Target Europe The frustration with Europe in the Trump Administration is palpable. China has been viewed as unfair competition but out of design. It was a poorer country overly granted concessions that must now be clawed back. By contrast, Europe is viewed as manipulative, taking what should be a balanced relationship but creating rules to the disfavor of U.S. suppliers. In a podcast for USDA, USTR Robert Lighthizer complained that Europe has put up barriers to U.S. agricultural trade and, “We have to change that.” Moreover, he thinks the aggressiveness of Trump trade policy has empowered his ability to negotiate because now, “No one thinks we're bluffing.” With China, the Trump Administration’s opponen...
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
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.