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Lawmakers call for tariff reductions to address high input prices

Congressman Greg Pence says he’d like to see action taken to ease the burden of high fertilizer prices on farmers.

The Indiana republican joined more than 80 lawmakers in asking International Trade Commission Chair Jason Kearns to reconsider duties on phosphate fertilizer imported from Morocco and suspend the process to impose new duties on urea ammonium nitrate fertilizer from Trinidad and Tobago.

“These are ways we can immediately impact or drive down some of the input prices, or at least hold them steady instead of them being driven up by administrative regulations and restrictions,” he says. “We have to keep working on that.”

He says record high input prices must be addressed.

“Right now, this administration is talking about price gouging and I’m afraid that’s going to be how they’re going address these input prices that are being raised. We see what’s coming, we’re not going to bend that curve right now, but maybe we can slow it down.”

Pence says the administration is acknowledging inflation-related challenges facing the industry.

“The administration is admitting there is inflation and they’re admitting that they have to do something about it, including backing off some increased regulation,” he says. “I’m going to continue to put before them things they can do in the agriculture industry to back off additional price increases as we go forward. So, the good news is they know it and are paying attention.”

In the letter, lawmakers say on-farm expenses in the U.S. have dramatically changed since the ITC’s determinations in the countervailing duty investigation of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and the antidumping duty investigation of UAN fertilizers from Trinidad and Tobago. The USDA recently forecasted farm production expenses will increase by 6.6% from 2021 in 2022 and farmers are seeing fertilizer prices four to five times higher than this time last year. Lawmakers say it’s crucial America avoids imposing unnecessary duties that could further limit the fertilizer supply or raise its cost.

Congressman Pence represents Indiana’s sixth district.

Audio: Congressman Greg Pence