Lukashenko says Belarus doesn’t have enough potash for Trump

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has admitted his country doesn’t have enough potash to satisfy U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for the critical fertilizer.

“Everyone keeps saying: Ah, potash!  Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,” Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Vladimir Orlovsky, head of the Belarusian state customs authority.

That same day, Trump said his country was “working on a deal” to purchase Belarusian potash fertilizer, as it’s “substantially” cheaper than Canada’s offering. Washington and Ottawa are embroiled in an escalating trade dispute.

“The United States is working on a massive deal with respect to the purchase of potash from Belarus. The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our farmers and ranchers,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Canada is the world’s largest potash producer, producing 15 million metric tons annually, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Belarus produces around 6 million metric tons — only slightly more than annual U.S. import volumes of 5.6 million metric tons.

Lukashenko said earlier this month that Belarus has supplied the U.S. with potash for the first time since 2021. Washington imposed sanctions on Belarusian fertilizer after the government violently suppressed nationwide protests over the rigged 2020 elections. The sanctions were lifted in March.

“Now we are loading potash — we are selling it to the United States of America,” Lukashenko told reporters on Sept. 11. But Belarus cannot supply large volumes to the U.S., as its output is already contracted for this year, he added Monday.

Lukashenko did not specify how much potash he had sold to the U.S. and whether it had already been shipped or not. However, he said that first, Washington has to unblock Belarus state funds, which have been frozen in Citibank since 2022, when further sanctions were introduced against Belarus for supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“First give us our money back … $43-$44 million,” Lukashenko said earlier this month.

During talks with Lukashenko in Minsk earlier this month, Trump’s special envoy John Cole said the U.S. was ready to release the funds.

Earlier this year, the U.S. asked Ukraine to open its territory for the transit of Belarusian potash exports. “The Americans just explained it with their country’s economic interests,” a person familiar with the talks told POLITICO, adding that the Ukrainians denied Washington’s request.