President Donald Trump told a crowd in Arizona earlier this week regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement talks that “I don’t think we can make a deal,” putting billions of dollars of agricultural exports in jeopardy. However, Reuters says Mexico and Canada dismissed Trump’s threat, describing it as a negotiating tactic designed to gain an advantage during the negotiation effort.Trump said he believes the U.S. will “end up probably terminating NAFTA at some point.” It’s not the first time the President has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA. In April, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is said to have persuaded the President to renegotiate, rather than terminate the agreement, by emphasizing the importance NAFTA has for agriculture exports. Agriculture groups have coined the phrase “do no harm” when it comes to agricultural trade in the free trade agreement negotiations.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt’s appearance in a video with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is drawing criticism from critics and so-called government ethics experts. The Cattle Network reports that critics say Pruitt inaccurately uses industry talking points to describe the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. rule, and that his comments sound as if he has already made up his mind about WOTUS, regardless of the comments posted to EPA’s website. In the video, NCBA suggests that viewers take action and “tell EPA to kill WOTUS,” offering a link to provide comment to the EPA. An administrative law specialist at the American University’s Washington College of Law says Pruitt’s appearance in the video makes the rulemaking process and the EPA seem like “it is not really open-minded and that public participation doesn’t really matter.” Critics also note that during a visit to Iowa last month, Pruitt was photographed holding a sign that says, “It’s time to Ditch the Rule,” with those photos posted to social media.

The United States is moving forward with a World Trade Organization case against China regarding tariff-rate quotas for agricultural products. The WTO said this week that the U.S. is requesting that the WTO set up a panel to investigate the tariff-rate quotas, a move that Reuters says sets up a showdown between the two largest economies in the world. The tariff-rate quotas at question include tariffs for wheat, rice and corn. The request was initiated by the Obama administration last year, and the Trump administration is moving forward with the format request. The U.S. Trade representative’s office last year said global prices for the three commodities were lower than China’s domestic prices, yet the country did not maximize its use of the tariff-rate quotas, which offer lower duties on a certain volume of imported grains every year. USTR said the lack of action by China limited market access for shipments from the United States, the world’s largest grain exporter, and other countries. Since then, Australia, the European Union, Canada and Thailand have joined the dispute as third parties. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body will consider the request during a meeting August 31st.

The Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service has launched what it calls a “refined public search tool” offering access to compliance records for the Animal Welfare Act. Last year, APHIS formally initiated a comprehensive review and update of the Animal Care website. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports the agency also hoped to balance its commitment to transparency with applicable laws, including rules protecting personal privacy. APHIS removed the Animal Care Information System search tool in February for review, and began posting inspection reports on a rolling basis in February, March, April and June of this year. A group of animal activists sued USDA and APHIS earlier this year over the removal of thousands of documents during the review period. The agency says that it is continuing to review animal inventories that accompany inspection reports for accuracy. For that reason, the newly posted inspection reports do not include animal inventories, but APHIS intends to make this information available in the future.

The Farm Journal Crop Tour this week will take another look at corn and soybean conditions across the Midwest as market prices slid last week. Jerry Gulke of the Gulke Group says if tour participants find fewer bushels than recent government predictions, the markets may have already seen its highest production numbers of the season. Gulke tells Farm Journal’s Ag Web Dot Com he’s hoping for positive results. “If they come out of the fields saying that government estimates might have been right,” Gulke says, “that’s not going to look good.” Commodity prices had a tough go last week as prices continued to drop thanks to rain reports in growing regions around the country, including North Dakota, where the drought has been at its most intense. Gulke suspects crop conditions are quite as good as the government thinks. “Crop ratings show that things are pretty bad in some areas,” Gulke says. While the trade has been skeptical of farmer-oriented tours in the past, Gulke says they have a lot more credibility than in the past, adding, “Let’s hope crop condition numbers are bad enough that they come out and say we’ve seen the highest production numbers we’re going to see this year.”

Low commodity prices have made things tough by bringing down land values, tightening balance sheets, and increasing the stress level of America’s producers. Unfortunately, that means farmers are continuing to take on more debt. The amount of outstanding farm debt is likely to reach an all-time high this year. Brent Gloy of Agricultural Economic Insights says if the debt level climbs another five percent from current levels, it will reach an all-time high. MILK online says unlike the 1980s farm crisis, farm debt to asset ratios are still very low today in comparison. A Farmer Mac research expert says the amount of leverage on farms over the past several years remains low. USDA historical data shows that in spite of that large amount of debt, farmers are still in good position. The Economic Research Service shows debt-to-asset ratio is 14 percent. During the 1980s, that same number reached a high of over 22 percent. The lowest point was back in 2012 at 11.3 percent. Farm prices were very volatile ahead of the 1980s crash, which meant farmers didn’t have an opportunity to stockpile assets. Going into this downturn, record-high commodity prices helped farmers get their financial houses set up before prices tumbled.

The first round of talks between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, ended with all three sides saying they’re committed to getting negotiations done as quickly as possible. The next round of talks is scheduled for September 1-5 in Mexico. Talks then move to Canada in late September before coming back to America in October. Bloomberg says a joint statement issued by the countries acknowledges that there’s a lot of work ahead in the coming months but all three countries are committed to an accelerated and comprehensive negotiation process. The goal is to update the agreement and establish 21st century standards to benefit all citizens. Part of the pressure to get negotiations done as quickly as possible likely comes from elections held next year in Mexico as well as the U.S. congressional midterm elections in November of 2018. The opening round got off to a tense start last week as U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the U.S. wouldn’t accept a “tweaking” of the deal that President Trump says has failed Americans and gutted U.S. manufacturing. Experts tell Bloomberg the most challenging parts of the discussions come when negotiators deal with issues like dispute resolution and the rules-of-origin that dictate local content requirements in products traded between the countries.