North Dakota farmer Kevin Skunes, president of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), spoke in response to Thursday’s White House meeting on the Renewable Fuel Standard. “For corn farmers, the question for the ongoing White House discussions is simple – what is the problem you are trying to solve?” said Skunes. “According to EPA, refiners don’t have a problem. EPA concluded in November that refiners are able to recover the cost of RINs through the prices they receive for refined products and that RIN values are not causing economic harm to refiners. “For farmers, ethanol blending equals corn demand. Farmers care about RIN values, not because we want them to be high, but because we want the RIN market mechanism to work freely to incentivize blending. Increased blending will, in turn, lower RIN values, exactly the way the RFS is intended to work. Government manipulation of the RIN market, on the other hand, disrupts the incentive to blend.” “This is why farmers continue to tell the Administration that providing regulatory parity for E15 and higher blends is the best policy answer for refiners’ concerns. “Allowing the RIN market to operate freely with year-round sales of E15 would increase the production and consumption of renewable fuels, increase the supply of RINs available for compliance and lower RIN values. Increased use of biofuels is already moving us in this direction, and increased use of E15 and higher blends will get us there faster. “As discussions continue with the Administration, corn farmers thank President Trump and USDA Secretary Perdue for listening to farmers’ views and supporting agriculture. We ask that they maintain their strong stated support for the RFS by not interfering with the market mechanism that helps grow biofuels blending.”

The official position of the Environmental Protection Agency is that high-priced Renewable Identification Numbers do no significant harm to refiners. That position was made public most recently in November of last year. Grassley, along with a handful of other Senators, sent a letter to the EPA in January asking about the agency’s previous findings that RIN prices don’t affect the success of the nation’s refiners. EPA has yet to respond to the letter, in spite of numerous attempts by staff to follow-up with them. Grassley says leaders are being told that steps are needed to lower RIN prices to help refiners. However, under Democratic and Republican administrations, EPA found that RIN prices don’t determine the success or failure of refiners. “Several of my colleagues and I sent a letter to the EPA in light of calls to make changes to the RFS, with no response,” Grassley says. “I’m always willing to engage in good faith discussions. But changing the RFS based on misinformation and baseless arguments wouldn’t be fair to the thousands of farmers and workers throughout rural America that would be harmed if the RFS is undermined.” EPA found that refiners recovered the cost of RINs in the prices they get for their products.

After hosting what the White House initially called a “listening” session, President Donald Trump took American investors by surprise Thursday. Trump announced to the group attending the meeting that he will be imposing the long-rumored steel and aluminum tariffs next week. A Zero Hedge Dot Com article says the president will impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a ten percent for aluminum. Trump told a meeting of steel and aluminum executives that he’ll sign the paperwork next week. “You’re going to have protection for the first time in a long time,” he said to the executives. He says steel and aluminum workers haven’t been represented in some time and moves like this will help rebuild the American industries. Before making the announcement, Trump praised his recent tariffs on solar panels and washing machines, saying they were a good example of how tariffs can lead to investment in different U.S. business sectors. Metal company stocks rose sharply after the midday announcement. At the same time, the announcement pushed the Canadian dollar sharply lower. While it did bounce back somewhat, the tariffs remind people on both sides of the border about lingering tensions as the countries continue to participate in NAFTA negotiations.

Senate Ag Committee members Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan raised concerns with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency about farm program payments to deceased farmers. The Senators sent a letter to the agency, saying that they need to be careful stewards of taxpayer money and work to avoid wasteful payments. The letter says, “As we prepare to write the next farm bill, we write to request more information so we can understand more about USDA payments to an estate after the death of a farmer.” Current law says farmers must be “actively engaged in farming” in order to receive farm program benefits. Farmers do that by providing labor or management. USDA recently issued guidance that considers an estate to be actively engaged – and thus, eligible for farm payments – for up to two years after the death of a farmer, without review. The Government Accountability Office criticized USDA payments to the estate of dead farmers, saying it’s helped heirs to game the system and evade payment limits by collecting benefits on behalf of the deceased family member.

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch weighed in this week on the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations. The Senate Finance Committee Chair says Congress will intervene if President Trump follows through on his threat to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement. He says, “We’d probably work hard to pass NAFTA, hopefully by a veto-proof vote, because it’s very important, there’s no doubt about it.” Hatch spoke with reporters after speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., saying he believes Trump is only making the threat to put pressure on Mexico and Canada. Hatch doesn’t believe Trump will actually withdraw from the agreement. “I think that’s part of his negotiation posture,” he says, “and in all honesty, I think the president is negotiating. I think that he knows what he’s doing.” Meanwhile, Kansas Republican Representative Lynn Jenkins used her face time with Trump this week to make the case of “the importance of access to global markets for agricultural producers in Kansas.” Her spokesperson says the representative emphasized that building off the economic successes from the recent tax cuts, Kansas farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers are eager to deliver and are hoping the administration will continue to seek ways to get American products into new markets.”