Historic NAFTA Renegotiation Underway
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy On Aug. 16, 2017, the United States, Mexico and Canada began negotiations to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The first round concluded on Aug. 20. It was historic, in the sense that this is the first time the United States has attempted to renegotiate all […]
Renegotiating Bilateral FTA with Korea Risks Disrupting Effective Trade
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy It was a decade ago this month that the United States completed its last successful free trade agreement negotiation. Under the Bush Administration, the United States and South Korea signed the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) on June 30, 2007. However, it would be almost five more years […]
USTR Report Highlights Need for Rules-Based Trading System
By Ben Conner, USW Director of Policy Every year, the USW Wheat Letter features an article on the annual release of the National Trade Estimate (NTE) report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). While the issues it quantifies do not change rapidly, the latest NTE shows the extent of the problems facing […]
Policy Organizations Call for Increased Investment in Agricultural Research
Excerpts reprinted from Agri-Pulse, April 5, 2017 USW shares strong support for more investment in agricultural research with our sister organization, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). NAWG notes that wheat relies on public, private and grower funding for crop innovation. Only 1.6 percent of the $142 billion U.S. federal investment in research is […]
Learning About Food Security and Development in Tanzania
By Elizabeth Westendorf, USW Policy Specialist U.S. wheat farmers are proud of their commodity’s role in U.S. foreign aid around the world, and the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Food Aid Working Group (FAWG) works diligently to support U.S. international food assistance programs. Food aid has always been an important focus of USW’s policy work, both […]
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 […]