Source: POLITICO' SMORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/24/18

The U.S. and China wrapped up two days of talks with no detente, as expected. That may be just how President Donald trump wants it, especially as the U.S. looks to be on course to add tariffs to another $200 billion in Chinese imports, Pro Trade's Doug Palmer writes.

"By not having an agreement, Donald Trump really looks good and tough," said Robert Lawrence, a Harvard University trade and investment professor. "Once you get an agreement, people are going to look at it and say, 'Did you really solve our problem?'" 

Lawrence added. "So, I actually believe the Chinese will make offers and it most likely will never be enough — and we're going to sit with these tariffs in place for a very long time."

How we got here: Pro DataPoint's Taylor Miller Thomas charts out the timeline of the escalating tariffs between the U.S. and China. Pros, check out the DataPoint graphic here. Want to add DataPoint to your Pro account?

Europe could be on board: European Union officials are hopeful Washington will have to call a ceasefire in hostilities with allies in order to unify against China, reports POLITICO Europe's Jakob Hanke.

Both Europeans and Americans are hardening their defenses against China's pursuit of key technologies through mergers and acquisitions. And Japan, too, is joining in the effort to put pressure on China at the World Trade Organization.

Big drop in some of China's ag imports: Customs data released early Thursday showed steep declines in Beijing's imports of sorghum, corn and grain in July. China took in roughly 242,508 tons of sorghum last month, a drop of 62.5 percent from the same month last year, Reuters reported, using data from China's General Administration of Customs. Nearly all of China's sorghum imports are grown in the U.S. Beijing imported about 64 percent less corn in July, compared with the same month last year, while wheat shipments slid 43 percent.

Anxious about the pie: Commodity groups are on edge as they await details from USDA on how payments will be determined, particularly after a report earlier this week that soybeans could get $1.65 per bushel, while corn could get a penny per bushel — a situation that, if true, would most likely result in soybean growers getting the majority of the payouts. Perdue cast doubt on those figures on Thursday, however.

"It's going to be hard for the Department of Agriculture to make everybody happy," said John Block, who served as agriculture secretary during the Reagan Administration and is now working with Americans for Farmers & Families, an ag coalition focused on protecting NAFTA.