Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is urging the Biden administration to take immediate action to bring down fertilizer costs for farmers.
During his weekly call with farmer reporters Tuesday, Grassley said he?s joining many of his Senate colleagues in pleading the International Trade Commission (ITC) to address the strain on the fertilizer supply chain. Grassley says Iowa farmers are telling him these sky-high prices will make it even more difficult to earn a living.
?They face record inflation,? said Grassley. ?And particularly with fertilizer prices soaring to record levels. We ask in our letters for (the ITC) to do what they can to lower cost and suspend tariffs on imported fertilizers.?
Specifically, the lawmakers ask the ITC to eliminate duties on phosphate fertilizer products imported from Morocco and to suspend efforts to impose new duties on urea ammonium fertilizer from Trinidad and Tobago.
?Can you imagine one company in the United States has 82% of the market on phosphates, and then we?ve got tariffs on the other 18% coming into the country from another country? That would be Russia. And that would be Morocco. Now maybe Russia won?t be sending us anything, but why do we need tariffs on Moroccan phosphate??
Grassley says the letter emphasizes farmers are facing fertilizer prices four to five times higher than last year.
