Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is approaching his two separate committee hearings in the House of Representatives with sagging support on the hill. Even his most dedicated backers are starting to express concerns about the controversies surrounding the administrator that have continued to swirl. Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, perhaps his biggest ally in Congress, even says it’s “appropriate to have a hearing, in so far as any accusation having to do with his office is concerned.” A CNBC report says, since the hearings were announced, revelations regarding a Washington apartment rental deal with a lobbyist have sparked allegations of ethics abuses and lavish spending. The government’s top watchdog determined just last week that the EPA broke the law by installing a $43,000 soundproof booth in Pruitt’s office. Pruitt will go before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment Thursday morning. He then will appear before the Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies in the afternoon. The CNBC report says an anonymous White House source says the administration may have told conservative lawmakers not to defend Pruitt too stridently.

Farmers for Free Trade released a new report that highlights the significant impact that Chinese retaliation from steel and aluminum tariffs will have on a number of U.S. industries. The report shows that many American commodities will be hit hard, including U.S. wine, almonds, walnuts, pork, cherry, and several other commodities. The report also says certain states’ economies will be hit very hard. The report is part of an ongoing effort by Farmers for Free Trade to show the negative impacts tariffs on American agriculture, as well as amplify the voices of farmers who are hurt by them. Some of the top states hit hardest will include California, Iowa, Washington, Missouri, and North Carolina. Chinese retaliatory tariffs are 15 percent on most products, while U.S. pork exports face a 25 percent tariff. Former Senators Richard Lugar and Max Baucus, Co-Chairs of Farmers for Free Trade, say tariffs end up as a tax on American farmers. “They increase the cost of exporting, depress the prices of farm futures, and end up hurting the bottom lines of farmers across the country,” the two say in a release. “They also incentivize trading partners like China to look elsewhere for their imports.” Lugar and Baucus point out that means trading relationships that took decades to develop can vanish overnight. Farmers for Free Trade is a bipartisan campaign to rebuild support for trade at the grassroots level.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his two counterparts in the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations are back at it in Washington, D.C. This marks a quick turnaround for the Mexican Economy Secretary and Canadian Foreign Minister, who were just in Washington last week for a meeting that both countries described as “productive.” Negotiators stayed in D.C. over the weekend and kicked off their fourth-straight week of talks on Monday. One source told Politico that the pace of talks in basically up to Lighthizer, saying “concessions right now can only come from the USTR.” The source added that they haven’t seen any concessions from him yet. To further complicate things, President Trump once again took to Twitter and warned that the U.S. might make stricter immigration laws in Mexico “a condition of the new NAFTA agreement.” Mexico quickly dismissed the idea, saying it would be unacceptable to condition the renegotiation of NAFTA to migratory actions outside this framework of cooperation. In spite of the Twitter complication, the outlook is still described as hopeful that the ministers can get a deal done as soon as possible. The quicker it happens, the better the chance of getting an updated pact through Congress this year.

A California Appeals Court sided with the Center for Food Safety and the state of California in affirming that Monsanto’s glyphosate pesticide can be listed under Prop 65. The listing says glyphosate is a known carcinogen. Monsanto filed a lawsuit challenging a California announcement that it would be listing glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, under California’s Prop 65. The proposition requires notification and labeling of all chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other types of reproductive harm. Prop 65 also prohibits their discharge into drinking waters of the state. The Center for Food Safety then intervened in the case after Monsanto filed suit, saying the glyphosate listing under Prop 65 was correct and the public had a right to know when it’s being exposed to cancer-causing chemicals. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic.” California subsequently issued the notice of intent to list glyphosate as a Proposition 65 chemical based on the IARC finding.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank both issued warnings that trade disputes could put a healthy global economic expansion in jeopardy. An Associated Press report says U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (Muh-NOO-chin) showed cautious optimism over the weekend that the U.S. and China could settle their differences without a full-blown trade war. Mnuchin met recently with finance officials from Japan, China, and Europe to discuss a series of punitive tariffs the Trump Administration unveiled recently against China and other trading partners. Mnuchin wouldn’t tell reporters how close the U.S. was to resolving the various trade disputes, but he did say that progress has been made. In a speech earlier this month, Chinese president Xi (Zhee) Jinping said his country would open itself wider to foreign companies. That raised hopes that the dispute with Washington, D.C., could be resolved. Mnuchin recently discussed Xi’s proposals with Chinese officials, saying “we’re cautiously optimistic.” The Treasury Secretary says he may soon travel to Beijing for further talks with Chinese officials.

Negotiators from Mexico, the U.S., and Canada are still pushing hard to get a “comprehensive” new North American Free Trade Agreement in place. Politico says negotiators from the three NAFTA countries have been meeting regularly in recent weeks, hoping for breakthroughs on some of the toughest issues yet to deal with. Those remaining issues include auto rules of origin, labor, and dispute settlement mechanisms. “We are certainly in a more intense period of the negotiations and are making good progress,” says Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer appeared confident in recent meetings with administration officials and Congress that he will be able to reach a preliminary NAFTA agreement in the next couple of weeks. The goal would then be to have a preliminary agreement in place by May fourth. U.S. officials have set a goal of Congressional approval before the lawmakers head home for the December holidays on December 13. Mexico’s own legislative session ends on August 31 and any renegotiated deal would have to be passed before then.

U.S. soybean exports could drop as much as 65 percent if the back-and-forth trade rhetoric battle between the two largest economies causes China to slap on retaliatory tariffs. Politico says that number comes from a soon-to-be-published report out of Purdue University. Earlier this month, China said it will put a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans if President Trump follows through on his plan to punish China for forced technology transfers by implementing American tariffs on Chinese goods. If the trade war actually happens and tariffs are put in place, China will rely on Brazil soybeans to fill in the gap. Brazil is currently the largest soybean exporter to China. U.S. soybean farmers likely could find some substitute business by expanding into other markets that currently import Brazilian beans. Wally Tyner, professor of ag economics at Purdue, says, “Brazil will take a big chunk of our market with China, and we’ll take a chunk of Brazil’s business in other countries.” However, increasing exports to other countries like the European Union, Mexico, Indonesia, and Japan, still won’t make up for a major loss of business with China, worth nearly $14 billion.

Nearly 200 farmers have obtained temporary restraining orders against the Arkansas in-season ban on dicamba use. A DTN report says judges in three counties have granted restraining orders in response to last-minutes complaints filed by farmers. The office of State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is filing appeals of those decisions to the state Supreme Court. In the meantime, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office says those farmers are free to use dicamba while the orders are in place. Nicole Ryan, communications director for the attorney general, says the state Plant Board will enforce the federal label requirements for the farmers who are spraying dicamba while the country restraining orders are in place. “The attorney general will be seeking expedited stays from the supreme court, which would halt the judges’ decisions until the appeals are decided,” Ryan says. In spite of the temporary restraining orders, Monsanto has opted not to sell its XtendiMax herbicide with Vapor Grip Technology, even though it’s registered for use in Arkansas on soybeans and cotton. Spokesman Kyle Richards says the company needs a stable and predictable environment before they’re able to make their product available to growers that want to use it. The Arkansas State Plant Board made it illegal to use dicamba between April 15 and October 31.