By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

The White House is reportedly working to secure an alternative source for U.S. farmers’ potash needs.

“The United States is working on a massive deal with respect to the purchase of potash from Belarus,” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media. “The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying Canada—very good news for our farmers and ranchers.”

The U.S. and Canada have had a strained relationship since trade talks between the two nations fell apart in late August. Since then, both Canada and the U.S. have taken turns implementing and raising tariffs on exports from one another.

Following the president’s announcement, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Belarus, issued a statement putting how much potash the U.S. could buy from the land-locked country in question.

According to The Hill, he said, “Even if we wanted to supply to other western markets, we simply do not have those volumes. Everything is contracted.”

Even if Belarus had potash available for U.S. customers, how it would get the product to the U.S. has also come into question.

“Their normal export chain used to go through Lithuania. They’d produce a product, ship it through Lithuania out to their deep seaports and send it out,” Josh Linville, vice president of fertilizer at Stone-X, told the Ag Outlook Forum. “As soon as the first Russian troop entered Belarus to attack Kyiv (Ukraine) from the north, Lithuania shut them down. In February 2022, they shut that down. Latvia sits to the east. They’re NATO member. They’re not friendly with Belarus. To the West, Poland, they’re not friendly with them. To the South, Ukraine. I’m going to guess there’s probably not a lot of goodwill there.”

The only outlet for Belarus to ship out the potash would be through Russia, according to Linville.

“That is more expensive. It is more timely. It is constrained. They can’t move it like they used to do through Lithuania,” Linville said.

Belarus is the world’s third largest exporter of potash behind Canada and Russia.

The European Union placed sanctions on Belarus due to reported human rights violations and for allowing Russia to use its territory in the war with Ukraine.

In 2025, the U.S. lifted its sanctions on potash from Belarus after they freed 123 prisoners, per BNN Bloomberg.

The last year Belarus exported potash for the U.S. marketplace, either 2017 or 2018, they shipped an estimated 750,000 tons.

In 2024, Canada exported around 22.9 million metric tons of potash globally, with the U.S. as its top destination.

U.S. buyers currently purchase about 90% of their potash from Canada.

Linville said he thinks the announcement from the president is more of a negotiation tool against Canada.

“We know potash has been discussed from both sides of the border. We’re both jockeying for position, trying to get a little bit better deal,” Linville said. “Ultimately, I don’t see them (Belarus) being a major impact.”

Linville said the U.S. should be focusing on nitrogen and phosphate rather than potash.