An Aggressive Trade Policy Agenda for 2017
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy On March 1, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office released the President’s Trade Policy Agenda for 2017. This document lays out the key trade policy principles and objectives of the Trump Administration. Probably the best word to describe this agenda is aggressive. Some might have expected a word like transformative or even cataclysmic, but […]
WTO Adds Efficiency, Cost Savings Through Trade Facilitation Agreement
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have taken a major step toward making trade procedures more efficient and less costly for importers and exporters. On Feb. 22, WTO announced that its new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) entered into force. So far 112 of 164 member countries have […]
Improving the Policy Environment for Agricultural and Food Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy With the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), U.S. agriculture groups are looking for other ways to improve trade policy across the Asia-Pacific region. This week, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) joined 86 other food and agriculture organizations in a letter to President Donald Trump highlighting the importance […]
Mexico Stands as a Leading U.S. Wheat Buyer
By Steve Mercer, USW Vice President of Communications U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) represents the interests of U.S. wheat farmers in international markets. The organization is grateful to all its overseas wheat buyers, flour millers and wheat food processors for their strong preference for U.S. wheat and for their friendship. At a time when new circumstances […]
New Trade Policies Generate Some Whiplash
As promised, on the first working day of his presidency, Donald J. Trump fulfilled his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and gave notice to Mexico and Canada that the United States intends to renegotiate some parts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). For decades, U.S. presidents of both parties […]
Trade Policy and Wheat in the Obama Administration
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy Next week, the United States will hold its quadrennial pageantry to mark the beginning of a new presidential term. Since term limits prevented President Obama from running again, his administration will come to an end. The wheat industry has not always seen eye to eye on every issue […]
Panic is Not a Good Strategy When Considering Future Trade Policies
By Ben Conner, USW Deputy Director of Policy On Nov. 8, 2016, American voters shocked the world and themselves by electing Donald J. Trump to be the 45th President of the United States. To those who trade goods and services across the U.S. border, including wheat buyers, this may be cause for some alarm because […]
USW Submits Annual Report on Trade Barriers to U.S. Trade Representative
By Elizabeth Westendorf, USW Policy Specialist Every year, the U.S. Congress requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to submit a comprehensive report detailing the trade barriers and policy challenges facing exported U.S. goods and services. The annual National Trade Estimate (NTE), which came in at more than 450 pages last year, takes […]
U.S. Industry Stays Engaged in Food Aid, Development Conversation
By Elizabeth Westendorf, USW Policy Specialist This year, for the first time, USDA and USAID held their International Food Assistance and Food Security Conference in conjunction with the 2016 World Food Prize event in Des Moines, IA, the week of Oct. 10. The two-day event brought together people from commodity organizations, NGOs, government and academic […]
WTO Negotiations Facing New Realities
By USW Deputy Director of Policy Ben Conner After attending a series of World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Geneva in September, it appears to me that member representatives are at the intersection of two trends influencing agricultural trade negotiations. First, there is growing recognition that the Doha Round approach to future trade negotiations is […]
