USA · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Trump Says U.S. Is Working on Massive Potash Deal With Belarus to Undercut Canada
US says it is working on a massive deal to buy potash from Belarus. Prices would be substantially lower than Canada’s, according to Trump.
Whether Belarus can supply the US with extra potash volumes.
7 of 9 outlets skipped it: lukashenko asks Washington to return $40m stuck in US banking.
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The Hill
“Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,”Read the original ↗
One stresses zero available volumes; the other doubts price and role for supplies.
Trump targets Belarus potash
President Donald Trump said Washington is working on a “massive Deal” to purchase potash from Belarus for “substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada,” framing the move as “very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers.” The announcement signals willingness to use alternative suppliers as leverage in trade disputes with Canada, which supplies the vast majority of U.S. potash imports.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on September 11 that his country resumed selling potash to the United States following the lifting of U.S. sanctions, while also saying he wants Washington to return over $40 million that is “stuck” in the U.S. banking system. Fertilizer analyst Josh Linville of StoneX said he doubts Belarusian potash will play a major role in either supplies for U.S. farmers or in lowering prices, adding, “We have more than enough to go around.”
Trade war with Canada
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Saskatchewan-based Nutrien had no immediate comment after Trump’s announcement.
DW said Trump is seeking a deal to import potash from Belarus to reduce dependence on Canada, and it cited a continuing trade dispute between the two countries.
Washington and Ottawa have been locked in a trade fight, with Canada supplying the vast majority of U.S. potash imports.
DW said the U.S. applied a 50% tariff since August on about $20 billion of imports of certain products, and it said Canada responded with reciprocal customs duties and accelerated its rapprochement with Europe.
What could change next
The announcement could mark a further thaw in Washington’s relations with Belarus after the lifting of sanctions, while Lukashenko tied the resumption of sales to a demand for frozen funds. Sanctions and the closing of a key port on Lithuania's Baltic coast have made supplies expensive to ship to the U.S. through Russia's Arctic, even as the U.S. still receives potash exports from Russia.
Trump provided no details on what the agreement would entail, how much potash it would involve, or what the pricing would be. Lukashenko’s office said Belarus does not have volumes for Western markets because “everything is contracted,” and it said the largest export market for Belarus’s potash is China, which imported 29 per cent of Minsk’s product in 2024.