New sanction waivers announced by the Treasury Department could boost U.S. fertilizer imports from Venezuela as agriculture industry groups seek relief for farmers facing high prices and the threat of shortages due to the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Friday that it is easing restrictions on U.S. entities purchasing petrochemical products from Venezuela, including fertilizer and fertilizer precursors. The announcement did not specify the volume of planned imports.
“The Trump administration has been rapidly delivering on President Trump’s promise to help restore Venezuela’s economy to benefit both the American and Venezuelan people,” a Treasury official said in a statement to POLITICO. “These authorizations expand permitted investment and activities in Venezuela’s energy industry and allow for the export of fertilizer directly to the U.S. to support our great American farmers.”
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins told MA in a statement that “we are looking at every potential option to lower fertilizer prices” and that “this move expands Venezuelan fertilizer exports to the U.S., bolstering the supply of this important agricultural input.”
Treasury’s changes come as the Trump administration looks for ways to mitigate skyrocketing fertilizer and fuel prices that are weighing on farmers as they begin the spring planting season. Rollins said at the White House Friday that she has been discussing the issue with Congress and “everything is on the table” in terms of solutions.
“No big announcements yet, but it is coming,” she told reporters. “I have been in conversation with the Hill on that as they’re looking at additional funds for our farmers.”
In related news, Ag trade groups are urging U.S. fertilizer companies to ask the Trump administration to remove duties on phosphate imports from Morocco to cut fertilizer costs for farmers, as Grace reported.
Some of the nation’s leading commodity industry groups wrote to executives from two leading domestic fertilizer companies, in a letter first obtained by POLITICO, asking them to renounce their previous support for levies imposed in 2020 on Moroccan phosphate fertilizers.
The letter to The Mosaic Company President and CEO Bruce Bodine and J.R. Simplot President and CEO Garrett Lofto was signed by the National Corn Growers Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Association, the U.S. Rice Producers Association and USA Rice, as well as dozens of other commodity groups.
“Fertilizer manufacturers like The Mosaic Company and J.R. Simplot can immediately help alleviate some suffering in the agricultural economy by renouncing their support for continued [countervailing duties],” they wrote.
The Commerce Department imposed additional duties on phosphate fertilizers imported from Morocco and Russia in 2020 after Mosaic and J.R. Simplot filed a complaint about foreign competition.
Source: Politico Ag Weekly
