Following the European Union's example, the United States has also concluded trade agreements with countries in South America and India, both to boost exports and partly as a counterbalance to the EU's actions. Furthermore, the US is leveraging the USMCA, the agreement with Mexico and Canada, to gain greater benefits, but success cannot always be forced.
The agricultural section often receives a lot of attention in the agreements, although with varying degrees of success. The agreements naturally have consequences for the directly involved parties, as for parties that are excluded from it, and who may then react accordingly. US President Donald Trump and his entourage seem most eager to secure favorable terms for them and further support their own agriculture, but sometimes other factors also come into play.
Geographical protection
A key element for the EU in the agreement with Mercosur countries is that these countries recognize European geographical protection for products. This is precisely what the US opposes. It emphasizes the protection of generic products in agreements. This is also the case with the recent agreements with Argentina and India.
Distillers grain
In the US trade deal with India, the latter appears to have made few concessions to the US on agricultural matters. India's borders remain virtually closed to foreign products, and tariffs remain high, except for products like palm and sunflower oil. India wants to protect its own farmers at all costs.
The only concession India has made to the US is improved market access for distillers grain (DDGS) as animal feed, but even that concession is facing internal resistance in India.
Cheap minced meat from Milei
The US-Argentina agreement has been in the news primarily because of the US's approval of the low-tariff import of $800 million worth of Argentinian beef. This seems to deviate from the Trump agenda, as it's not in the best interests of American farmers. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of substantive benefits for American agriculture. While it may export more product to Argentina at a low tariff, purchasing power in that country is limited.
However, there's something else at play here. President Trump could very well use the cheap Argentinian meat to further his promise to keep life affordable for ordinary US citizens. He's promised "affordability," but it's not going very well. Cheap ground beef, made from Argentinian beef, does deliver a tangible result. At the same time, he's helping his political ally Javier Milei.
Pulling on USMCA agreements
To help its own farmers, the Washington government is preparing to tilt the free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada (USMCA) even more in the US's favor. According to Trump and his associates, both neighboring countries must open their borders even further to American products. If not, new tariffs may follow.
Many agricultural organizations in the US are watching this with trepidation. They are somewhat worried that this could have a counterproductive effect, although the dairy industry still believes that Canada, in particular, needs to do more. According to the Americans, the Canadians are too creative in circumventing existing agreements.
Smart Chinese
In recent weeks, American agriculture has learned that success is not always easy to force, even when firm commitments are secured from trading partners. President Trump had already, at the beginning of his second term, forced China to purchase more American soybeans.
China seemed in no hurry to do so, but over time it turned out that the country had very cleverly bought up the entire promised volume for this year through all sorts of underhand transactions, but without significantly boosting the (relatively low) market, according to American business media.