TRADE UPDATE

Food & Agriculture
June 24, 2025

Prepared by DTB AgriTrade

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HIGHLIGHTS

  • G7 Meetings: President Donald Trump met with leaders of G7 countries in Canada, but there were no announcements or public indications of progress on new deals. Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed an agreement in May that opens additional market access opportunities for beef and ethanol.
  • Tomato Suspension Agreement: The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) is requesting comments on the tomato suspension agreement following the Department of Commerce’s announcement that it intends to impose duties on Mexican tomatoes, which has led to veiled threats of retaliation against U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico and concerns about job losses in the Southwest.
  • USDA Trade News: USDA announced greater market access for U.S. agricultural products in Thailand, Vietnam, and Brazil. It also rolled out a plan to combat the spread of the New World screwworm fly while enhancing collaboration with Mexico.
  • International Organization Meeting:
    • The World Trade Organization’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee met to review non-tariff trade measures and held a thematic session on the sidelines of the meeting, focused on combating antimicrobial resistance.
    • The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held its Global Agrifood Biotechnologies Conference on agricultural biotechnology as part of its science and innovation agenda.
  • Africa-China Trade: China announced that it would eliminate tariffs on all goods from virtually all African countries.
  • EU Carbon Border Tax Simplification: The European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on June 18 to simplify elements of its E.U. Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) legislation.

“There is great concern among stakeholders that the tariff implementation changes, especially with China, will recreate the supply chain challenges we faced during the pandemic with severe port congestion, inaccessible vessel capacity and containers, higher freight rates, and shipment delays.”

—From a June 17 industry coalition letter on tariffs and supply chain congestion.

G7 Meetings

Most G7 Leaders Go Home Empty-handed as Trump Departs Early

  • G7 leaders met last week in western Canada, where President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a deal originally announced in May, but there were few public indications of progress on bilateral negotiations with other G7 members.
    • The signed U.S.-U.K. Economic Prosperity Deal reflected the terms of the agreement reached last month, the first deal announced following Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement on April 2.
    • The deal alludes to further negotiations to increase market access and reduce non-tariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports, but no details have been announced regarding outcomes or the process.
  • The U.S. and Canada are trying to reach an agreement by July 21. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will adjust its retaliatory measures in response to U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs if no agreement is reached by that time.  
  • The issue of 25% tariffs on Japanese automobiles loomed large when Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. While the U.K. was able to negotiate a deal on automobiles, it is unknown if a similar deal would be acceptable to either Japan or the United States.
  • Other leaders were eager to talk to Trump at the summit to negotiate a trade deal before the July 9 deadline, which marks the end of the pause on U.S. tariffs. However, he made an unexpected departure, citing the Israel-Iran conflict as the need to return to Washington. This leaves many major U.S. allies without a trade deal to date, with the deadline fast approaching.
  • The G7 leaders agreed to several initiatives for collaboration, covering topics such as critical minerals supply chains, artificial intelligence, and transnational crime.
  • While agriculture was not a focus of the G7 leader meetings, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) organized the first Americas Agriculture and Food Security Forum alongside the G7.
Photo: European Council

Tomato Suspension Agreement

USITC Requests Comments Amidst Concerns on Jobs and Mexican Retaliation

  • The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a request for comments to help it determine if the situation with fresh tomatoes from Mexico has changed enough to warrant changes to the current suspension agreement.
  • In April 2025, the Department of Commerce notified its intent to withdraw from the latest agreement following a June 2023 request from the Florida tomato industry, which would reimpose antidumping duties on Mexican tomato imports.
  • Florida lawmakers applauded the decision while southwestern lawmakers have raised concerns with Commerce about job impacts in their states.
  • Following Commerce’s original announcement that it intended to suspend the agreement, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum indicated that this could lead to retaliation on U.S. agricultural exports, specifically poultry and pork.

USDA Trade News

Market Access Announcement

  • Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins recently announced market access changes in Thailand, Vietnam, and Brazil.
    • American citrus and apple growers will enjoy greater access to Thailand. The market has been reopened for apple growers from Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Additionally, Thailand loosened import requirements for citrus fruits from Arizona.
    • California stone fruit growers will have greater access to Vietnam following negotiations between USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and its counterparts in Vietnam.
    • U.S. dairy producers will continue to have market access in Brazil after the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) lifted its suspension of exports of whey protein powder from a U.S. dairy plant.

 New World Screwworm Strategy

  • The Department of Agriculture announced a plan to combat the spread of the New World screwworm fly, which had been eradicated in the U.S. for decades. The screwworm is difficult to detect and can cause severe harm and even death to cattle. The U.S. temporarily halted imports of Mexican cattle last month.
    • The plan uses a five-pronged approach, including close collaboration with Mexican and state officials, expanding USDA and land-grant research initiatives, and immediately building a sterile insect dispersal facility at Moore Air Base in Texas.
    • Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué welcomed the announcement, saying it was a positive step that will strengthen joint efforts between the U.S. and Mexico.
Secretary Rollins at the Texas-Mexico border on June 18. Photo: USDA.

International Organization Meeting

WTO SPS Meeting and Thematic Session

  • The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Committee met recently in Geneva. The meeting was an opportunity for U.S. officials to hold bilateral discussions on potential SPS issues, review notified regulations, and raise specific trade concerns (STCs), often in coordination with other members.
    • The U.S. raised six STCs and supported an additional four from other countries; these STCs targeted policies in the E.U., China, India, Vietnam, and Turkey.
  • The WTO also held a thematic session on the sidelines of the meeting, focused on combating antimicrobial resistance.

FAO Agricultural Biotechnology Conference

  • The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations held a Global Agrifoods and Biotechnology Conference as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations. The conference, “Biotechnologies for a Sustainable Future: Driving Agrifood Systems Transformation,” was held June 16-18 in Rome.
    • The conference focused on how biotechnological innovation could transform agrifood systems to make them more efficient, sustainable, and resilient. The sessions explored themes such as science-based innovation, adapting regulatory frameworks for emerging biotechnologies, and the importance of new technologies being safe, trusted, and accessible.

Africa-China Trade

China Announces Unilateral Tariff Elimination for African Exports

  • The Chinese government announced a zero-tariff policy for nearly all goods imported from 53 African countries (the only exception is Eswatini, which recognizes Taipei and does not have diplomatic relations with Beijing), in addition to an expanded zero-tariff policy for the least developed countries.
  • African exports to China have grown significantly in the past decade, though not as much as imports.
  • Twenty African countries are subject to higher country-specific tariffs for U.S. imports beginning July 9, while the rest receive 10% duties. In addition, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which reduces some duties for some African countries, expires at the end of September.
  • In its announcement, the Chinese government opportunistically positions itself as upholding “a free and open international economic and trade order” in contrast to the “ongoing turbulence in international trade,” presumably coming from the United States.
Chart: China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies

European Union

Carbon Border Tax Simplification

  • On June 18, the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on changes to the E.U. Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) legislation, set to take effect next year. These CBAM rules mandate that carbon-intensive products imported into the E.U. will incur a CO2 price equivalent to what E.U. producers pay.
    • This applies to goods such as fertilizers, cement, iron, steel, aluminum, electricity, and hydrogen, along with certain precursors and downstream products.
    • The objective is to safeguard E.U. industries by equalizing carbon costs between imported goods and European products that comply with the E.U. emissions trading system, thereby offsetting lower production costs in countries with less stringent environmental regulations.
    • These modifications are part of the E.U.’s efforts to streamline the new legislation, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises and occasional importers.
    • A new de minimis threshold of 50 tonnes will be implemented, exempting 90% of importers from the E.U.’s CBAM if they import less than 50 tonnes per year of the covered goods. However, the European Commission estimates that 99% of emissions from cement, iron, steel, and aluminum imports will still be covered.
    • Neither CBAM nor the Emissions Trading Scheme that it is based on currently covers agricultural products directly.