USDA

Colombia’s quest to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which could be concluded as soon as April, could have major implications for other Latin American countries -- such as Brazil -- as well as future trade relations with the U.S., according to analysts and private-sector sources.

“We get the Mexican politics out of the way, I think we’ll have a deal before the end of the year.”

“Not only do we have a Plan b, we have a Plan C and D and E and F,” the prime minister says; Ross insists withdrawal remains an option and says a final deal must be “100 percent” palatable to the president.

Canada must step up its engagement in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Under Secretary for Trade Ted McKinney said in remarks at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation conference -- while President Trump hardly mentioned the pact in his speech.

Jason Hafemeister writes that it is time “to reflect, reset, and reinvigorate the negotiations to tackle the real-world international trade concerns that face agriculture today.”

“We’d love to do a bilateral with Japan. We’ll just have to see how the other trade agreements transpire and then we’ll find that opening in whatever form it takes.”

“I just said, ‘I know you feel that the Rust Belt really came to your side, but these are your people as well.’”

The U.S. citrus industry last month moved to vacate an Agriculture Department rule allowing lemon imports from northwest Argentina.

Food & Water Watch laments what it calls a “flawed system.”