Andrew Muhammad

Andrew Muhammad connects global agricultural trade policy to the food prices and commodity markets that consumers and producers feel every day. He writes for The Conversation on how tariffs, trade tensions, disease outbreaks and shifting demand reshape beef, tomato, soybean and other food sectors, using his background in agricultural economics to make complex trade dynamics clear and concrete. His work stands out for combining rigorous trade analysis with plain-language explanations of who gains, who loses and how policy choices move through the supply chain.

US beef prices and trade tensions

Beef is a core lens for Muhammad’s coverage, where he links household grocery costs to international trade disputes and animal disease shocks. In his article on soaring US beef prices, he traces price increases to tight cattle supplies, rising production costs, trade frictions with key suppliers and disease-related import restrictions, showing how each layer compounds the impact on retailers and consumers. He situates these developments inside North American trade arrangements, explaining how decisions by the US, Canada and Mexico on extending their trade deal affect long-term stability in beef flows and pricing. In academic work on China’s beef market, he quantifies trade distortions and exporter competition, providing a technical view of how US–China tensions alter market access and bargaining power for beef exporters. Across these pieces, he moves between data, policy and practical outcomes, emphasizing how trade rules and sanitary measures translate into the prices people see at the meat counter.

Tomato trade dispute between the US and Mexico

Tomatoes are another recurring subject, used by Muhammad to illustrate how protracted trade disputes in perishable foods play out for growers, importers and consumers. In his coverage of the tomato trade dispute between the US and Mexico, he explains how proposed tariffs and suspension agreements affect cross-border shipments and price stability. He follows the history of the dispute and the scheduled tariff increases, showing how policy decisions made in trade negotiations ripple through planting decisions, investment in greenhouse and field production, and ultimately supermarket prices. The piece reflects his broader approach: starting from a specific commodity fight, then widening the frame to show what the dispute reveals about agricultural trade governance and the leverage different producer groups hold.

Tennessee soybean farmers and better prices

Row crops and farmer economics feature strongly in Muhammad’s recent work, particularly in his writing on soybean producers. In his article on Tennessee soybean farmers getting a morale boost from better prices, he uses local farm experiences to illustrate how global demand shifts and tariff policies shape income prospects and risk. He situates improved prices within a volatile backdrop of trade disputes and retaliatory measures affecting US row crop exports, tying individual producer sentiment to the structural pressures documented in broader analyses of tariff policy impacts on agricultural commodities. The coverage balances on-the-ground perspectives with export and price data, giving readers both a sense of farmer optimism and a clear view of how quickly conditions can change when trade rules or foreign demand move.

US agricultural export trends and China’s impact

Muhammad also writes directly about US agricultural export trends, focusing on China’s role in the overall trade balance. In his work on China’s impact on the US trade deficit, he explains how shifts in Chinese import demand alter export opportunities for US agricultural sectors and change the composition of the trade deficit. He brings in trade statistics and historical patterns to show how commodity-specific changes, such as altered buying patterns in grains or meat, aggregate into national-level trade outcomes. This export focus aligns with his wider research on international trade and global food demand, where he models import demand elasticities across major agricultural, food and forest sectors to understand price and quantity responses to policy or market shocks. His writing for The Conversation distills these technical themes into accessible narratives about why certain crops and products see sudden export booms or contractions and what that means for long-term planning in agriculture.

Food, drink and trade policy beyond a single commodity

Beyond staple foods, Muhammad has examined how trade policy reshapes markets for products like whiskey, using high-profile disputes to illustrate the reach of tariffs and trade wars into everyday goods. In his work on whiskey, Brexit and the trade war, he shows how changes in trade relations between the US, the UK and the European Union affect distillers, exporters and consumers, extending his agricultural trade lens into the broader food and drink economy. His public profiles describe him as a professor of agricultural economics and Blasingame Chair of Excellence in agricultural policy at the University of Tennessee, with a specialization in international trade and global food demand. He has written dozens of journal articles and reports on agricultural trade and policy and serves in editorial roles for food distribution research, which informs the depth of data and economic reasoning in his journalism. He also appears as a podcast guest to discuss climate, environment and food, bringing trade perspectives into wider conversations about sustainability and food systems. Across outlets, the through-line is a consistent focus on how trade rules, tariffs and global demand patterns shape commodity markets, farm incomes and consumer prices in the food and drink sectors.