Trade

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The Trump administration has released details of the U.S.-China "phase one" trade agreement and the commitments that the Chinese are making to increase purchasing of American farm commodities.

The dramatic increase in purchasing of U.S. farm products that China has agreed to will be spread among a wide range of commodities and sectors, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tells Agri-Pulse. 

Outside of exchanges on trade and climate change, farm issues largely played a minor role in the CNN-Des Moines Register debate, held on Tuesday at Drake University in Iowa’s capital city. 

The WTO’s appellate body — key to resolving disputes among its 164 member nations — ceased to function about a month ago, indefinitely putting key cases on hold that the U.S. ag sector would like to see settled.

A court challenge to U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs that resulted in a series of retaliatory taxes on U.S. farm exports is advancing and at least one farmer is joining the fight.

The Senate will likely clear the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement this week, ahead of an impeachment trial for President Donald Trump, says Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

President Donald Trump will keynote the American Farm Bureau’s annual convention Sunday in Austin, Texas, on the heels of the signing of a partial trade agreement with China, Agri-Pulse has learned.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is set to sign a landmark, partial trade deal in Washington this week that could be crucial to reviving a farm economy that has been dependent on an infusion of government payments to offset the damage from the U.S.-China trade war.

The Senate is moving ahead with the procedures needed to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement despite uncertainty over whether the impeachment process will bring the process to a halt.

Trade remains the top concern for American agriculture heading into 2020, with looming uncertainty about whether the Chinese will make promised increases in commodity purchases, and whether President Donald Trump will provide another round of trade assistance to U.S. producers.