President Donald Trump announced Monday that the United States is negotiating a deal to secure fertilizer from Belarus amid a trade war with Canada.
The president and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have exchanged escalating tariffs as the row between Washington and Ottawa came to a head over the summer, leading to significant pain among ranchers and farmers, traditionally reliable Republican voters, ahead of the midterm elections.
“The United States is working on a massive Deal with respect to the purchase of Potash from Belarus,” Trump wrote Monday morning on Truth Social before departing Washington for the United Nations General Assembly in New York. “The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
American farmers and ranchers have been particularly affected by both the president’s tariff agenda and shocks to the global fertilizer market caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of fertilizer.
REPUBLICANS FEAR THEY HAVE LITTLE TO OFFER VOTERS AS CONGRESS LEAVES TOWN
The Trump administration took similar steps last month to insulate consumers from downstream agricultural shortages by temporarily dropping tariffs on imported beef products, though White House officials have declined to say which countries have signed on to the deal or which products would be covered.
Furthermore, in response to backlash from American ranchers opposing his beef deal, Trump proceeded to loosen federal regulations requiring ranchers to use federally approved third-party butchers and packagers before sending their meat to market.