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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, May 18, 2024
China is shunning U.S. soybeans and pork – at least temporarily – in retaliation to U.S. involvement in China’s treatment of Hong Kong, but expectations are that Chinese state buyers won’t be able to shut off U.S. trade for much longer.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is making it clear to Brazil that the U.S. is serious about strengthening trade and economic ties between the two countries whose leaders appear to be fond of each other.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did last week what many well-to-do Brazilians do. He went to Florida. But unlike most tourists, he stopped at Mar-a-Lago for a friendly meeting with President Donald Trump.
The U.S. has lifted its ban on Brazilian beef after shutting out the product more than two years ago because of repeated sanitary and health violations, according to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
President Donald Trump announced Monday the U.S. will be restoring tariffs on Brazilian and Argentine steel and aluminum, potentially disrupting the recently improving U.S. trade relationships with Brazil.
An agreement 24 years in the making is set to come to fruition as the Brazilian government prepares to implement a tariff rate quota to allow an increase in duty-free wheat imports.
Farmers were hoping for a speedy resolution to the U.S.-China trade war, but the lack of such a resolution has sent them scrambling to come up with a new home for exports once gobbled up by China.
As much as growers long for an end to the trade war with China, there are long-term threats to demand for corn, soybeans and other crops that could depress commodity prices for years to come and lead to calls for higher government spending, economists say.
China’s latest promise to reduce tariffs on U.S. soybeans and pork is being lauded as an olive branch ahead of new trade talks early next month, but China also needs more of the commodities to feed its people, according to industry and government analysts.