Someone finally got through to Trump that Belarus has no potash to spare. All of their production is under contract.
Someone is feeding Trump fake news, and Trump is making very public announcements based on it. The bad intel, one might suspect, is designed to make Trump look foolish, having to backtrack. I wonder if that’ someone’ is Vance, who desperately wants to evict Trump from the White House after the mid-terms?
[Bugs bunny “no” gif]
The price of potash has just gone up Mr Trump. Pray that I do not alter the deal any further
Guess I’ll just keep going with the apology tour.
I’m sorry the dumbest among us forced this felon rapist pedophile on you guys.
Sincerely,
A Very Tired U.S. Citizen
FWIW we know, and if anything this community gets tired of hearing it, and kind of grumpy about it. Appreciate the thought, though!
We will end up being the stronger for it, you will end up being the weaker.
“wants cheaper price” - A strategy only a stable genius could devise. 🧐 🧠 🤓
“ill get it from somewhere else… Give it to me cheaper!” Art of the Deal!
“In just show the whole world I can’t get it anywhere else, so you need to make a discount”
If I was Canada I wouldn’t sell jack shit to the USA. Then I’d send him a video of myself just dancing happily in a field of potash.
Yeah, but we kind of need/like some of the stuff you send back. Plus, if we were really aggressive, you could just invade, and then we get to live in a version of Afghanistan with an even worse climate.
Cutting off your oil or fertilizer is an option, but it’s a card we’re saving for a long way down the road, basically. For now, we’re roughly matching whatever your government does proportionately.
ChatGPT, does Jack shit have potash or other fertilizer capabilities?..
Yes, but there’s an important distinction,…
Carney was elected for such.
Lol go fuck yourself.
Uh, remove the tariff?
Look bad? He is the superhero here. He can make himself looking bad the best.
No one is mentioning trump created the fertilizer problem. First with trade wars, then actual wars and then finally by doubling down on trade wars.
The Persian gulf is a huge global source of fertilizer ingredients
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/03/visual-guide-gulf-fertiliser-blockade
Fertilizer is best thought of as 3 separate products, limited by either nitrogen, phosphorous, or potassium. Plants need all 3 of them to grow.
Your article is primarily about nitrogen fertilizers, which is usually made by processing fossil fuels. It’s possible to make nitrogen fertilizers without fossil fuels, but that’s more expensive, so the fossil fuel methods dominate.
Canadian production of potash (potassium compounds used for fertilizer) is a different product, with different supply chains.
Phosphorous production is dominated by China and Morocco (with some significant production by United States, Russia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) so that’s not really in either discussion about fertilizer shortages or trade wars now.
Your article is primarily about nitrogen fertilizers, which is usually made by processing fossil fuels.
Air, actually! (Well, air nitrogen and hydrogen, which might come from fossil fuels, but that’s a relatively minor detail)
It’s just a really energy intensive process, though, so fuel is the main input in cost terms.
Also fun fact about phosphorus: it’s expected deposits will be depleted in a few decades. Efforts are already underway to start recovering it from sewage, instead.
that’s not really in either discussion about fertilizer shortages or trade wars now.
At least not yet…
I have every confidence in Trump’s ability to fuck that up too without understanding the consequences of his actions.
Respect and the ability to negotiate in good faith probably would have got lower potash prices because it would be mutually beneficial based on all trade (they get something, we get something). Oh, trump! What have you wrought?
Respect and the ability to negotiate in good faith probably would have got lower potash prices because it would be mutually beneficial
The USA already buys many commodities (including potash and crude oil) from Canada at a discount from global prices.
And, because Canada sticks to our agreements (unlike Trump’s USA), we haven’t removed that “most favored nation” discount.
The only negotiating strategy Trump knows is zero sum win-lose (I win you lose). He thinks win-win negotiating is for wimps.
I used to think I was exceptionally cringe, but now I realize I am just a normal US citizen.
Canadian potash producers should give the U.S. special pricing, I agree.
200%.
They should boycott
No, 25% off the MSRP, which is 50% higher. Idiots fall for this every day. Or change the price from $396.50 to $396.48, Walmart style.
Or charge 1/3 load price for 1/4 load, 4 is bigger than three so they will see the bargain.
If I remember correctly one one of the big 3 potash companies just decided to stop selling to the US, have no idea if they are still doing the not selling action.
Lets not be arbitrary here. Just add an extra 0 to whatever tarrifs Trump has on us. Then we don’t even need to change the law if he removes them.
I appreciate elegance in processes, and this has sent a small shiver down my spine.
2000%
20.000%
Edit; or 20,000%, whichever is largest in your locale
Many Anglos would mistakenly that for 20%. The period is usually a comma in english. 20,000%
TIL, in Dutch is it exactly the opposite – comma’s are for decimals, periods for large numbers. But funnily we would agree 20.000 is 1.000 x 20,000 or 1,000 x 20.000, but not 1,000 x 20,000 or 1.000 x 20.000.
Gosh, I wonder if Canada is in a good mood to negotiate their potash price. 🤔
Bros been trying to neg us into selling shit for cheap. Can’t wait for the temper tantrum that will hopefully follow.
Yeah. Now that our government is actively fighting him, it’s a lot easier to just laugh at stupid Trump stories.
Add an export tariff to potash to the USA, until the SERVICE trade deficit is fixed! The USA has a HUGE imbalance in their favour on trade, they just choose to ignore the service sector entirely.
You’re taking like trump and his supporters… you don’t tarrif exports.
There is most definitely such a thing as export tariffs. Just as there are import tarrifs which the orange buffoon is so find of.
Export tariffs (potentially) slow the outgoing movement of goods. Import tarrifs (potentially) slow the incoming movement of goods.
The end result is similar (higher end costs), it’s which government gets the $$$ that differs.
eh, ok, here’s the dictionary definition of a tariff, sure. From that merriam webster link –
a schedule of duties imposed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods
And to highlight that Canada does use export tariff verbiage, you can look at this govt site for global affairs, where they have a resource called the Canada tariff finder, which they describe as allowing you to “Look up import and export tariff rates”
But sure, go on and insult me for no reason.
Export TAX. Tarrifs are on products entering your country to help the sales of local alternatives. Export taxes are “fuck you, that’s why” price increases on a product leaving your country because you need it or your neighbour is a dick.
It’s more or less the same thing, but export tarrifs most certainly exist.
eh, ok, if that’s the correct term, sure. From that merriam webster link –
a schedule of duties imposed by a government on imported or in some countries exported goods
And to highlight that Canada does use export tariff verbiage, you can look at this govt site for global affairs, where they have a resource called the Canada tariff finder, which they describe as allowing you to “Look up import and export tariff rates”
But either way, you got the point.
I really like the “someone is going to sell it to us cheaper” bluff.
But also potash is bought and sold by the government and not individual producers. This guy is a fucking moron.
And Americans can buy it, they just need to drop their tariff. This is literally cutting off their nose to spite their own face.
It’s also shipped in bulk where the transport costs make up a fair chunk of the final price. Shipping from anywhere further than your neighbour is going to be more expensive
Are you implying the very stable genius hasn’t considered this thing from every angle??
Shipping from Belarus is practically free! He saw that on tv somewhere.
I don’t think he could even FIND Belarus on a map, if all other countries were dimmed out.
Oh i forgot that it was free shipping on all orders over 1 million tonnes, how embarrassing, you should see the lool on my face
The only way Belarus can get it to a port is by train, but I suppose Trump thinks Belarus has rail cars just sitting around, empty. Someone is feeding Trump a lot of misinformation that he is actually believing.
True and Belarus is being sanctioned by its neighbours
And Belarus’s production of potash is already spoken for (mostly by Russia, I believe) and they have no interest in getting out of those contracts. And their annual total potash production can’t cover US needs, so they’d need to spend several years ramping up production. It was all hilariously hopeless from the beginning.
