Farm Policy News

In conjunction with positive early season crop condition ratings, an ongoing and escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China put negative pressure on corn and soybean prices Tuesday.  Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal indicated that the administration is ‘working on measures that will have the backs of farmers,’ as the trade dispute unfolds.  Separately, farm state lawmakers stressed the importance of global markets for agricultural producers, who have already been struggling with lean farm income.

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that, “Trade tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted higher after the Asian nation said it will follow through on plans to levy tariffs on a range of American farm goods including soybeans and corn.”

Over the past several days, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a handful of updates relating to U.S. agricultural trade.  The recent information includes updated projections for fiscal year 2018 agricultural exports, as well as the latest monthly trade data.  As trade policy uncertainty persists, today’s post provides a brief overview of the recent trade information.

Towards the end of May, positive news regarding U.S. trade policy began to emerge for U.S. farmers: China canceled its anti-dumping measure on U.S. sorghum imports; the U.S. issued a  joint statement indicating that China would purchase more U.S. exports, including “meaningful increases” in agricultural products; and, the U.S. suspended its threat to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese imports while negotiations with China continued.  However, more recent trade developments appear to be less sanguine for U.S. farmers and ranchers, which is the subject of today’s update.

Late last week China canceled its anti-dumping measure on U.S. sorghum imports. Meanwhile, after two days of trade talks in Washington, D.C., China and the U.S. issued a vague joint statement indicating that China would purchase more U.S. exports, including additional agricultural and energy products.  And on Sunday, Members of the President’s Cabinet provided conflicting perspectives on whether the U.S. would move forward on implementing tariffs on Chinese imports. However, news reports Monday indicated that the tariffs had been “suspended.”

Anthony Harrup, Robbie Whelan and Paul Vieira reported on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal that, “President Donald Trump’s plans to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement this year looked unattainable Tuesday after negotiators appeared too far apart to strike a deal before a deadline this week.”

The United States and China are set to continue discussions this week over their ongoing trade disputes.  Meanwhile, China has increased inspections of U.S. pork imports while Chinese buyers continue to cancel U.S. soybean purchases.  Also last week, the World Agricultural Outlook Board updated its forecasts for global soybean production and trade. 

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released updated agricultural trade data for the first half of this fiscal year (October – March).  Meanwhile, President Trump sent members of his senior economic team to China for trade negotiations, but those talks ended Friday, “with no deal and no date set for further talks.”  Since April, China has canceled and curtailed purchases of key Corn Belt commodities.  Today’s update highlights recent news items that explore these developments in greater detail.