Japanese PM Visits Trump; Syngenta Facing Lawsuits

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits President Trump on Friday as they seek to shore up the trade and security relationship between the countries in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trump and Abe spoke by phone last month, with reports they’d both committed to deepening the “bilateral trade and investment relationship.”

Many in U.S. Ag were disappointed in Trump’s decision to pull out of the 12-nation TPP in large part because of concessions Japan had made to lower trade barriers limiting imports of beef, pork and other products.

The effective date for a new Ag Department rule that sets standards of proof for market practices in the livestock and poultry industry has been delayed until April 22nd.

The delay carries out a White House order issued the day President Trump took office to allow for review of rules implemented in the final weeks of the Obama administration.

The interim final rule that USDA’s Grain Inspection and Packers and Stockyards Administration released in December was originally set to take effect February 21st.

The first trial, in a number of class-action lawsuits, against Syngenta over the release of its Viptera corn trait is scheduled for early June.

The trial will take place in a federal court in Kansas City.

Syngenta is facing several lawsuits regarding the MIR162 biotech trait, released under the name Agrisure Viptera in 2010. The lawsuits claim Syngenta’s release of the technology caused significant losses to corn farmers across the U.S.