Thousands of more cattle are booked for culling amid a bovine tuberculosis outbreak in Alberta, Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, announced this week a herd of animals known to co-mingle with the six confirmed TB-infected cattle has expanded to cover adult cattle and calves on 18 premises, up from just six. Online publication Ag Canada reports the total size of the herd now runs roughly around 10,000 head of cattle, which either have been or will be destroyed. Nearly all the adult animals in the herd have been tested. However, calves will be destroyed without testing, according to the CFIA. Meat from destroyed animals that are later ruled TB-negative will be eligible for food use. The investigation follows a notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that bovine TB was detected in a cow from Alberta at a U.S. packing plant. The strain of the bovine TB organism found so far in the probe is different from strains previously discovered in Canada. It is, however, “closely related” to a strain originating from cattle in central Mexico in 1997.

An ambassador of Mexico says the nation is prepared to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement and seeks to restart a guest-worker system. Mexico says restarting the guest-worker system could address concerns about illegal immigration. Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Carlos Sada (Sah-duh) said: “There is no need to fight each other,” according to the Arizona Daily Star newspaper. His comments come in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to renegotiate NAFTA. Those efforts, according to Mexico, could include renaming NAFTA and educating citizens of both countries on the benefits of the agreement. Sada also said the movement of workers across the border must be reinstated. He says many of the workers that have crossed the border have expressed a desire to return to Mexico and maintain their homes and families there. He says: “The circular migration of the past was broken, and that’s when the problems began,” adding “We need to re-establish the movement.”

President-elect Donald Trump could soon pick his choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Politico reports the shortlist includes Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Kathleen Hartnett White, director of the Armstrong Center for Energy and the Environment at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Both candidates oppose the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. rule, also opposed by most agriculture groups. Pruitt was one of the first state attorneys general to file suit against EPA over WOTUS, and he opposes other agency regulations that he says amount to regulatory overreach. Hartnett White calls WOTUS a power grab. She has previously headed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and is a member of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

More outbreaks of H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza are prompting concerns within Europe’s poultry industry. The World Organization for Animal Health reports bird flu has been confirmed in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Russia despite continuing biosecurity efforts. Additional outbreaks were also reported in India and Israel, and several nations –including Hong Kong and the Ukraine – have launched bans on poultry and poultry products from some of the affected nations. The spread comes less than one month after the first reports of H5N8, according to meat industry online publication Meatingplace. Animal health officials in Sweden report culling 200,000 laying hens to reduce further infection. An estimated 27,000 birds died in the first weeks’ European states confirmed the infections.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed disappointment following meetings between the U.S. and China last week that failed to make progress on biotechnology approval delays. The U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade did not focus on approval delays for biotechnology, or genetically modified crop traits. Vilsack says China has made progress in the approval process, but “has not fully implemented commitments” on biotechnology approvals. In 2015, China agreed to streamline the nation’s biotech approval process. Last week, the U.S. requested that China clarify how its approval system for biotech traits will operate in a “predictable, transparent, and scientific manner.” Vilsack says the U.S. will be watching China’s National Biosafety Committee meeting next month and expects the remaining eight biotech traits will be reviewed based on science and risk, and approved.

Officials in China are warning a potential trade war between the U.S. and China would not serve as a ‘one-way street.’ The comments stem from the possibility President-Elect Donald Trump could impose tariffs on Chinese goods, sparking a feared trade war between the two nations. Beijing has signaled some optimism regarding the issue as Trump has backed off of some other campaign pledges. Still, as Bloomberg reports, the message from China is that any move to tax Chinese imports would bring retaliation, the U.S. economy would take a hit, and America would damage its longstanding ties with Asia. China’s Foreign Affairs Committee chair said a trade war is not something China wants, but while referring to Trump’s campaign pledges regarding trade with China, warned: “It won’t be one-way traffic.” For now, Bloomberg speculates China has a two-pronged response to Trump: Warn him of the consequences of unilateral action and accelerate efforts to secure an Asia-wide trade pact that does not include the United States.