Articles by Bill Tomson

Whether it's backlogs at ports delaying the arrival of containers from China, congestion at railroad hubs, or slowdowns at American manufacturing plants, farmers and ranchers are seeing rising prices and mounting delays for machinery, spare parts, packaging material, inputs and other supplies they need to bring in their crops and market their commodities.

Democrats on the House Ag Committee are appealing to their party leaders to protect agriculture spending when they slash the size of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke Friday with her Chinese counterpart to explain U.S. concerns over outstanding issues from the “phase one” trade pact as well as Chinese “state-led, non-market policies and practices that harm American workers, farmers and businesses,” according to the Office of the USTR.

Now that the Senate has reached a deal to increase the federal debt limit, Democrats can turn their attention back to passing President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

The Food and Drug Administration is hoping to release soon its voluntary sodium reduction targets for processed, packaged and prepared foods, Food and Drug Administration Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock told the Consumer Federation of America’s Food Policy Conference Wednesday.

Now that congressional Democrats have to slash their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending plan, the attention is turning to what gets eliminated or cut, and by how much.

The U.S. is counting on an expensive campaign to protect nearby territories from African swine fever as well as international respect for the World Organization for Animal Health to protect American pork production and exports.

Lawmakers in the Senate and House are introducing legislation Tuesday to bring greater scrutiny to foreign acquisition of U.S. agricultural businesses in a new effort to keep agricultural supply chains free of overseas control.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai signaled Monday that the Biden administration is ready to begin pressing Beijing to fulfill its promises under the Phrase One agreement, but she didn’t commit to negotiating a much-desired second phase that would elicit new promises of ag commodity purchases.

After months of review and assessment, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says the Biden administration is set to begin confronting China directly on trade, pressing the country on implementation of the “phase one” deal and working with foreign allies to encourage Beijing to reform its trade policies.