File photo of apples in a U.S. supermarket. (CHUYN/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada gearing up to slap more tariffs on U.S. imports

Canada will update its list of U.S. imports, including farm products, on which it will place tariffs in retaliation to U.S. tariffs on imported Canadian steel and aluminum, David MacNaughton, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, said Monday. “The intention… is not to escalate anything but simply to do what we said we’d do — […] Read more









Valero Energy’s ethanol plant at Aurora, S.D., about 90 km north of Sioux Falls. (Valero.com)

Trump’s EPA unveils plan to pump up ethanol as Big Oil cries foul

Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released its proposed rule lifting a summer ban on higher-ethanol blends of gasoline to help farmers, putting the agency on a collision course with Big Oil which has called the move illegal. The proposal to broaden sales of the so-called E15 rule marks the latest flashpoint […] Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (Skyhobo/E+/Getty Images)

U.S. EPA changed rules to help refiners get biofuel waivers, suit alleges

Reuters — U.S. environmental regulators quietly changed the way they assess applications from refineries for waivers from the nation’s biofuels law, making it possible for highly profitable plants to secure lucrative exemptions, according to court documents filed by a biofuels trade group on Thursday. The new documents, part of a lawsuit that began last year, […] Read more


CBOT May 2019 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands, a gauge of market volatility. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans inch up on China purchases

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures inched upward on Thursday on news that Chinese state-owned firms bought at least 500,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans, while wheat futures dropped to their lowest levels in more than a year on pressure from a strengthening dollar, traders said. Chinese state-owned firms bought the U.S. soybeans for shipment […] Read more