Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity Denounces U.S. International Trade Commission Decision to Continue Investigations into Moroccan and Russian Phosphate Fertilizers

Today, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted to continue investigations concerning phosphate fertilizers being imported from Morocco and Russia. The Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity denounces this vote and the corresponding investigation.

The investigation reeks of crony capitalism, as it comes at the request of the giant Mosaic Company, which owns a majority of the phosphate production for fertilizers in the United States and a majority of the mines in Florida, where 75% of the phosphate in the United States can be found, according to the Florida Industrial and Phosphate Research Institute. Imposing tariffs on phosphate imports from Morocco and Russia would increase the prevailing cost of phosphates in the United States and allow the Mosaic Company, with its $19 billion-plus assets, to charge even more for its phosphate fertilizers than it already does.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will now pursue an investigation into imports of phosphate from Morocco and Russia and could ultimately decide to slap tariffs of approximately 30-70% on those countries’ phosphate exports to the United States. Those tariffs would amount to a tax on American farmers of roughly $480-$640 million, according to Bob Young, former Chief Economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Ultimately, this would result in higher costs for American grocery consumers.

The current investigation into and potential tax on phosphate fertilizer imports stands not only to hurt farmers but also to help a corporate behemoth to shore up its market majority in the country. The Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity, therefore, calls on the U.S. Department of Commerce to abandon this investigation and any ideas about imposing tariffs on phosphate imports.