Trump Declares Food Emergency, Suspends Fertilizer Tariffs
President Donald Trump declared a national food supply emergency on Monday and authorized the temporary suspension of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer imported from Morocco, in an executive action aimed at stabilizing the U.S. food supply chain and lowering costs for American farmers. The tariff suspension will last for up to eight months or until the emergency declaration is terminated, according to a White House fact sheet.
Context: A Crisis in the Fields
The proclamation, issued under the Tariff Act of 1930, declares an emergency regarding threats to the availability of sufficient fertilizer supplies to meet America’s agricultural demand. Global supply chains for phosphate fertilizer have been severely disrupted by the ongoing Iran war, which began on February 28 with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and has since closed the Strait of Hormuz — a critical shipping route for energy and industrial commodities.
According to Fox Business, the document cited overseas conflicts and trade disputes as factors that have disrupted global supply chains and affected access to critical fertilizers. Current U.S. production of phosphate fertilizer is insufficient to support domestic agricultural food production after accounting for exports, the president stated in the proclamation.
The disruption comes at a time of rising inflation. The annual U.S. inflation rate hit 4.2% in May 2026, the steepest increase in three years, up from 2.4% in February before the war began, as USA Today reported.
The Tariff Reversal
The decision marks a significant policy shift. In 2021, the United States imposed countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco following a trade complaint by Florida-based Mosaic Co., which argued that Moroccan producers had benefited from unfair government subsidies. A study by the Texas A&M AgriLife Food and Agricultural Policy Center estimated those duties increased DAP fertilizer prices by nearly 29% and added an estimated $6.9 billion in phosphorus fertilizer costs for U.S. producers between 2021 and 2025, according to Farm Policy News.
More than 50 state grower organizations had urged the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to revoke the duties as part of a required five-year sunset review. The American Farm Bureau Federation appealed directly to the White House in March to safeguard fertilizer supplies.
Farmer Groups Applaud the Move
Agricultural organizations responded positively to the announcement. Jed Bower, an Ohio farmer and president of the National Corn Growers Association, thanked Trump “for recognizing the economic outlook facing American farmers right now and taking steps to alleviate some of that pressure,” as reported by Farm Policy News, which cited the Progressive Farmer’s coverage.
Scott Metzger, president of the American Soybean Association and a soybean farmer from Ohio, said suspending import taxes on this critical farm resource “will improve fertilizer availability and help reduce input costs at a time when farmers begin to plan for the 2027 crop while tackling increasingly challenging financial decisions.”
Domestic Producers Push Back
Not all stakeholders welcomed the decision. Mosaic Co., which had requested the original investigation into Moroccan imports, expressed disappointment. The company’s vice president of public affairs, Benjamin Pratt, said in a statement that Mosaic “regrets the suspension of phosphate duties was not accompanied by government intervention to provide relief on sulfur, and will continue to support duties on phosphate imports beyond the eight-month pause,” as Bloomberg Government reported. Mosaic reported a sizable operating loss in Q2 2026 and reduced production rates at two U.S. plants due to elevated input costs.
Morocco’s Strategic Role
The decision reinforces Morocco’s growing strategic importance in global agriculture. The North African country controls more than 70% of the world’s known phosphate rock reserves and is home to OCP Group, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of phosphate fertilizers, as Business Insider Africa noted. By temporarily removing duties on Moroccan imports, Washington is effectively acknowledging that Morocco remains one of the few suppliers capable of helping bridge America’s fertilizer shortfall in the near term.
Broader Pattern of Tariff Relief
The action is part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration easing import barriers amid concerns about high consumer prices. Trump exempted a wide range of agricultural items from reciprocal tariffs in November 2025, delayed tariff increases on furniture in January 2026, and allowed more beef from Argentina to enter tariff-free in February 2026.
This latest move builds on prior related actions: in February 2026, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to protect domestic production of elemental phosphorus, a critical input for both farming and military equipment. Earlier in June, he signed an executive order to accelerate agricultural technologies and strengthen food security.
What’s Next
The eight-month tariff suspension provides a window for the administration to work with American companies to expand domestic fertilizer production capacity. It also allows time for the five-year sunset review of the duties to run its course. Key questions remain: whether the suspension will be extended or made permanent, how domestic producers like Mosaic will compete with duty-free Moroccan imports, and how the eventual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz might reshape global fertilizer supply dynamics.
For now, American farmers planning for the 2027 crop season have received a measure of relief — but the underlying vulnerabilities in the nation’s fertilizer supply chain remain a pressing concern.