Articles by Bill Tomson

Negotiations to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement entered a sixth round this week amid widespread concerns that without substantial progress, the 24-year-old pact among the U.S., Mexico and Canada could come to an end .

Brazil’s soybean exports to China are expected to continue to grow this year with no sign of slowing.

With the next round of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade agreement set to begin in Montreal this month, President Trump is telling America’s farmers and ranchers that he is dedicated to completing a new deal.

U.S. and South Korean negotiators met all day last Friday in an effort to save the free trade agreement that unites the two countries. On the sidelines, the U.S. agriculture sector is desperately hoping the negotiators succeed so farmers and ranchers here can continue shipping more and more meat and grain to the Asian country.

The new year is bringing new blood to the Senate Agriculture Committee as it welcomes Nebraska’s Deb Fischer, a Republican, and Minnesota’s Tina Smith, a Democrat. The senators are joining just as the committee is preparing to ramp up efforts to bring home a massive new five-year farm bill, so there will be plenty of work and not much time for acclimation.

Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, China, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are just some of the destinations where USDA's Ted McKinney will likely be getting his passport stamped as he works to build new relationships and rekindle existing ones in order to boost U.S. exports.

The U.S. continues to demand Canada dismantle its supply management dairy system as part of the so-far fruitless NAFTA renegotiations, but if that fails, the U.S. is “actively considering” filing a complaint against Canada in the World Trade Organization.