Transatlantic trade relations are fraying once more after President Donald Trump on Friday accused the European Union of failing to live up to last year’s deal and vowed to impose higher car tariffs.

“[T]he European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal,” Trump wrote to social media Friday. “[N]ext week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States.”

Trump said he would raise the duties from 15% to 25%. However, no order has been issued yet, and follow-through on recent tariff threats has been patchy, including an as-yet unfulfilled vow to raise the global tariff to 15%. 

The deal has been on shaky ground over frustrations from the U.S. side on the pace of implementation and European opposition to the Iran war. Europeans are feeling jilted, though. In his own post to X, Bernd Lange, the top lawmaker on the EU Parliament’s international trade committee called the threat “unacceptable.”

He noted that the Parliament recently approved the U.S. deal and it is making its way through the legislative process.

“While the EU delivers, the US side keeps breaking its commitments,” he wrote.

Take note: In addition to potentially higher vehicle tariffs, a large portion of EU metals exports are likely to face higher tariffs from the recent tweaks to U.S. duties, Politico EU reported last week, further rankling EU officials.  

Commerce to expedite review of Russian phosphate duties

The Commerce Department will expedite the five-year review of countervailing duties applied to Russian phosphate fertilizer, but Morocco’s will proceed at the normal pace.

In a filing on the International Trade Administration’s portal last week, Commerce said it has not received adequate responses from the interested parties in the Russian case. Accordingly, it plans to issue the final results in around four months.

The department received an “adequate substantive” response from parties in the Morocco case and will conduct a full review. Full five-year reviews can take almost a year from initiation. In Morocco’s case, the review kicked off in February.

Take note: The preliminary results in a separate countervailing duty probe involving fresh mushrooms from Canada will also be delayed, Commerce said last week. Commerce extended the deadline for preliminary findings by 50 days at the request of the petitioner in the case – the Fresh Mushrooms Fair Trade Coalition.  

Farm bill battles begin anew 

Buckle up, because policy fights on pesticide labeling, Prop 12 and E15 are just getting started.

Congress is away for the week, giving lobbyists breathing room to reposition for farm bill battles ahead as the House-passed legislation heads to the Senate.

Everything except E15, that is. 

Legislation to allow year-round U.S. sales of 15% ethanol fuel blends got left behind. In the words of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., it needed more time amid “consternation” over parts of the bill.

The good news for E15 champions: a bill is ready and a House vote is expected on or around May 13.

The bad news: The measure must overcome opposition from independent oil refiners and both Republicans and Democrats outside of America’s Corn Belt.
 
 The bipartisan effort that resulted in removal of a pro-pesticide section in the House farm bill now resets. 

Groups including CropLife America are pressing the Senate to restore the provision or risk food inflation and lower farm production. 

And in a high-stakes midterm election year, the Bayer-founded Modern Ag Alliance accused House lawmakers of turning their back on farmers and caving to “anti-science MAHA activists.” 

On livestock-treatment regulations like California’s Prop 12, also expect a revved-up campaign to remove language that would nullify such state laws. The effort failed in the House, but both animal-welfare advocates and farmers who say they already spent money in compliance costs are fighting on.

“This farm bill isn’t about helping farmers or feeding families, it’s about preserving a cruel industrial system most Americans reject,” Humane World Action Fund President Sara Amundson said. “We will press the Senate to take a different path.” 

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Lower Colorado River negotiators pitch post-2026 plan to federal officials

Colorado River negotiators from Arizona, California and Nevada have submitted their vision for water-sharing on the Colorado River to the Bureau of Reclamation, which includes 3.2 million acre-feet of cuts in the lower basin through 2028.

Under a plan presented to the Interior Department Friday, Arizona would make 760,000 acre-feet of cuts in 2027 and 2028, while California would absorb 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada 50,000.

Additionally, the three states would share an additional 600,000 acre-feet in minimum reductions. They expect to develop a plan for these cuts by August. 

"While the prospect of litigation necessarily remains in the absence of a seven-state agreement, the proposal described below will benefit the entire basin through the substantial water savings and the voluntary commitments that would be made in the agreements required for implementation,” negotiators for Arizona, California and Nevada wrote in the proposal.

Wheat Growers’ Kieffer touts credit title, says phosphate duties should be lifted

Lifting countervailing duties on phosphates from Russia and Morocco is “an easy decision that can be made tomorrow” to ease price pressures for U.S. wheat producers, the CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers tells Agri-Pulse Open Mic.

In addition, says Sam Kieffer, “We need to engage in some more conversations globally to reduce some pressures on tariffs, not just for inputs, but also for exports. The U.S. has grown in exports year over year, significantly so, but the cost of inputs is overshadowing that victory.”

Kieffer also discusses the recently passed House farm bill, pointing to one title in particular.

“What we're excited about in this version of the language is that the credit title is being modernized, and opportunities to access credit – both long-term and short-term operating loans – would be increased,” he says.

“The cost of farming has increased drastically since the 2018 farm bill was put into place. We all know that just in our personal lives – our own grocery bills our own auto loans and gas pump experiences. The cost of doing everything has increased.”

Keep in mind: The Trump administration is divided over whether to lift the duties on Moroccan and Russian phosphate, and a handful of Senate lawmakers are backing legislation to lift them. NAWG and other ag groups are supporting the effort.

Listen to Agri-Pulse Open Mic here.

Final word

“One of the things I've learned in over 40 years in this industry is – predicting price is extremely difficult. Even in normal times, markets can surprise you. This is not a normal time. The dynamics that are affecting supply are quite unusual. The potential for that to flow through into the economy and maybe slow demand is, I think, increasing.” – Chevron CEO Mike Wirth on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday. Wirth said “a number of products are becoming very short in supply” due to thew Iran war, including LPG for cooking in in South Asia and jet fuel in Europe.

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