Matthew Weaver/Capital Press R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard outlines some of the problems with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement for U.S. cattle producers Feb. 10 during a meeting in Spokane. [Matthew Weaver/Capital Press R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard| February, 15 2016 | NEWS.MIKECALLICRATE.com] Matthew Weaver/Capital Press R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard outlines some of the problems with the…

Below are all the cases during the presidential debates so far in which candidates have mentioned free trade as an issue. (I’ve edited a little for clarity, as raw transcripts of live debates contain a lot of verbal clutter.) [Ian Fletcher| February, 15 2016 |Huffington Post] As you’ll see, this issue has boiled somewhat hotter…

  U.S. Trade Deficit in Manufactures Soared by $89 Billion in 2015, 600,000 Job Loss; Chinese Surplus Up More Than $50 Billion to $1.1 Trillion by Ernest Preeg, MAPI (link to original) The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures in 2015 soared by $89 billion, or 16%, to $650 billion, which resulted in a trade-related loss…

On February 5th, Breitbart News exclusively reported that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) issued a list of five questions that all candidates must answer if they wish to seek the Republican nomination. In recent years, Sessions has emerged as the intellectual thought leader of the nation-state conservative movement. Sessions has articulated how mass immigration combined with reckless trade deals…

U.S. pork producers and their congressional allies are ramping up their efforts to oppose a planned expansion of a Japanese pork subsidy program by preparing to send a letter to the Japanese ambassador arguing that the plan will cost votes for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the U.S. Congress if it is not modified. [Daily…

In Congress, career politicians often cater to special interests when making major decisions. Unfortunately, many of these same politicians forget and ignore the interests of everyday Americans.  [Representative Chris Collins| February, 6 2016 | The Buffalo News] It is these Americans, the ones who wake up before the sun rises and work all day just…

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Feb. 10, 2016) – Carrier plans to relocate its Indianapolis operations to Mexico over the next three years, a move that will affect about 1,400 jobs. [Matt Adams| February, 10 2016 | CBS News] Jobs will begin transitioning to Monterrey, Mexico, in 2017, with completion estimated in 2019. The company manufactures heating, ventilating,…

Hardly a week goes by without a report of Chinese “hacking” or Intellectual Property Theft, so it was no surprise that a published analysis by CrowdStrike, a California-based cyber security company, revealed that China violated its cyber agreement with the United States the very next day after  CNBC reported that President Obama and China’s President…

So Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won their respective New Hampshire primaries. [Ian Fletcher| February, 09 2016 | Huffington Post] From a fair-trade point-of-view, the news couldn’t be better. However the Eccentric Billionaire from Queens and the Eccentric Socialist from Brooklyn may differ, on this they agree. As I’ve written before, I think both Trump and Sanders are for…

As we lay out the social and economic model that provides the foundation for our analysis of agricultural policy in its myriad forms, we begin by looking at the economic characteristics of agriculture, particularly the areas where agriculture does not operate in the same ways as other businesses and industries with which most people are…