Agriculture Groups Worried About Import Restrictions

Jul 12, 2017

The National Pork Producers Council and 17 other food and agriculture organizations, representing the vast majority of production agriculture, today sent a letter to the Trump administration urging it to refrain from placing restrictions on imports of steel and aluminum. The organizations are very concerned that such restrictions will boomerang against U.S. food and agriculture exports.

The groups warned that “the aftermath [of restrictions on steel and aluminum imports] could be disastrous for the global trading system and for U.S. agriculture in particular.” The groups pointed out that many countries that export the metals to the United States are also large importers of U.S. agricultural products. “The potential for retaliation from these trading partners is very real,” said the groups.

Under the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXI, national security can be a legitimate reason to restrict trade, but it rarely is cited.

“No country can dictate another’s national security needs,” the organizations wrote, “so now every country with a sensitive industry would know that it could follow the example of the United States and find a national security reason to circumvent trade commitments, no matter how flimsy the reason might be.”

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Video: Validating Net Energy in Commercial Swine Systems - Gustavo Lima

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate at Iowa State University, explains how soybean meal net energy is evaluated using growth assays and calorimetry. He discusses caloric efficiency, validation under commercial conditions, and differences between controlled and real-world environments. Gustavo also highlights practical implications for diet formulation and ingredient valuation. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Indirect calorimetry provides a precise estimation of ingredient energy, yet validation under production conditions remains essential for accurate application in real systems.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, specializing in swine nutrition, ingredient evaluation, and energy metabolism. With over 15 years of experience across Latin America, his work focuses on soybean meal utilization, caloric efficiency, and applied research for commercial production systems.