It’s a crisis averted for Canada’s $4.2 billion potash export industry that is centred in Saskatchewan. President Donald Trump has scuttled a short-lived plan to buy the vital fertilizer component from Belarus. “Belarus has a lot of potash and our farmers need good prices and we want to get a lower price than Canada,” Trump told reporters at the U.N. on Tuesday. “We’ll continue to go with Canada but Belarus would like to sell it for a much lower price.” The reversal has left Saskatchewan’s premier shaking his head as he appeared on CTV’s Powerplay. “It just further states just how erratic the world is today, and you know at times how erratic some of the comments have been coming out of the White House and from the President himself,” Moe said. “We live in an ever-changing world. You know things, comments whether they are real or not, realistic or now, plausible or not, are being floated around virtually each and every day.” Belarus does not have enough potash to meet American demand. Business experts, like Devan Mescall, a professor at the Edwards School of Business, say Trump’s initial plan to buy from Belarus wasn’t feasible. “I think this is one of those things that is a shocking headline when you read it, but the underlying economics does not align with the headline story,” he said. “[The] headline story sort of reads like Canada is being replaced by Belarus and the underlying business environment just doesn’t allow that.” Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada and the United States can now move forward. “I think that there is a real opportunity if we so choose and it’s one of many, many opportunities that Canada and the United States have to cooperate and to become fertilizer independent,” he said Tuesday. For now, Saskatchewan’s proximity and supply availability makes Canadian potash irreplaceable in the American market.
