Overview
- President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the United States is “working on a massive deal” to buy potash from Belarus at prices he said would be substantially lower than Canadian supplies.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said his country has little or no spare potash because most output is already contracted and he has tied expanded shipments to unfreezing about $43–44 million in Belarusian funds.
- U.S. officials earlier this year eased sanctions on Belarusian potash firms after negotiated prisoner releases, a move that reopened commercial talks but did not create immediate export capacity to the United States.
- Industry analysts and Canadian leaders say shifting large volumes to Belarus is unlikely in the short term because of contracted supplies, higher shipping costs through Russia or the Arctic, and closed transit routes through Lithuania.
- Trump later told reporters the U.S. will continue to buy Canadian potash while seeking lower prices, leaving the Belarus plan as a bargaining posture in the ongoing trade dispute rather than a completed supply shift.