President Donald Trump’s plan to buy potash from Belarus has drawn a warning from the leader of Canada’s biggest potash-producing province, who says the fertilizer would have to be shipped through Russia.
His comments came after Trump said Monday that the US is negotiating a “massive Deal” to buy potash from Belarus.
“The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Potash is a key fertilizer ingredient used to boost crop yields, and Canada supplies the vast majority of US imports.
The proposal is the latest front in Trump’s trade fight with Canada.
His administration has repeatedly targeted Canadian exports, although potash has largely been exempted from tariffs given its importance to US agriculture.
Scott Moe, the premier of Saskatchewan, argued that Belarusian potash would have to travel through Russia before reaching US farmers, raising questions about Trump’s claim that it would be cheaper.
“Does anyone believe Belarusian blood potash shipped through Russia is going to be more affordable, more sustainable or more ethical than potash shipped from Saskatchewan – right here in North America?” Moe wrote in a post on X.
Belarus is landlocked, and sanctions imposed over its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the loss of its main export route through Lithuania, have made its potash more expensive to ship to the US through Russia.
Moe has previously warned against using potash as a trade weapon.
As Canada weighed retaliatory trade measures last month, he urged Ottawa not to target potash exports, arguing that the move would hurt Canadian producers and encourage US buyers to look elsewhere.
Whether Belarus can significantly increase shipments to the US is also unclear.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said earlier this month that Belarus had resumed selling potash to the US after Washington lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash producers.
He also called on Washington to release more than $40 million in Belarusian funds frozen in the US banking system.
On Monday, Lukashenko suggested Belarus may have little additional potash available for new Western buyers.
“We simply do not have those volumes – everything is contracted,” he said, according to a post from his office.
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