The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal still has to be approved by the U.S. Congress, where opposition is widespread. President Obama has to wait 90 days after agreement before signing the pact, and only then will Congress begin to debate it. Click here for full Story.http://www.capitalpress.com/AP_Nation_World/20151005/united-states-11-pacific-rim-countries-reach-trade-deal
As retaliatory tariffs loom, Canadian trade officials are urging the U.S. Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead in voting to repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling of meat. Click here for full story.
Democrats said the legislation didn’t go far enough to assure labor standards and environmental protections strong enough to avoid placing American companies at a disadvantage. Click here for the full story
Japan has identified five categories of agricultural products as “sensitive,” given its longstanding protections for politically powerful farm interests. They include beef and pork, wheat and barley, sugar, rice and dairy products. Click here for the full story
Cuba spends roughly $2 billion a year to import about 80 percent of its food and a long-standing humanitarian exception to the trade embargo allows U.S. farmers to fill some of that demand. Click here for the full story
U.S. ag organizations pushing to end the U.S. embargo on Cuba contend there is plenty of opportunity in Cuba if the U.S. government allowed the country to purchase U.S. food and ag commodities on credit rather than cash in advance. Click here for the full story
Commodity group leaders say the outlook for improved relations between the U.S. and Cuba bodes well for Northwestern food producers, especially those who raise hard red winter wheat. Click here for the full story
The Trans-Pacific Partnership now being negotiated would meld the trade policies of the U.S. and 11 Asian and Central and South Americans nations for agricultural products and other goods. In addition to the U.S., Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam are involved. Visit www.capitalpress.com for more information
Potato industry leaders are optimistic about the restoration of South Korean access for fresh potatoes from the Pacific Northwest after Korean delegates visited Idaho. Click here for the full story
The U.S. wants European authorities to allow genetically modified crops and food processing techniques, including the use of chlorinated rinses to process poultry carcasses. Click here for the full story
Hong Kong’s decision to fully reopen its market to U.S. beef shows the industry’s safeguards against disease are working to build international demand, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says. See more at CapitalPress.com.
U.S. Dairy Export Council and National Milk Producers Federation are urging negotiators to hold Japan and Canada to their pledges of comprehensive market access in the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Click here for the full story
Congress and the U.S. dairy industry are pushing trade negotiators to resolve the EU's use of geographic indicators for common cheese names to block U.S. exports to the EU and its trading partners. Click here for the full story
The National Association of Wheat Growers supports the proposed Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act. If passed, the legislation would help provide clarity to the GMO issue, says Will Stafford, director of government affairs for trade, transportation and commodity markets. Click here for the full story
WASHINGTON, D.C. — All of Mexico may be open to importing fresh, U.S. potatoes before June, based on a final rule the Mexican government recently published setting protocols for fresh potato trade between the two countries. Click here for the full story
U.S. agriculture organizations and bipartisan senators are urging the Obama administration and trade negotiators to refuse Japan's offer in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, which seeks to protect key agricultural products like pork and beef, wheat and dairy. Such a move opens the door for other countries to also protect their products from free trade and puts upward pressure on global food prices, says Nick Giordano, vice president and counsel for international affairs for the National Pork Producers Council. Click here for the full story
Following the state's first trade mission to Russia, Idaho farm leaders and state officials believe the country, with a population of 143 million people, presents a big opportunity for Gem State ag products. Click here for the full story
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed parameters for accepting imports of fresh potatoes from Mexico, representing another step forward in a decade-long effort to fully open fresh spud trade between the two countries. Click here for the full story
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Mexico’s growing craft beer industry sent its first delegate to Idaho barley country, as part of a trade team that left Sept. 26 following an overnight visit. Click here for the full story
The United States and Japan have agreed to make it easier to import each other’s organic products, the latest step in a global effort that could give consumers access to more — and cheaper — organic food. Click here for the full story
