Articles Tagged with ''USTR''

New regulations in Mexico threaten to disrupt more than $100 million in organic food trade with the U.S., and the Biden administration has less than three months to address the situation before the requirements take effect.

The U.S. ag sector really wants to know what’s coming next for the tenuous trade situation with China, but farmers and ranchers may have to settle for the status quo in the near future as the Biden administration takes its first steps toward dealing with the communist country.

The U.S. on Monday suspended a formal trade tie with Burma two months after a military coup and the arrest of the country’s elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others in her National League for Democracy party. The U.S. action comes after years of increasing agricultural trade with Burma amid warming relations between the two countries, but that progress is now threatened.

U.S. farm groups are concerned about the increasing agricultural trade troubles with Mexico and Canada despite the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and Biden administration officials are stressing that resolving those issues is a priority.

The Senate easily confirmed Katherine Tai to be President Joe Biden’s U.S. Trade Representative with a bipartisan 98-0 vote Wednesday.

The Senate is set to OK President Joe Biden’s nominees for Interior secretary and U.S. Trade Representative this week, while the House looks to jump-start a congressional debate over immigration reform and farm labor.

After leading the organization for seven years, Barb Glenn, CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, announced she will retire from her position this fall.

Agreements by the U.S., European Union and the UK to suspend all tariffs tied to airplane subsidies may open the door to renewed efforts by the U.S. to strike separate free trade agreements with the British and Europeans, according to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The Biden administration on Thursday announced it is suspending some tariffs on the United Kingdom as the U.S. seeks allies to counter growing threats from “non-market economies” like China.

A key Republican says the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Democrats are pushing through the Senate will lead to automatic cuts in farm programs and other forms of federal spending. Sen. John Boozman, the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, is referring to the Congressional Budget Office’s determination that the legislation would trigger the budget sequestration process under the 2011 budget law.