China Trade Talks and USDA Budget Cuts
From the Ag Information Network, I'm Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.**Trade negotiations with China are going well enough for President Trump to postpone plans to raise the tariff rate on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Agrimarketing.com reports, the President's announcement comes after the latest round of bilateral talks wrapped up in Washington.
Plans are now being made for a meeting this month between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago to finalize a deal.
https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/122287
**Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says the USDA faces large spending cuts.
He tells agriculture.com, President Trump will ask for "one of the largest spending reductions in history" in the upcoming fiscal 2020 budget.
Perdue says he encouraged the administration to submit a package "within the realm of negotiation," considering Congress rejected Trump's previous budgets.
Acting White House Budget Director Russ Vought says the 2020 budget package will meet Trump's goal of cutting federal spending by 5% in so-called discretionary spending.
https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/trump-will-try-again-to-cut-usda-says-perdue
**USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson is calling for a record amount of meat and milk production in the year ahead.
According to Agri-Pulse, hog prices are expected to drop, a 7.5 percent dip. Steer and broiler prices will be mostly stable, up 1.2 percent and down 0.8 percent, respectively.
And milk prices are pegged for a 6.5 percent increase to $17.25 per hundredweight.
Animal proteins are all expected to approach or achieve record highs in 2019 as the beef, pork, chicken, and milk sectors all boost already solid production levels.
https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/11927-usda-predicts-stable-crop-record-livestock-production-in-2019