{"id":335210,"date":"2025-12-09T19:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335210\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T19:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:55:12","slug":"if-trump-tariffs-fertilizer-u-s-lacks-reserves-to-meet-domestic-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/335210\/","title":{"rendered":"If Trump tariffs fertilizer, U.S. lacks reserves \u2018to meet domestic demand\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s fertilizer industry says U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threat of \u201cvery severe\u201d tariffs<\/a> will \u201cjeopardize\u201d North American agricultural supply chains if they\u2019re imposed, warning the U.S. doesn\u2019t have enough potash<\/a> reserves to replace Canadian imports.<\/p>\n

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Trump said Monday while announcing billions in government aid for American farmers hurting from higher prices \u2014 including on fertilizer \u2014 that he may tariff Canadian fertilizer \u201cif we have to\u201d<\/a> in order to bolster domestic production.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Fertilizer Canada<\/a> said increasing fertilizer production \u201ccannot happen overnight and can take 10 to 15 years to increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImposing\u202ftariffs jeopardizes the deeply integrated, open trading relationship\u202fthat is\u202fvital to North American agricultural producers,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo protect the competitiveness of North American farmers, access to a reliable supply of tariff-free fertilizer is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. farmers rely on Canadian potash fertilizer from Saskatchewan in order to add potassium to their soils. Canada has the largest potash reserves in the world, with more than 1.1 billion tons \u2014 accounting for over one-third of the world\u2019s reserves \u2014 compared to 220 million tons in the U.S., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S. \u201cdoes not have sufficient reserves to meet domestic demand,\u201d Fertilizer Canada said, noting American farmers used 5.3 million tons of potash in 2023 while the country produced about 400,000 tons. Canada produced<\/a> an estimated 21.9 million tons of potash in 2023.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Geological Survey said 79 per cent of potash imports came from Canada between 2020 and 2023.<\/p>\n

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The industry group also noted that Canadian farmers are similarly reliant on American phosphate for their fertilizer, with 95 per cent of Canadian phosphate supply coming from the U.S.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFertilizer plays a vital role\u202fin food security,\u201d it said. \u201cFarmers on both sides of the border rely on North American-produced fertilizer to grow strong, healthy, high-yielding crops that feed us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on Tuesday urged Canadians to \u201ctake a breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to take the president very seriously, but maybe don\u2019t take him literally on everything that he says,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe logical path forward is for us to keep a calm head in what is a very erratic conversation at times, and to remember what it is we\u2019re trying to achieve as Canadians and as a country of Canada: one is to defend our economy against these types of threats, two is to find our way to a broader free, fair and open trade deal \u2014 not only with the U.S. but with other countries around the world as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moe added there\u2019s \u201cno room to increase the costs on American farmers by tariffing that product,\u201d and that cutting off Canadian imports would force the U.S. toward other markets like Russia to fill the gap.<\/p>\n

If that were to happen, the premier said he had faith that Saskatchewan potash producers and exporters would be able to find other global markets to backfill lost U.S. purchases.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Mining Association said it will continue to monitor the situation and work to support \u201cpredictable\u201d trade, while reiterating Fertilizer Canada\u2019s statement on the challenges the U.S. will face in boosting domestic fertilizer production.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPotentially imposing tariffs on fertilizer will increase costs for farmers, strain supply chains, and ultimately raise food prices for consumers,\u201d the group said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTrump warns he could put \u2018very severe tariffs\u2019 on Canadian fertilizer\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Currently, Canadian fertilizer exports to the U.S. that exceed limits under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade (CUSMA) are subject to a 10 per cent tariff \u2014 lower than the blanket 25 per cent tariff on most other non-CUSMA exports.<\/p>\n

Trump lowered the tariff on fertilizer, as well as Canadian energy products, after pushback from U.S. agriculture groups and Republican lawmakers in farming states like Iowa.<\/p>\n

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday that her department and others were working on a plan to reshore fertilizer production to the U.S., while also directing fertilizer manufacturers and other industrial players to lower their prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president has been very unequivocal in saying we have to figure out why all these input costs are skyrocketing,\u201d Rollins said.<\/p>\n

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Trump has long argued his tariffs aren\u2019t the cause of rising prices, despite most economists agreeing that companies forced to pay the tariffs on foreign imports are passing the added cost onto consumers.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing a case centred on Trump\u2019s ability to impose tariffs unilaterally under emergency powers, including the blanket, non-CUSMA tariffs on Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of Tariffs, easily and quickly applied, our National Security has been greatly enhanced, and we have become the financially strongest Country, by far, anywhere in the World,\u201d Trump wrote in a Truth Social post late Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly dark and sinister forces would want to see that end!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has said it is examining the higher costs for agricultural products and machinery. Soybean farmers expect to see their third consecutive year of losses in 2025, according to the American Soybean Association.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s agricultural industry is already facing pressure thanks to steep tariffs on canola, pork and seafood from China. Diplomatic efforts to get those tariffs reduced have so far not yielded results.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s fertilizer industry says U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s threat of \u201cvery severe\u201d tariffs will \u201cjeopardize\u201d North American agricultural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,8334,46,100234,147314,105097,2845],"class_list":["post-335210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump-tariffs","tag-economy","tag-fertilizer","tag-fertilizer-canada","tag-potash","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}