congress Archives | Farmtario

File photo of a BNSF grain train crossing the Gassman Coulee trestle near Minot, North Dakota. (Photo courtesy BNSF Railway)

Biden asks Congress to avert U.S. rail strike

U.S. president warns of dire economic impact

By David Shepardson November 29, 2022

Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on Congress to intervene to avert a potential rail strike that could occur as early as Dec. 9, warning of a catastrophic economic impact if railroad service ground to a halt. Biden asked lawmakers to adopt the tentative deal announced in September “without any […] Read more

Livestock, Markets

CEOs of four large U.S. meatpackers to testify in Congressional hearing

Beef prices up for consumers, down for ranchers

By Kanishka Singh April 14, 2022

Washington | Reuters — The chief executives of U.S. meatpackers Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS and National Beef Packing have agreed to testify at a Congressional hearing discussing cattle markets and price increases for consumers, House agriculture committee chairman David Scott said Wednesday. “It is very important, very vital, and very urgent that we hear the […] Read more

Crops

U.S. Senate Democrats roll out draft bill to legalize weed

By Arathy S Nair, Shariq Khan July 14, 2021

Reuters — Three top U.S. Democratic senators on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft of a bill that aims to legalize cannabis, a move that would allow adult Americans to buy and possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana without facing criminal penalties. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act floated by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, […] Read more

Livestock, Markets

How JBS became collateral damage in a war between billionaires

JBS now plans to tweak U.S. IPO, executive says

By Tatiana Bautzer February 11, 2020

Sao Paulo | Reuters — A business dispute between the disgraced billionaire Batista brothers in Brazil and the heir to an Indonesian pulp and paper fortune is throwing a wrench in meatpacker JBS SA’s plans to for a U.S. listing of its international operations, such as its Canadian beef plant. The dispute stems from a […] Read more

Livestock

Amended CUSMA pact includes anti-COOL clause

By Dave Bedard January 4, 2020

The new Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), a free trade deal set to replace NAFTA, includes language meant to block any future bids at a trade-disrupting country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law. The new clause would, in theory, checkmate a move made last summer by some Democrat members of the U.S. House of Representatives to have a new North […] Read more

A file photo of roosters at the World Cockfighting Championship in Cali, Colombia on March 22, 2013, an event featuring competitors from Peru, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Ecuador among other countries. (File photo: Reuters/Jaime Saldarriaga)

Livestock

Puerto Rico cries foul over U.S. Congress’s cockfighting ban

By Reuters December 20, 2019

San Juan | Reuters — An attempt by the U.S. Congress to ban cockfighting in Puerto Rico has set off a debate about animal cruelty, put thousands of jobs at risk and sparked a possible power struggle between the U.S. territory’s government and Washington. The 500-year-old tradition of cockfighting in Puerto Rico was due to […] Read more

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer attend a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City on Dec. 10, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero)

Markets

Canada, U.S., Mexico sign agreement, again, to replace NAFTA

By Andrea Shalal, Sharay Angulo December 10, 2019

Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — Top officials from Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a fresh overhaul of a quarter-century-old trade pact on Tuesday that aims to improve enforcement of worker rights and hold down prices for biologic drugs by eliminating a patent provision. The signing ceremony in Mexico City launched what may be […] Read more

Crops

U.S. biodiesel industry struggles without subsidy

By Stephanie Kelly November 16, 2019

New York | Reuters — When John Whittington shut his Indiana biodiesel plant this week, he knew the move would leave all 14 of his workers there looking for jobs heading into the U.S. holiday season. But he felt he had no choice. A $1-per-gallon subsidy that had been propping up the industry since 2005 […] Read more

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after her arrival at the Stelco steel plant in Hamilton on May 17, 2019, following news that the U.S. agreed to lift tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. (PMO photo by Adam Scotti)

Machinery, Markets

Canada takes first step on ratifying USMCA trade deal

By Kelsey Johnson, Steve Scherer May 27, 2019

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada took a first step toward ratifying the new North American trade agreement on Monday just three days ahead of U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence’s trip to Ottawa to discuss the passage of the treaty. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland presented what’s known as a ways and means motion to the House of […] Read more

(Canada Border Services Agency video screengrab)

Machinery, Markets

USMCA deal modestly boosts U.S. economy, trade panel finds

By David Lawder, David Shepardson April 18, 2019

Washington | Reuters — The new North American free trade pact would modestly boost the U.S. economy, especially auto parts production, but may curb vehicle assembly and limit consumer choice in cars, a hotly anticipated analysis from the U.S. International Trade Commission showed on Thursday. The ITC report is a crucial step in the push […] Read more

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