A New poll from Morning Consult shows the majority of voters favor trade. The poll shows 57 percent of registered voters have a favorable view of “fair trade,” and 50 percent said they would be more likely to support TPP if they knew it would provide new markets overseas for U.S. farm products. The American Farm Bureau Federation says the results are something “all candidates should keep in mind as a congressional vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement comes closer to reality.” Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall says “the more people know, the more they will support this vitally important agreement.” Other findings include: 52 percent of voters say they would be more likely to support TPP if they knew the deal would increase annual income in the U.S. by $131 billion, and 69 percent of voters support trade policies that will open new markets for U.S. products and U.S. farmers while less than one in 10, or eight percent, oppose.

One U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee member is not optimistic the Trans-Pacific Partnership will pass Congress. Senate Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota is a proponent of trade, but says in regards to TPP “I think it’s going to be a challenge.” Her comments come despite a plan by the Obama Administration to send the agreement to Congress soon. North Dakota farmers stand to benefit from the trade agreement through agricultural exports. However, Politico reports as a result of the campaign-influenced climate in Congress, Heitkamp says: “I don’t hold out a lot of hope that we can get TPP done — but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be wrong.”

Trade negotiators representing Vietnam say the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is not open to renegotiation, pushing back against calls from select U.S. politicians that say the deal needs amended to their liking. Bloomberg reports a Vietnam trade official said the agreement strikes the best possible balance among the interests of the deal’s 12 members. Amid election-year politics, several lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have said they will note vote for TPP. Further, both candidates for President have taken stabs against the trade deal, putting approval in jeopardy. The Obama Administration is expected to send a bill that would authorize the trade agreement to Congress following the November elections.

Beef exporters from the United States continue to increase market share in Japan as they battle with exporters from Australia. Global Meat News reports shipments of U.S. beef to Japan rose 12 percent in volume and five percent in value to $707.2 million over the first six months of the year. The increase comes despite the preferred beef from Australia which benefits from more favorable tariffs. U.S. producers, in line with other suppliers, face a 38.5 percent tariff rate on beef exports to Japan. Australian producers pay a 30.5 percent tariff on chilled beef and 27.5 percent for frozen, thanks to the Japan­Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, which went into effect at the start of 2015. Japan is one of the world’s leading importers of beef.

Agriculture groups made their pitch on policy to Republican candidate for President Donald Trump last week, after sitting down two months ago with the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The American Soybean Association said the groups used the meeting to highlight “several big, broad policy areas as examples of matters deserving attention during the election, including agricultural trade, food safety, farm bill and crop insurance programs, ag labor, infrastructure and the importance of science-based regulatory policy.” The groups met with the Clinton Campaign in June. Other organizations represented in the meeting include the American Farm Bureau Federation, commodity groups representing soybeans, corn, cotton and wheat, and the National Farmers Union, among others.

The four major U.S. corn syrup makers are raising prices at a time of slowing demand. Corn sweetener manufacturers like Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill sent letters to customers earlier this month that were obtained by Reuters, and seek to lock in prices for 2017. High-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, is trading at the highest in U.S. Department of Agriculture records dating back to 1994, even as U.S. consumption of carbonated soft drinks, which accounts for two-thirds or more of HFCS usage, sank to a three-decade low. The corn syrup manufacturers, which make up the Corn Refiners Association, are seeking to raise prices by a minimum of $1.50 to $2.50 per hundredweight, down from increases of $3.50 to $4.50 last year. The companies, according to the letters, were seeking to wrap up contracts extending into 2017 by the end of August. Reuters says higher prices have prompted some food makers to consider shifting to sugar, especially beet sugar, which is generally cheaper than cane sugar. Food manufacturers are also facing growing consumer demand for so-called clean label products that are free of ingredients such as HFCS, according to industry analysts.