Washington made a famous “pivot to Asia” in 2012 under the Obama Administration. The rise of China and a realization that 60 percent of the world’s population was not in the Europe/Middle East but in Asia. Vladimir Putin has reminded the U.S. capital that Europe remains at risk. Meanwhile, China has been courting Latin American countries, hoping to counter the footholds the U.S. has in Asia. It has also stepped up investing in Mexico (+76 percent) where it hopes to own the factories selling goods to Americans. Now German political leader Martin Scholz is noting the importance of Latin America. Notably calling the region the closest to having European values, though that is hard to understand beyond the fact they spe...
A federal appeals court paused a USITC ruling against President Trump’s use of Section 122 to impose 10-percent global tariffs. A bipartisan group of 80 House members asked USTR to investigate specialty crop imports from Mexico for unfair trade practices. India notified the WT...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.