that are done to them, but investments they make with the American taxpayer to improve water quality, reduce water usage, improve soil health and improve the balance sheet of the men and women who feed this world,” Johnson said at a Capitol Hill reception hosted by the group Invest in Our Land.
Invest in Our Land announced a volunteer network of farmers focused on expanding U.S. regenerative ag initiatives. So far, 115 producers from 15 states have joined.
The conservation advocacy group also is calling attention to a recent report from USDA’s Office of the Inspector General showing the agency’s conservation office has lost 22% of its staff compared to a year ago.
Grazing impacts from Nebraska fires significant
Nebraska Agriculture Department Director Sherry Vinton says livestock losses from fires that have burned through the central and western parts of the state so far appear to be minimal. But she says producers still face a significant forage losses that will make feeding livestock difficult.
In an interview with Agri-Pulse on Wednesday, Vinton said she hasn’t heard many reports of lost livestock, which she attributes to ranchers' work protecting them from the fire. But she estimated between 35,000 and 40,000 cows will likely need new places to graze.
She added that it could take a significant amount of time for grasses to recover following the fires, particularly in the state’s sandhills region.
Final Word
“When it comes to a tariff or trade, you can’t necessarily have a tariff modified and have that the underlying fundamentals of the situation and frankly, with fertilizers, we don’t have and haven’t had tariffs on fertilizers for quite a while. But we’re watching that very closely as a broader economic team to make sure that the farmers can get what they need.” – USTR Jamieson Greer on the impacts of tariff adjustments on fertilizer.
The administration exempted several fertilizers from many of the emergency tariffs in November and replicated those exemptions in the new global tariff. Phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia are still subject to countervailing duties, which are managed by the Commerce Department.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
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