Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, questioned U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer about the need to expand access to fertilizer and the benefits of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Grassley urged Greer to work with America’s trade partners to increase fertilizer supply and to remove any tariffs on anhydrous ammonia. On USMCA, Grassley called on Greer to ensure Iowa pig farmers are not caught up in a crossfire of trade retaliation. Iowa leads the nation in pork production.
On increasing fertilizer access:
I want to compliment the president for delaying the 18% duties on Moroccan phosphate coming into our country so that Mosaic has some competition. They’ve got 85% of the market already. We have two suppliers of anhydrous ammonia in America.
So, can we get a commitment to working with our trading partners to increase the availability of fertilizers generally for U.S. farmers, but most importantly, removing any tariffs on anhydrous ammonia? In other words, we need to get a bigger supply. You can’t just have two companies dominating the whole market of nitrogen for corn farmers.
Source : senate.gov