U.S. agricultural exports have long been a bright spot in the U.S. balance of trade, with exports exceeding imports in every year since 1960, although in recent years the value of farm exports have experienced a downturn from the record level recorded in FY2014. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts U.S. agricultural exports in FY2017 will reach $134 billion. If realized, this total would represent a moderate rebound from FY2016, when exports sank to $129.7 billion, which was $10 billion below the FY2015 total and more than $20 billion below the peak of $152.3 billion in FY2014. The decline in the value of farm exports in recent years has reflected mainly lower market prices for bulk commodities. U.S. agricultural imports are forecast to total $113.5 billion in FY2017, essentially unchanged from $113.1 billion in FY2016, resulting in an agricultural trade surplus of $19.5 billion. This would compare favorably with a surplus of $13.9 billion in FY2016 but would still be well below the high of $43.1 billion in FY2014. Agricultural exports are important both to farmers and to the U.S. economy. From 2013 to 2015—the most recent calendar years for which figures are available—the value of U.S. agricultural exports accounted for 10% and 11% of total U.S. exports and 5% of total U.S. imports, according to USDA. As for the contribution of U.S. agricultural exports to the overall economy, USDA's Economic Research Service estimates that in 2014 each dollar of agricultural exports stimulated an additional $1.27 in business activity. Moreover, that same year, agricultural exports generated an estimated 1,132,000 full-time civilian jobs, including 808,000 jobs outside the farm sector. With the productivity of U.S. agriculture growing faster than domestic demand, farmers and agriculturally-oriented firms rely heavily on export markets to sustain prices and revenue. Within the agricultural sector itself, the importance of exports looms especially large, accounting for around 20% of total farm production by value. Export markets are a major outlet for many farm commodities, in some cases absorbing over one-half of U.S. output, including for wheat, cotton, and some specialty crops. Within the overall mix of agricultural exports, soybeans, corn, other feed crops, and wheat continue to rank at or near the top of the list of farm exports by value. But overall it is the high value product (HVPs) category—which includes such products as live animals, meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, nuts, fats, hides, feeds, sugar products, grain products, and processed fruits and vegetables—that comprises the largest share of exports in value terms. In FY2015, the HVP share of the value of U.S. agricultural exports represented 67% of the total. All states export agricultural commodities, but a minority of states account for a majority of farm export sales. In calendar year 2015, the 10 leading agricultural exporting states based on value—California, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, and Washington—accounted for 57% of the total value of U.S. agricultural exports that year. Status: Congress reauthorized major agricultural export promotion programs in February 2014 through FY2018 with the passage of the 2014 farm bill ( P.L. 113-79 ). For more information see CRS Report R43696, Agricultural Exports and 2014 Farm Bill Programs: Background and Current Issues . In September 2016, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launched two dispute settlement cases against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Chinese policies that USTR alleges are inconsistent with its WTO obligations and have distorted international trade in wheat, rice, and corn. In September 2016, USTR challenged China's domestic support measures for these crops, asserting that the level of government support appears to have been well in excess of China's WTO commitments. The U.S. subsequently filed a separate enforcement action in December 2016 over the same three commodities, alleging that China's management of the tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for these crops has improperly restricted access to the Chinese market by up to $3.5 billion. Under a TRQ, a lower tariff is levied on import quantities within the quota amount, while a higher rate is imposed on quantities in excess of the quota. In the initial action involving China's domestic support measures, USTR contends that the level of support that China has provided for rice, wheat, and corn has exceeded—by nearly $100 million from 2012 through 2015—the level to which the country committed when it joined the WTO of 8.5% of the value of its annual domestic agricultural production. USTR also asserts that China's support levels for domestic production have been above world market prices since 2012, thereby creating an incentive for Chinese farmers to increase production of these crops, which in turn has displaced imports from the United States and elsewhere. Concerning the TRQs, USTR asserted that China's administration of them is not transparent, predictable, or fair, citing impermissible restrictions on importation, unclear procedures, and lack of meaningful information on how the TRQs are managed. As a consequence, USTR points out that the TRQs for these crops during the most recent five years (2011-2015) have consistently gone unfilled even though global prices have favored importation. The TRQs, which USTR values at about $7 billion based on Chinese import prices in 2015, are global in nature, making them available to numerous exporters. Status: Following the U.S. trade enforcement action over China's domestic price support levels at the WTO in September, bilateral consultations were undertaken, but no resolution was agreed upon. Thus, in December, USTR requested that WTO establish a dispute settlement panel to examine China's domestic support levels for these crops, a request that was fulfilled in January 2017. Following its WTO challenge of China's administration of TRQs, U.S. officials requested bilateral consultations to seek a mutually agreeable solution before potentially moving to the next level of dispute resolution. If the talks prove to be unproductive, the United States could request that a WTO dispute settlement panel be appointed to examine China's TRQ administration. If the WTO would determine that China's price supports or its administration of its TRQs for wheat, rice, and corn (or both) are WTO inconsistent, then China would be obligated to take corrective measures. If China did not, the United States could seek authorization from the WTO to impose trade sanctions against China. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a proposed regional free trade agreement (FTA) that was negotiated by the Obama Administration and signed by the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The agreement had not yet entered into force when President Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from TPP on January 23, 2017. The fate of TPP is uncertain as other countries may seek to ratify a very similar deal without the United States. Concerning agricultural products, the agreement sought to liberalize trade through lower tariffs, expanded TRQs, and agreements over rules and procedures for reducing non-tariff barriers. Export markets are the destination for about 20% of U.S. agricultural production, providing material support for U.S. farm prices and income. As such, the importance of improving access to overseas markets is readily apparent and is expected to factor more importantly in the years ahead, because the growth of food demand abroad is expected to far outpace increases in domestic demand. TPP countries represent a major component of U.S. farm and food trade, providing markets for 42% of U.S. farm exports between 2011 and 2015, while also supplying 47% of U.S. agricultural imports. Among the TPP countries, Japan and Vietnam—with a combined population of around 220 million people—were expected to offer the greatest potential for expanding U.S. farm exports under TPP, because the United States does not already have free trade agreements (FTAs) with either country. Also, Japan and Vietnam impose significantly higher average most-favored-nation (MFN) tariffs on imports of agricultural products—at 12.9% and 16.3%, respectively—in 2015 compared with the U.S. average of 5.2%. Thus, tariff reductions under TPP would be expected to improve the competitiveness U.S. farm and food exports compared with domestic suppliers and non-TPP export competitors. As negotiated, TPP would have materially increased the overseas markets to which U.S. farm and food products would have preferential access. In its report of May 2016, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) concluded that TPP would provide significant benefits for U.S. agriculture. ITC projected that by 2032 U.S. agricultural exports would be higher by $7.2 billion, or 2.6%, under TPP than without the agreement, reflecting lower tariffs and expanded tariff-rate quotas, while U.S. farm imports would total $2.7 billion higher, or 1.5%. Most of the increase in U.S. exports would have been concentrated in Japan (up $3.6 billion) and Vietnam (up $3.3 billion). Beyond market access changes, TPP included new rules and procedures for addressing non-tariff barriers that impede trade, including sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that address food safety, plant pests and animal diseases.