TRADE UPDATE

Food & Agriculture
January 6, 2026

By Kristy Goodfellow, Vice President of Trade and Industry Affairs, and Ameya Khanapurkar, Project and Policy Coordinator

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HIGHLIGHTS

  • Trade Promotion:
    • USDA announced agribusiness trade missions for 2026 to Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
  • Bilateral Agreements:
    • The White House issued a proclamation announcing the extension of the existing U.S.–Israel Agricultural Trade Agreement through 2026.
  • USTR:
    • U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer used an op-ed to dub 2025 the “Year of the Tariff.”
  • World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement:
    • The WTO Dispute Settlement Body approved EU retaliation up to $13.64 million against the U.S. in the EU’s challenge of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on Spanish ripe olives.
  • Trade Remedies:
    • The Department of Commerce issued a post-preliminary analysis on the antidumping (AD) duty announced on Italian pasta makers, revising the highest dumping margin to 13.89%, down from 91.74%.
    • On Dec. 31, a coalition of strawberry growers filed an AD duty petition against fresh winter strawberries from Mexico and alleged a dumping margin of 116.69%.

“The year 2025 will be remembered as the year of the tariff, regardless of one’s economic ideology. International trade is neither good nor bad — it just is. The real question is whether trade patterns serve the national interest. For President Donald Trump and his administration, that means a trade policy that accelerates re-industrialization.”

—U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in a Financial Times op-ed

Trade Promotion

2026 USDA TRADE MISSIONS

  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced six agribusiness trade missions for 2026.
  • The planned destinations are Indonesia in February, the Philippines in April, Turkey in May, Australia and New Zealand in August, Saudi Arabia in September, and Vietnam in November.
  • USDA announced that applications for the Philippines trade mission are due by Jan. 9.

Bilateral Agreements

US–ISRAEL AGRICULTURE TRADE AGREEMENT EXTENSION

  • The White House issued a proclamation announcing the extension of the existing U.S.–Israel Agricultural Trade Agreement through Dec. 31, 2026.
  • The proclamation also shared technical modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to reflect changes that were agreed upon in December 2025.
  • This agreement ensures continued duty-free or preferential access for Israeli products in the U.S.
  • The U.S. imported approximately $534 million of agricultural and related products from Israel in 2024 and $393 million between January and September of 2025.

USTR

JAMIESON GREER OP-ED

  • In his op-ed in the Financial Times, the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer dubbed 2025 as the “Year of the Tariff” and argued trade is “neither inherently good nor bad – it just is.” The real question, Greer wrote, is whether its current patterns serve the national interest.
  • Greer summarized major trade negotiations in 2025 and outlined the markers of trade policy success as reducing the trade deficit, raising wages for American workers, and increasing manufacturing’s share of the U.S. economy.

WTO Dispute Settlement

RIPE OLIVES FROM SPAIN

  • The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) agreed on Dec. 19 to a request from the European Union for authorization to retaliate up to $13.64 million against the U.S. in the EU’s challenge of U.S. antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on Spanish ripe olives.
  • The EU has successfully challenged Section 771B of the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930, which requires the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to presume the entire benefit of a subsidy provided to a raw agricultural input is passed through to the downstream processed agricultural product.
  • During the Dec. 19 DSB meeting, the U.S. delegate disagreed with the arbitrator’s assessment to calculate nullification or impairment – the basis for determining the value of retaliation – on the impact to Spain, instead of making the calculation based on the entire EU.

Trade Remedies

US REVISES TARIFFS ON ITALIAN PASTAS

  • The DOC issued a post-preliminary analysis on the AD duty announced on Italian pasta makers – including Pastificio Lucio Garofalo S.p.A, La Molisana, S.p.A, and others – drastically decreasing the weighted-average dumping margin. Now, the highest margin is 13.89%, down from 91.74%.
  • In September 2025, the International Trade Administration’s enforcement and compliance division released a preliminary finding that La Molisana and Pastificio Lucio Garofalo sold pasta at less than normal value from 2023 to 2024. This figure was calculated entirely on adverse facts available, which is when DOC infers information that is often worse for the party to the investigation when they fail to provide the requested information.
  • This AD order was first announced in 1996.
  • The final results are scheduled to be announced on March 12, 2026. Before that, DOC will provide interested parties with the opportunity to comment.

ANTIDUMPING DUTY PETITION ON FRESH WINTER STRAWBERRIES

  • On Dec. 31, Strawberry Growers for Fair Trade – a coalition of strawberry growers that includes the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services – filed an AD duty petition on fresh winter strawberries from Mexico and alleged a dumping margin of 116.69%.
  • This includes all fresh and chilled winter strawberries from Mexico harvested or entered between Oct. 1 and March 31.