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Bipartisan letter calls for ITC to lift fertilizer tariffs as farmers face record-high input costs

More than 80 members of Congress have written to the International Trade Commission about fertilizer tariffs contributing to record-high input costs for farmers.

Minnesota Republican Tom Emmer tells Brownfield the bipartisan, bicameral letter asks the ITC chair to lift duties on imports from Morocco, Trinidad, and Tobago.

“I’m hoping that we get some short-term relief, but that’s not going to be absolute relief.”

He says fertilizer prices jumped another 40 percent following the Russian attack on Ukraine.

“I think it’s a crisis (and) our farmers are facing unprecedented price-hikes ahead of the growing season.”

U.S. Representatives Cindy Axne of Iowa and Tracey Mann of Kansas, as well as Kansas Senator Jerry Moran, led the letter.

Axne says she’s hopeful the International Trade Commission will suspend trade duties that have contributed to fertilizer price increases.