Tariff Disruptions Persist While Trade Talks With China Seem Uncertain

Recent news items continue to discuss the impacts of trade tariffs on agricultural commodities, including soybeans, dairy products, and pork. Meanwhile, separate articles have focused on executive branch trade policy perspective with respect to China, as well as as the administration’s view on potential trade mitigation payments for 2019.

Tariff Impacts: Soybeans, Dairy Products, and Pork
Daniel Shane reported last week at CNN Online that, “First, Beijing slapped tariffs on American soybeans. Now, it wants to wean its farmers off them altogether.”

The article stated that, “One of the country’s top industry groups this month proposed cutting the amount of protein used in livestock feeds, saying animals could get by with less than is required at the moment. The government-run China Feed Industry Association said a reliance on imported soybeans is creating a ‘bottleneck’ for the country’s farming industry.

“But getting millions of Chinese farmers to reduce the amount of foreign soybeans eaten by their pigs is a daunting task that is likely to take a long time to carry out and could cause disruption throughout the country’s agricultural industry.

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