ATLANTA – In a move that is likely to ignite a firestorm on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration on Wednesday (Sept. 30) formally proposed language in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that would prevent tobacco control measures from being challenged under the deal’s investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, according to sources close to the…
For much of the past decade, the international dairy market did right by Tim Leary, creating opportunity for his farm in southern Maine by linking his fortunes with ever-wealthier Asian milk drinkers. But the downside of this globalizing dairy market revealed itself this month, when Leary watched a livestock hauler whisk away 21 of his cows,…
I’m neither endorsing nor condemning Mr. Trump, but I do think he’s trying to save the Republican party from itself in a very rational way. The last thing he is is a clown or dilettante. (OK, maybe a clown.) [Reposted from the Huffington Post | Ian Fletcher | September 29, 2015] Why? Because the Republican…
The United States imported 2.95 billion pounds and exported 2.57 billion of beef in 2014. This was the first year since 2009 that imports exceeded exports. [by Rob Cook | September 30, 2015 | Drovers Cattle Network] The first time that the United States ever exported more beef than it imported was in 2010.…
A bipartisan group of 45 House lawmakers — including 11 Ways & Means Committee members and two members of the Agriculture Committee — have called on U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to further open the U.S. sugar market through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). [Reposted from Inside US Trade | September 30, 2015] In a letter…
ATLANTA — On the first day of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial here, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is set to hold bilateral meetings Wednesday (Sept. 30) with his counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Vietnam and possibly Canada. He will also participate in a 2 p.m. plenary meeting where the four major TPP auto…
US Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers recently announced the results of a study by Dermot Hayes and several of his colleagues at Iowa State University that showed that “excessive farm supports” in China, Brazil, India, and Turkey “could cost US wheat farmers nearly $1 billion in revenue” in the 2021 crop…
This week all eyes are on the city of Atlanta to see whether Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries can reach a deal, after taking a leap of faith to convene a ministerial even after failing to bridge differences on the crucial issue of automobile rules of origin. [ September 28, 2015 | Inside U.S. Trade…
China’s investment comes with a hidden agenda. And a secretive new treaty is about to make it worse. [Reposted from Politico | Michael Wessel | September 24, 2015] Republicans are criticizing President Obama for his willingness to roll out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping of China. They find the planned 21-gun salute for…
We’ve come a long way from “the butchers of Beijing.” [Reposted from Politico | Michael Crowley | September 23, 2015] That was the phrase Bill Clinton used in 1992 to describe China’s Communist leaders, who three years earlier had violently crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. But when Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Barack…