Oliver Ward

Seventeen states are no longer facing HPAI restrictions for exports of poultry to China, the National Chicken Council says. Winning a trade war is the premise of a new book on the subject from economist Chad Bown and Financial Times columnist Soumaya Keynes.

A major fight on the cost structure of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will be waiting when senators return from a weeklong recess on June 1. A forthcoming farm bill proposal from the Senate Ag Committee won’t include controversial provisions on pesticide labeling and livestock welfare, a panel spokesperson tells Agri-Pulse.

The European Council and Parliament have hashed out an agreement on the path forward for a U.S.-European Union trade pact agreed to last year. Rep. Thomas Massie’s primary loss in Kentucky has Republicans, Democrats and independents recalibrating their political assumptions as the midterm campaign season moves into high gear. 

A bipartisan group of more than 100 lawmakers on Wednesday called on the Trump administration to launch a probe into unfair trade practices from sugar-producing countries.

From March 2025 to February 2026, U.S. ag exporters lost $14.9 billion in sales to China on an annualized basis due to Chinese tariff retaliation, a new study finds, with soybeans accounting for almost half of the losses. The figure dwarfs the losses recorded in the first year of U.S-China trade tensions in President Donald Trump’s first term.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is making the case at the United Nations to push Luke Lindberg’s candidacy to lead the World Food Program. The International Trade Commission is grappling with whether antidumping duties on Mexican tomatoes are still necessary to protect U.S. industry.

Beijing is applying the same strategy it used to build export dominance in manufacturing industries to certain food products, analysts say, building production hubs, picking national champions and offering subsidies. The push is primarily a drive for self-sufficiency, but could also reshape regional food trade and supply chains.

The Trump administration is considering how to overhaul a trade preference program for African economies. U.S. agriculture sees an opportunity to extract trade concessions and address trade irritants.

House Ways and Means Committee Democrats are urging the administration to tone down the rhetoric heading into discussions with Canada and Mexico on the future of a North American trade deal. 

Details of what President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to around agricultural market access continue to trickle out.