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President Trump signs EO designating potash a critical mineral

The Fertilizer Institute is optimistic President Trump’s executive order recognizing potash as a critical mineral could help increase access to the product. 

Vice president of government affairs Ed Thomas says the goal is to spur domestic production.

“It will open up permitting reform to eliminate some of the hurdles around getting expansion of some of the mines here in the US,” he says.

He tells Brownfield the U.S. currently relies on imports for its potash supply.

“We only produce about 0.2% of the potash here in the United States,” he says. “If they advertently or inadvertently decided to interrupt supply chains, we could be in big trouble as far as producing food for our own country.”

Thomas says the EO sends a strong message to the US Geological Survey to include it to the critical minerals list. “It was put on it in 2018 and it was taken off in 2022,” he says. “They need to put that  mineral back on the list so that it becomes part of the policy considerations as we move forward.”

Thomas says the next step is to have phosphate added to the critical minerals list.

AUDIO: Ed Thomas, The Fertilizer Institute