**It took a little more than 13 years, but the U.S. is again exporting beef to Brazil after a ban that started when bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, was first discovered in the U.S. in 2003.

That's welcome news to U.S. cattle ranchers and packers, but there is still some animosity in the industry about a recent decision by the U.S. to lift its ban on fresh and chilled beef from Brazil.

Both countries officially announced they were lifting the beef bans on each other last August.

**The U.S. Commerce Department is playing hardball with Mexico over its sugar exports, and U.S. lawmakers appreciate the tactics.

In a letter to President Trump, 38 House members wrote on behalf of American sugarbeet and sugarcane growers, urging continued push back in response to the serious injury Mexico caused to U.S. producers.

On Monday, the Department of Commerce announced an impasse and said the department had officially told Mexico the U.S. would have to begin collecting antidumping and countervailing duties on sugar imports by June 5.

**The Senate this week takes up two of President Trump’s nominees who are critical to agriculture, his picks for Food and Drug Administration commissioner and U.S. trade representative.

Last night, the Senate had a cloture vote to advance Scott Gottlieb’s nomination to run FDA. Senators will move later in the week to confirm USTR pick Robert Lighthizer, an international trade lawyer who served at USTR during the Reagan administration.

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