With a series of agricultural issues still hanging, the Pacific Rim trade negotiations heat up in Hawaii this week as U.S. negotiators try up to wrap up a deal that they can send to Congress for approval.

 

Canada has yet to make key concessions on its barriers to U.S. dairy and poultry products, while Australia is making a renewed push to get the United States to increase its sugar imports.

 

The Senate and House, meanwhile, need to agree on an extension of highway funding this week.The existing authorization is set to expire on Friday. The Senate is pushing for a long-term extension, but House Republicans are insisting on a short-term patch that would allow them to tie a longer-term deal in December to a tax bill that would include an extension of popular tax breaks, including Section 179 expensing allowance.

 

This is the last week the House is in action before its August recess, The Senate in in session for two more weeks, and there are several key agricultural issues still unfinished in the Senate- the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law for meat and reauthorization of school nutrition standards and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There has been little sign of progress on any of them.

 

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