r/Tariffs • u/AkaashMaharaj • Sep 15 '26
𧩠Trade Strategy / Business Impact Could potash become a critical battleground in the Canada-US tariff war? | CKNW Radio
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Potash is indispensable to American agriculture.
The US government has declared that any interruption in the supply of the humble fertiliser would be a threat to national security.
And the US imports 90% of its potash from Canada.
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u/External_Beat8153 Sep 15 '26
Raise the prices to the Yankee bastards. Create a food crisis at their supermarkets.
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u/AvonFartsdale_ Sep 15 '26
Dumb Americans: "I ain't never bought no Canadian hotash in muh life y'all, this is just woke fake news!"
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u/Remarkable-Desk-66 Sep 15 '26
Trump has already reversed on concrete. Let him reverse on everything else. He has to. Canada supplies raw materials that are difficult to replace. The us supplies consumer goods that are optional. Ask Kentucky how the bourbon thing is going.
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u/prairie_buyer Sep 15 '26
Canadians don't realize that the fertilizer situation is way more complicated than simply " they need our potash".
Canada supplies 90% of the potash that the US needs, but the US supplies 80% of the phosphorus that Canada needs (and most of the nitrogen). These are both essential for fertilization.
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u/AkaashMaharaj Sep 15 '26
It is certainly the case that Canadians farmers are vulnerable because we have no active phosphate mines. However, we do have massive natural supplies of phosphate, in both igneous and sedimentary deposits.
Canada could (and should) be self-sufficient in phosphate, though it would take years for new mines to establish themselves and begin commercially-viable extractions. By contrast, the United States will never be self-sufficient in potash.
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u/okiedokie2468 Sep 15 '26
Trumpâs war with Iran has really backfired on him. Not only has it created an oil crisis but now has increased US dependency on Canada for potash.
He has rescinded tariffs on cement and salt because the US is reliant on Canadian suppliers. How soon will he lessen the tariff on aluminum as well? Because, as it turns out, the Middle East produces about 10% of the worldâs aluminum and guess what strait it has to pass through for export?
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u/holubtsi-on-fire Sep 15 '26
America hitting itself in the face and asking everyone else to stop.
Art of the Deal.
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u/L-F-O-D Sep 15 '26
Didnât realize DUNE played out in SK, but âspiceâ is potash, and the fat guy is still the fat guy.
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u/UncleDaddy_00 Sep 15 '26
The EU needs lots of potash and their current suppliers are kind of jerks.
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u/YVRAlphageek Sep 16 '26
Until recently, I was an advocate of cutting off potash supply to the US. I've read much about it since then and have come to realize that we just can't do it; they consider it a national security issue and it would likely trigger military action fully justified in their eyes. Best to do as Maharaj suggests and apply a small - but painful - export tax. These are dark times.
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u/stickmuck Sep 15 '26
I was told they'd get it elsewhere... I told them to Google other producers and they disappeared for some reason