Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue used a football analogy to describe the process of passing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. He calls passage more of a “field goal” than a touchdown. Perdue says the reason for the difficulty is the administration hasn’t yet removed the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from two key North American trading partners.

Perdue told reporters this week that he’ll consider it a “touchdown, a more certain success when we get those tariffs removed.” When the trade pact negotiations were moving along smoothly, Canada and Mexico were exempt from the tariffs. However, when things stalled, that exemption came to an end. As was expected, Mexico and Canada both hit back with retaliatory tariffs. Mexican tariffs have hit American agriculture hard on cheese, pork, apples, and potatoes.

Perdue also says the tariffs need to go as they accomplished the goal of getting Mexico and Canada to the negotiating table. “Once you’ve achieved your goals with the tariffs, then it’s probably time to look at other ways,” Perdue says. He realizes that the tariffs remain a thorn in the process of getting the deal ratified in all three countries.

A group of industry and agriculture companies and associations have launched the USMCA Coalition, an effort to see the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement through ratification. The USMCA Coalition is a collection of more than 200 organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, with an objective “to secure congressional approval” of the trade agreement.

AEM President Dennis Slater says completing the trade agreement will “guarantee North America’s manufacturing competitiveness” and support 1.5 million jobs across the U.S. and Canada. Equipment manufacturers contribute $188 billion combined to the U.S. and Canadian economies. Canada is the largest export market for U.S. manufacturers of heavy equipment and a more than $10 billion per year export market for U.S. equipment manufacturers.

Meanwhile, U.S. agricultural exports to Canada and Mexico quadrupled from $8.9 billion in 1993 to $39 billion in 2017, according to AFBF, and the two countries are top markets for U.S. grains, dairy products, meats fresh fruits, and vegetables.

A coalition of more than 50 farm groups is asking lawmakers to safeguard crop insurance. The organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, warned in a letter to top-ranking House and Senate budget leaders this week that “An overreliance on budget savings from the agriculture community and from crop insurance will unquestionably undermine rural economies.”

2018 farm profitability is expected to hit a low not experienced in more than a decade. The groups also noted the public-private partnership of crop insurance has been a consistent and reliable risk management tool for farmers, particularly at a time of heightened uncertainty in agriculture caused by natural disasters, trade disputes and government shutdowns.

The letter says farmers and lawmakers “agree that crop insurance is a linchpin of the farm safety net” and is crucial to the economic and food security of rural America. The groups concluded the letter urging lawmakers to oppose cuts to crop insurance during this year’s budget process.

The Trump 2020 budget proposal will include “big cuts” to the Department of Agriculture, according to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The budget request will propose cutting non-defense programs by five percent. However, Politico reports USDA is likely to face steeper budget cuts.

Perdue noted that Congress usually disregards the president’s budget request, which in recent years has unsuccessfully called for cuts to USDA. Perdue says he would like to see the process return to a negotiation between the president and Congress, saying: “It’s like buying and selling a piece of land. You’ve got to get within the realm of negotiation there for people to take you seriously in that regard.”

The Trump administration has previously proposed large cuts to crop insurance, agriculture research and rural development. Perdue says the budget will be conservative, but speaking of his team, says “we’ve done our best to advocate for farmers.”

The Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a long-delayed study to assess the impact ethanol-blended fuels have on air quality. Reuters reports the EPA agreed to conduct the study late last week, as the Sierra Club had filed a lawsuit against the EPA last year in an effort to compel the agency to conduct the study. The organization states the study was supposed to be done roughly eight years ago.

The Sierra Club and the EPA recently reached a partial agreement resulting in the EPA conducting the so-called anti-backsliding study by March of next year. The outcome of the study seems certain to influence future Renewable Fuel Standard regulations set by the EPA, including annual targets for ethanol and biodiesel use in the nations fuel supply.

The Sierra Club is a well-known critic of the RFS. An association fact sheet claims that since the standard’s adoption in 2007, “it has become clear that the RFS has had unintended and devastating consequences for wildlife and wildlife habitat, and may even be undermining its own stated goals.”

The recent announcement by China to purchase more U.S. soybeans fails to make up for trade war losses. The American Soybean Association welcomed the announcement made last week, but says the industry needs “structural reform that leads to China rescinding its tariff on U.S. soybeans and fully reopening the market,” according to ASA President Davie Stephens of Kentucky.

China announced the intention to purchase 10 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans. ASA says the industry’s greatest fear is long-term damage to the relationship it has built and sustained with China. The value of U.S. soybean exports to China has grown 26-fold in 20 years, from $414 million in 1996 to $14 billion in 2017, according to ASA.

Over the next ten years, Chinese demand for soybeans is expected to account for most of the growth in global soybean trade, making it a prime market for the U.S. and other countries. The organization is calling on the Trump administration to continue its talks with China in an effort to rescind the tariffs as part of the negotiated outcomes.