Ag News: Brazil Rice Subsidized
**Brazil, known for its successful World Trade Organization challenge to U.S. cotton support programs, is now suspected of breaking WTO rules by subsidizing rice exports.
According to Agri-Pulse, Brazil has dusted off a pair of government support programs that U.S. farmers say are being used to push Brazilian rice into the U.S. and other countries where the U.S. fights to keep a market share.
Brazilian rice exports to the U.S. for the first two months of this year are 60 percent higher than last year.
**President Trump appears to once again be shifting his stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after a White House meeting last week showed possible signs the U.S. would be re-entering the trade pact.
CBS News reports, Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. from the trade deal, as one of the first items on his to-do list after taking office.
The President tweeted late Tuesday that while Japan and South Korea would "like" the U.S to re-join the TPP, "I don't like the deal for the U.S."
**Argentina, the world's third biggest soy producer, booked its largest purchase of U.S. soybeans in 20 years Tuesday after drought cut its harvest, forcing crushers there to turn to imports.
Agrimarketing.com reports the surprise move pushed Chicago soybean futures to a one-month high.
The USDA reports 120,000 tons of U.S. soybeans were sold to Argentina for delivery during the 2018-19 marketing season, the biggest since 1997.