By Ryan Hanrahan
Agri-Pulse’s Kim Chipman reported that “the Trump administration is poised to dip into tens of billions of dollars from tariffs and trade deal renegotiations to strengthen domestic fertilizer supplies, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told lawmakers.”
“‘We’ve got to invest in more infrastructure,’ Rollins said during a House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing on Thursday. ‘We’ve got to reshore fertilizer back to America,'” Chipman reported. “Rollins said she hosted a 90-minute meeting on Wednesday with executives of four top fertilizer companies and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.”
“‘They flew in from all over the world to sit down with us and really talk this through,’ she said, adding that she’s hopeful the administration will be ready to announce a full plan next week,” Chipman reported. “‘We’re going to start deploying some of those [trade] resources to begin to build, and they won’t come online for 12 to 18 months, but we’ve got to start moving back in that direction,’ Rollins said in response to a question from Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa.”
FarmWeekNow’s Tammie Sloup reported that “Rollins projected fertilizer costs would go back down after the war ends, but the federal government is working with fertilizer companies in the meantime to help address cost challenges. She also pointed to the Trump administration’s 60-day waiver on enforcement of the Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting goods between U.S. ports to be U.S. built and owned, as well as allowing more Venezuelan fertilizer to be imported into the U.S.”
“She emphasized a handful of companies have ‘basically taken over the market in all of the inputs,’ resulting in a lack of competition,” Sloup reported. “‘That’s what we’ve got to really solve for,’ she said, adding she and other cabinet members met Wednesday at USDA with four top fertilizer companies. Rollins added she’s on the phone daily with other fertilizer companies from around the country.”
Source : illinois.edu