A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has come together to co-sponsor legislation that would end the Cuban trade embargo. The bill is called the “Freedom to Export to Cuba Act” and would bring an end to all legal barriers for the U.S. to conduct business with Cuba. Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar says U.S. policy toward Cuba has been defined by past conflict instead of present reality. She says, “More than 50 years of isolating an island just 90 miles from our border has not secured our interests and has disadvantaged American business owners and farmers.” Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi says the strategy of isolating Cuba has not been successful. “This bipartisan legislation would lift the travel restriction to Cuba, providing new opportunities for American businesses, farmers, and ranchers,” Enzi says. He calls trade a powerful thing, not just for dealing with the flow of goods but the flow of ideas like freedom and democracy. The bill would repeal all restrictions against doing business in Cuba, including the original 1961 authorization that put the trade embargo in place. It also would lift requirements to enforce the embargo and the limits currently in place on direct shipping between U.S. and Cuban ports. The Trump administration is expected to announce its policy on Cuba in the near future.

A recent study says any rollback of Obama-era moves to normalize relations with Cuba will harm U.S. Agriculture. The study by Engage Cuba, a coalition of private companies seeking an end to the Cuba embargo, says any new regulations on exporting agricultural commodities to Cuba could cost $1.5 billion and affect 2,200 U.S. jobs. That’s on top of the estimated $6.6 billion economic impact and near 13,000 jobs on the line, if President Donald Trump changes provisions by former President Barack Obama. USA Today says the expected rollback by President Trump is largely based on discussions with Cuban-American Republican lawmakers from Florida, Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, and Senator Marco Rubio. The announcement would come eight months after candidate Trump promised Cuban-Americans during a Miami campaign speech that he would reverse Obama’s policies on Cuba if the Castro government didn’t increase political and religious freedoms.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue offered his thoughts on President Donald Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. Perdue, nominated by Trump in January and confirmed by the Senate in April, says Trump “has rightly determined that the Paris accord was not in the best interests of the United States.” Perdue says the agreement would cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. Business Insider reports that the U.S. is the world’s second-largest carbon emitter, after China. The publication also says that most greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas, but they also come from using fertilizers, raising livestock and maintaining landfills. Perdue said the Paris accord would have a “negligible impact on world temperatures.” He says Earth’s climate has been changing since the planet was formed, and that the U.S. Department of Agriculture remains “firmly committed to digging ever deeper into research to develop better methods of agricultural production in that changing climate.”

The Donald Trump administration is pledging a plan of bilateral trade negotiations with individual countries, but Politico speculates his latest move may hinder negotiations. President Trump removed the U.S. from the Paris climate accord last week, joining just Nicaragua and Syria as the only nations not to sign the pact. Politico says the withdrawal sets up the potential for other countries to use Trump’s decision as reason not to cooperate with him on other negotiations, including trade, or to implement tariffs in retaliation. Beyond simply refusing to negotiate, trading partners could also take steps to hit U.S. products with a so-called carbon tariff, a levy that would increase the cost of American goods to offset the fact that U.S. manufacturers could make products more cheaply because they would not have to abide by Paris climate goals. U.S. Senate Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon says by leaving the Paris agreement, the Trump administration is “putting a bull’s-eye on American exporters and the jobs they support.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A trial is poised to begin against Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta over its decision to introduce a genetically engineered corn seed variety to the U.S. market before China approved it for imports.

It’s the first of tens of thousands of cases to go to trial over the issue. The proceedings are scheduled to start Monday in Kansas City, Kansas. The federal trial involves thousands of plaintiffs from Kansas. That trial and another soon in Minnesota are meant to provide guidance for how the complex web of litigation in state and federal courts could be resolved.

The lawsuits allege Syngenta wrecked China as an increasingly important export market for U.S. corn and caused price drops that hurt all producers.

Syngenta denies it caused farmers any losses.

The parent company of JBS SA will pay $3.2 billion in a settlement with Brazil over bribery and corruption charges. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports the fine will be paid over 25 years and is the largest ever in a leniency agreement worldwide. The leniency agreement addresses the involvement of the company in a bribery and corruption scheme with Brazilian politicians, revealed by company executives in a plea bargain deal in April. Only the parent company of JBS, the J&F holding company, will be responsible for paying the fine, with the first payment expected in December. Earlier this year, Brazil indicted 63 people for their role in a corruption scheme within the nation’s Ministry of Agriculture. Suspects in the case were charged with falsifying medical records and certificates, tampering with food products, conspiracy, and corruption. Allegations also included selling spoiled meat and injecting water to sell poultry at higher prices.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office says no deadline has been set to finalize North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations that can’t begin until mid-August. Officials from Mexico have suggested that Mexico and USTR Robert Lighthizer have agreed on a December 15th deadline to wrap up the negotiations. However, the USTR office told Politico this week no date has been set, but added “the sooner we can conclude negotiations, the sooner we can address the concerns of the president and the American people with NAFTA.” By U.S. law, negotiations can begin 90 days after the USTR notifies Congress, which Lightizer and the Donald Trump administration did May 18th. Mexico is eager to wrap up the negations quickly as the nation is facing an upcoming presidential election next year, and because of that, officials in Mexico say they cannot continue talks in 2018.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. will withdraw from the historic Paris Agreement, an accord among 192 nations to combat the impacts of climate change. Echoing concerns raised in a recent letter to President Trump, National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said the President’s decision “rejects science and U.S. leadership in an effort that requires global attention.” Johnson says family farmers and ranchers are already enduring consequences of climate change, and projections indicate these effects will worsen without an immediate and significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. He says the decision by President Trump “fails to recognize the very real and immediate threats of climate change to family farmers, ranchers, and our nation’s food security.” Johnson called the move by Trump “shameful,” saying the U.S. “cannot sustain a viable food system if climate change is left unchecked.”