President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday removing duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco as the administration scrambles to blunt rising fertilizer costs hurting farmers.
The order declares a temporary emergency state around availability of fertilizers needed to meet agricultural demand. It will remove duties the Commerce Department imposed on phosphate fertilizers imported from Morocco and Russia in 2021 after top fertilizer makers Mosaic and J.R. Simplot filed a complaint about foreign competition.
The move comes after administration officials spent months searching for ways to respond to price spikes tied to the war with Iran.
Agriculture industry groups including the National Corn Growers Association have argued that countervailing duties needlessly increased prices of phosphate fertilizers and that the impact has been exacerbated by the war-related closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passageway for imports of fertilizer and fuel.
