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President Trump Threatens New Round of Tariffs Over the Weekend: Here’s the Latest

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:39:35 GMT

U.S. commodity markets were down to start the week in Sunday night trade as the markets digested the latest tariff announcement by President Donald Trump. On Saturday, President Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1. The announcement came after a string of new tariff threats last week, as the Trump administration’s deadline for trade deals came due.

On Monday, President Trump continued with tariff talk, saying he would implement “severe tariffs” on Russia unless a peace deal is reached with Ukraine within 50 days.

He provided few details on how they would be implemented but described them as 100% secondary tariffs, meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.

The latest tariff threats weren’t good news for farmers looking to price fertilizer for fall, as StoneX Group says Russia is the United States’ top destination for both urea and UAN imports. StoneX points out Russia’s market chair has “grown substantially in recent years.”

Monday’s news follows a week where many anticipated trade deals. Instead, President Trump made a series of announcements with new tariffs. The new tariffs on Mexico and the European Union, which Trump announced Saturday, capped off a week of sweeping tariff threats.

Earlier in the week, Trump warned of a possible:

50% tariff on all copper imports
50% tariff on all goods from Brazil
35% tariff on Canadian goods
25% tariff on goods from Japan
25% tariff on imports from South Korea
200% tariff on imported pharmaceuticals

The positive side of the announcements is the Trump administration says any products covered under the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (UMCA) won’t face the new tariffs.

President Trump also sent letters to both Japan and South Korea last week, saying their goods will be taxed at 25% starting August 1st.

The President posted the two letters he sent to those countries’ leaders on his Truth Social site. In the letter to South Korea, he stated when it comes to Korea’s tariff and non-tariff polices and trade barriers, the relationship between the two countries has been far from reciprocal. He added the 25% tariff was far less than what he says is needed to eliminate a trade deficit disparity.

The letter to Japan added if Japanese companies decide to build or manufacture a product within the U.S., there will be no tariffs. Japanese and U.S. negotiators have been working for several weeks to try and reach a deal.

Lack of Progress Impacts Commodity Prices
The lack of trade announcements last week was just one factor that caused corn prices to tank, according to AgMarket.net’s Matt Bennett. While rain in the upper Corn Belt was also bearish for the markets, little to no movement on trade is also pressuring prices.

“We had no trade announcements, and then we continued to talk about tariffs. The unfortunate reality right now is it appears the administration is playing the long game, trying to get people to come to the table with better trade deals than what we currently have seen. But it certainly isn’t doing any favors for the corn market,” Bennett said on U.S. Farm Report this weekend. “I think something like a big trade agreement certainly could tilt the tide more in the favor of the corn market moving higher. Until you get that, with weather being as good as what it is, there’s nothing there.”

It’s not all bearish, though. Arlan Suderman of StoneX Group says the 50% tariff on Brazil is actually bullish for beef.

“We already have a shortage of protein in America with the cattle herd being shrinking over recent years because of lingering drought in the western half of the country, and supplies are tight. We’re just getting to the point of trying to rebuild those supplies, which holding back heifers, tightens up the supply of meat even more. We’re feeding to record-high carcass weights to try to fill the void. We’re increasing imports to record levels. Brazil is the primary supplier of those imports: 27% of our imports come from Brazil in the first five months of the year, according to the latest data we have available, that’s 666 million pounds. That’s 4% of consumption,” Suderman says.

If you think 4% doesn’t sound like a big deal, Suderman says it is - especially considering meat demand in the U.S. has turned out to be inelastic.

“We’ve been shifting from a starch-based diet more heavily toward protein-based. And as the prices go up, we’re actually increasing demand for beef and the other proteins - but we don’t have the supply of it. I think that could be a real problem going forward for the meat industry and the meat supply. We will have to find somewhere else to get that meat,” Suderman says.

Are Trade Deals Close?

While President Trump initially stated he had reached trade agreements with 200 countries, only a few have been officially announced. These include deals with China, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, however. Negotiations with other countries are ongoing, with the administration extending the deadline for tariff-related negotiations to August 1.

The European Union says it was working on sealing a trade deal with the U.S. by the end of this month, and the European Commission president says the EU was working closely with the Trump administration to reach a deal.

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins Says New Deals May Be Struck Over Tariffs By End of Week

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 00:23:18 GMT

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that new deals could be struck with other countries over trade tariffs by the end of this week.

Rollins made the comments in an interview to Fox News host Bret Baier on the network’s “Special Report” show.

Why It’s Important

President Donald Trump said last week that he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the U.S. and higher duties on dozens of other countries, including some of Washington’s biggest trading partners, rattling global markets and bewildering U.S. allies.

After China retaliated with its own tariffs, the United States said on Tuesday that 104% duties on imports from China would take effect shortly after midnight, even as the Trump administration moved to quickly start talks with other trading partners targeted by Trump’s sweeping tariff plan.

“I believe, sincerely, it will be sooner rather than later. I believe we’ll be hearing about new deals that are being struck, perhaps by the end of the week,”

Rollins said, adding 70 countries had reached out to the U.S. for talks.

U.S. stocks dropped on Tuesday for a fourth straight trading day since Trump’s tariffs announcement last week.

The administration has scheduled talks with South Korea and Japan, two close allies and major trading partners, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to visit next week.
Trump’s sweeping tariffs have raised fears of recession and upended a global trading order that has been in place for decades.

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Global Demand for Cheese Continues to Climb

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:00:00 GMT

People can’t get enough cheese, regardless of what continent they live on. Cheese has long been a staple in many countries’ cuisine, and in those cultures where cheese has more recently been introduced, demand continues to rise. “Global cheese demand just keeps climbing,” said Sarina Sharp, analyst with the Daily Dairy Report.

According to USDA’s semi-annual Dairy: World Markets and Trade report, global cheese consumption is projected to reach a new record high of 21.6 million metric tons, or 47.7 billion pounds, this year. Compared to 2023, global cheese consumption is up 1.2% and compared to 2019, it’s up 5.7%.

“Global cheese production is rising even faster than demand, and the United States is the major contributor to the surplus,” Sharp noted. USDA expects that U.S. cheese production will be 9.8% greater in 2024 than it was in 2019, outpacing growth in domestic consumption, which is likely to rise 8.3%. During the same period, foreign cheese output is projected to grow 4.2%, which will not keep pace with the expected 4.6% increase in foreign cheese consumption.”

Sharp’s math makes it clear that the U.S. cheese industry will continue to depend on exports, but she quickly adds that the news on going forward is positive. USDA expects that each of the world’s major cheese importers will import at least as much cheese this year as they did in 2023.

“However, slower economic growth and waning populations have softened demand in key Asian markets. Although Japan and South Korea are likely to import more cheese this year than they did in 2023, their imports are expected to still fall short of 2020, 2021, and 2022 volumes,” Sharp said. “Somewhat softer demand from these markets will likely be offset by record-setting imports from Mexico and China and record-tying purchases from Russia, the world’s second-largest market for imported cheese.”

USDA expects U.S. cheese exports to climb 7.6% this year to a record high. In late 2023, U.S. cheese prices declined even as values climbed in Europe and Oceania. That price gap will likely provide U.S. exporters with some new business in the first half of 2024.

“To keep product moving, though, prices will have to stay low enough to retain buyers’ attention,” Sharp said. “Strong exports this year could help lift the U.S. cheese market from its recent depression, but with cheese output heavy on both sides of the Atlantic, the ceiling on the cheese market will likely need to be quite low.”

Japan

President Trump Threatens New Round of Tariffs Over the Weekend: Here’s the Latest

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins Says New Deals May Be Struck Over Tariffs By End of Week

Global Demand for Cheese Continues to Climb

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