Trade

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The U.S. and China are set to begin trade talks again after a tumultuous week of tension-escalating threats of new tariffs and tariff-rate increases that roiled international markets and alarmed the U.S. ag sector.

President Donald Trump on Sunday confirmed that the U.S. and Japan have reached a preliminary deal to lower Japanese tariffs and increase market share for U.S. agricultural commodities. The deal, as reported Saturday by Agri-Pulse, is already being lauded as a success for farmers by major U.S. ag groups.

U.S. and Japanese negotiators have reached an “agreement in principle” on a trade deal that would lower Japan’s tariffs on U.S. agricultural commodities and spare Japan from threatened U.S. industrial tariffs, sources — confirming reports out of Japan — tell Agri-Pulse.

The U.S.-China trade war escalated again for the second time Friday after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. would increase rates for existing tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods as well as boost tariffs on $300 billion worth of imports that haven’t yet been levied.

The Agriculture Department sharply increased commodity payment rates for its 2019 trade assistance package, boosting the corn rate by 14-fold and quadrupling cotton’s, based on higher estimates of the trade damage that farmers have suffered.

China announced Friday it will increase tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. agricultural and other goods by 5-10% in retaliation for U.S. plans to hit about $300 billion worth of Chinese exports with new import taxes.

China on Thursday issued a stern new warning that it will be forced to retaliate if the U.S. follows through on a threat to levy new import tariffs, beginning Sept. 1.

China is threatening to retaliate against the latest U.S. tariffs President Donald Trump threatened, according to a release from Xinhua News, a government-run media outlet.