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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The Trump administration seeks to calm farmers’ fears about the escalating trade dispute with China, even as corn and soybean growers hope the crisis will at least end the White House’s consideration of intervening in the biofuel credit market.
President Donald Trump signaled today he’s willing to significantly up the ante in the escalating trade fight with China by proposing an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue released a statement shortly afterwards, doubling down on his recent promises to protect farmers and ranchers from becoming collateral damage in the spat.
USDA officials are working under increasing pressure to devise programs to help compensate farmers for expected losses due to new Chinese tariffs, but the complexity of the task is daunting, say government officials.
Government officials will convene next week to discuss the administration’s plan of action to resolve the biofuels policy debate, sources tell Agri-Pulse.
In the latest salvo of trade actions between the U.S. and Chinese governments, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced plans today to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of U.S. goods, including soybeans, aircraft and automobiles, according to the Chinese News Agency, Xinhua.
U.S. rice farmers and millers are climbing one of the final obstacles to gaining access to China’s massive import market, but there isn’t much celebrating going on. That’s because the two countries have come to the brink of an all-out trade war and it's looking like rice trade may become just one more casualty.
A Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern, drew cheers at a meeting of anti-hunger activists in February when he called for stopping the farm bill if it’s unfair to nutrition assistance programs.
If recent reports about the Trump administration considering sending biofuel program reform efforts back to the legislative branch turn out to be true, don’t expect ethanol supporters to be too disappointed.
The question of which country will be the first to sit down for serious negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S. under the Trump administration is still wide open, but India is likely a top candidate.
Milk producers can start signing up next week in the newly overhauled Margin Protection Program, which is more likely to provide payments to dairy farms during periods of low prices than the original version.
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