The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, as well as the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, were both pleased with the introduction of the Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act on Wednesday. The NCBA says the legislation will reform the Hours of Service Rules in a way that ensures animal welfare, highway safety, and the well-being of livestock haulers. NCBA President and California producer Kevin Kester says the current Hours of Service rules for livestock haulers present big challenges for the industry and can also jeopardize the health and well-being of livestock. “Hauling livestock is much different than hauling products like paper towels or bottles of water,” he says. “Live cattle can’t simply be left unattended in a trailer.” USCA Transportation Committee Chair Steve Hilker says they asked, and Congress answered, calling it a historic moment for livestock haulers. “They get needed flexibility in the restrictive Hours of Service rules,” Hilker says. “We commend the bipartisan group of Senators for working together with the industry for a common-sense solution.” The U.S. Cattlemen look forward to working with members of the House and Senate to get the Transporting Livestock Across America Safely Act across the finish line.

Two sources familiar with the negotiations have told Bloomberg that the U.S. and Mexico are discussing automobiles in an attempt to break an impasse over auto-production rules in an updated North American Free Trade Agreement. The anonymous sources say officials are meeting to discuss Mexico’s automotive proposal. The auto issue has been a key sticking point during the nine months of negotiations between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. The push is coming as the Trump Administration tries to get an agreement in time for the current session of Congress to approve the deal before the November midterm elections. If the U.S. can’t hit that deadline, negotiations will run into 2019. Trump said Wednesday that negotiating NAFTA is “very difficult, but autoworkers are going to be very happy with the results.” Mexico and the U.S. have disagreed over the U.S. proposal that 40 percent of a car’s value be made with high-wage labor. People familiar with the discussions say Mexico’s counteroffer is that 20 percent of a car’s value be made with high-wage labor.

U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency officials met today to discuss ways to increase ethanol usage and to address refiner concerns about volatility in the market for biofuel credits. An Agri-Pulse report says the meeting followed months of discussions at the White House on the issue. It also follows months of concerns over the way EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is overseeing the program. The ethanol industry is pressing the EPA to finally move forward with issuing a vapor pressure waiver that will allow E15 to be sold all year. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says President Trump promised to protect the statutory targets under the RFS. “We support Secretary Perdue’s efforts to ensure the EPA upholds the commitment to rural families,” Skor says, “and there’s no reason to delay or attach unrelated gimmicks to benefit a few refinery owners.” The meeting comes as Marathon, the nation’s second-largest refining company, is seeking a waiver from the RFS blending requirements. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the Marathon request shows that the “embarrassing loophole,” as he calls the RFS waiver authority, needs to be fixed.

Marathon Petroleum Corporation, one of the largest refining companies in the nation, requested a “hardship waiver” from the Environmental Protection Agency. Marathon wants one of its facilities exempted from its requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard. Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor was not pleased with the news. She says, “Two of the largest corporations in the country are set to create an oil monopoly and they’re still expecting ‘small refiner’ handouts. This is what happens when the EPA regulators are permitted to ignore the president’s commitments to rural communities.” Skor says these waivers have already siphoned away billions of dollars from farm families to enrich some of the world’s largest oil companies, as well as a few well-connected investors like Carl Icahn close to the President. Skor adds, “Those gallons need to be restored and American consumers need immediate, year-round access to E15 as well.” Even Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley weighed in on the topic, saying, “That an oil company making billions of dollars in profits thinks it’s got a shot at receiving a hardship waiver shows how broken the process is” under the current administration. The smallest Marathon refiner producers 93,000 barrels of product a day at its Canton, Ohio, location.

A Politico report says the real winners of a trade war with China could be some of America’s top global trade competitors. As the two countries push toward a trade deal, long-term trends could be stacked against American producers when it comes to Beijing’s consumption. China will likely keep pouring resources into other countries in an attempt to diversify its sources for everything from agricultural goods to consumer goods. Brazil could bring millions of new acres into production faster with the help of Chinese investments in its roads and railways, which could be a detriment to American growers. The South American nation has taken over the globe’s number one spot as top soybean producer, supplanting the U.S. USDA estimates show that Brazil is already projected to increase soybean acres dramatically over the next 10 years. The challenge will be difficult to overcome for U.S. producers, who have all but maxed out their growable acres. China is also encouraging its own soybean farmers to increase their production.

Sources close to the White House tell Bloomberg that President Donald Trump backed off imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese goods because of discord within the administration. There’s also concern within the White House over the possibility of harming negotiations with North Korea. Trump also reportedly succumbed to pressure from farm-state Republicans, who heavily lobbied the administration to settle its differences with China, which had threatened to levy its own tariffs on American agricultural imports. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said over the weekend that the administration’s plan to impose tariffs on Chinese goods has been suspended. However, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon told Bloomberg the deal was “capitulation.” Some White House officials say the retreat on tariffs is a result of discord on Trump’s economic team. Bloomberg says divisions are raw between free trade supporters like Mnuchin and White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow and the China hawks led by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro. Mnuchin and Navarro were said to have argued over China policy during a trip to Beijing earlier this month, and Navarro wasn’t as deeply involved during negotiations last week with a Chinese delegation that made a trip to Washington, D.C.

New kid-friendly recipes that use delicious prepared beef products to encourage children to consume more fruits and vegetables were unveiled today by the North American Meat Institute. Developed by a Culinary Institute of American-trained chef and veteran mom, the Kid Pleaser recipes are available, along with strategies for feeding kids on MeatPoutlryNutrition.org. According to researchers, “neophobia” or “the fear of something new” plays a major role in children’s eating habits. Pediatricians say that frequent, repeated exposure to a new food, may be needed before a child willingly samples it. Pairing fruits and vegetables with foods that they enjoy, however, something called “associative conditioning”. In addition to pairing with a familiar food, researchers say Moms can use a variety of strategies to influence children’s eating, like enhancing the visual appeal of foods by piercing with a pretty toothpick, offering a variety of colorful foods on a plate, creating color contrasts with the plate or bowl, arranging foods in an orderly way and involving kids in meal preparation, which increases their “buy-in” to the foods they prepare and can encourage children to try the new food.