Tariffs Squeeze Trump-Loving Farmers as Fertilizer Prices Soar

Fertilizer prices are surging, eroding American farmers’ profits and adding pressure on the Trump administration to slash tariffs on key crop nutrients.

Tightening supplies and tariff concerns have driven up costs for potash-, nitrogen-, and phosphate-based products just as farmers are earning less for their harvests. A North American benchmark of fertilizer prices recently surged to its highest level since at least 2016 relative to a basket of grain and oilseed futures — topping even the highs seen at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US gets the vast majority of its potash — used in the ...