Trump on Panama Canal and Poultry Settlement

**Reports say President-elect Trump threatened to reassert U.S. control over the Panama Canal, citing excessive rates to use the passage.

Reaction from South American experts says Trump’s stance is “baffling” as Panama’s president is considered a pro-business conservative who’s made a lot of overtures for a special relationship with the U.S.

Farm Bureau’s Betty Resnick says 72% of all cargo passing through the Panama Canal is either coming from or going to the U.S.

**Nine of the nation’s largest poultry processors have agreed to pay settlements in a years-long antitrust lawsuit alleging they conspired to depress workers’ wages at their facilities.

The plaintiffs filed a memorandum on December 23 supporting a motion for preliminary approval of the nine new settlements by the defendants.

The suit was filed in 2019 and alleges that chicken companies and two consulting firms conspired to fix and depress hourly wages and benefits.

**A Continuing Resolution keeping the government fully funded through March 14, also included economic aid for farmers experiencing one of the biggest income drops in many years.

In fact, over the past two years, USDA projects that farmers will experience the steepest two-year decline in net farm income in history.

Meanwhile, due to an ineffective safety net, government help for producers is slated to be at the lowest level since 1982.