Trump announces new sanctions on Chinese officials, but won’t scrap phase one trade deal

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2020/05/29/trump-announces-new-sanctions-on-chinese-officials-but-wont-scrap-phase-one-trade-deal/#285cb9d01160

• On Friday, President Trump announced new sanctions against Chinese officials. He directed his administration to revoke special trade exemptions for Hong Kong. However, he did say that he would keep a phase one trade deal with China intact.
• Sanctions and visa restrictions will be put into place on Chinese officials who played a role in “smothering” Honk Kong’s freedom.
• He also directed his administration to end Hong Kong’s preferential treatment in customs, trade and travel.
• Along with these restrictions/sanctions, the U.S. will also terminate its relationship with the World Health Organization. Trump feels that China has “total control” over the WHO.
• Trump stated that he believes China has engaged in a cover up of the “Wuhan virus.”

Iowa pork plant to close temporarily because of Covid-19

https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/iowa-pork-plant-to-close-temporarily-because-of-covid-19/

• Tyson Foods has temporarily closed its Storm Lake, IA pork plant due to 550 workers at the plant testing positive for coronavirus. The plant employs 2,500 individuals.
• The plant is scheduled to resume operations later this week after additional cleaning and sanitizing.
• The Storm Lake plant has a slaughter capacity of 17,000 hogs per day.

Ibach calls for a higher percentage of negotiated cash trade, says there is “some merit”

https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/ibach-says-calls-for-a-higher-percentage-of-negotiated-cash-trade-have-some-merit/

• USDA Under Secretary Greg Ibach stated last week that there is “some merit” to calls for a higher percentage of negotiated cash trade in the cattle industry.
• Ibach, a cattle rancher from Nebraska, told Brownfield that he is also concerned about price discovery in the industry.
• Ibach touched on the fact that often times, we are not able to report prices on what the actual negotiated price for animals really is.
• Ibach expects it to be an issues as Congress discusses reauthorization of mandatory price reporting later this year.

Boxed beef prices

www.nationalbeefwire.com

• Choice boxed beef: $363.34 (-$6.22)
• Select boxed beef: $340.07 (-$4.02)