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Lawmakers push for potash and phosphorus protections

Potash and phosphorus are gaining support in the nation’s Capital to be listed as critical minerals and expedite production in the U.S.

The Fertilizer Institute’s President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch tells Brownfield, “The President’s executive order, which included potash but did not include phosphate, was just to identify projects for streamlining permitting.”

A bipartisan, bicameral letter last week, led Iowa Republican Joni Ernst and Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin in the Senate, asks the Secretary of the Interior to include phosphate in the President’s executive order and declare it and potash as critical minerals to safeguard the nation’s food supply.

Rosenbusch says the distinction would hopefully provide some protections from tariffs.

“The federal government and the administration specifically is using some of the critical mineral designation for exemptions or special treatment,” he says. “For example, potash was deemed as a special imported product when the Canada, Mexico discussion came up.”

As long as the products are USMCA compliant, he says the fertilizers have not received additional duties in Canada, and Russian imports remain tariff-free.

“When the war in Ukraine started, fertilizer actually got exempt from sanctions because of the critical nature it serves in food production, food security,” he explains. “As a result, Russian fertilizer products continued to supply the U.S. farmer.”

Rosenbusch says reciprocal tariffs are possible in other countries named last week and if implemented, could impact farmers by this fall.