WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) – White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Tuesday that the Trump administration is looking at other sources of fertilizer, including from Venezuela and possibly Morocco, amid ongoing shipping restrictions due to the war with Iran.
“We … issued a license for Venezuela to produce more fertilizer. We’ve had discussions with Morocco,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” calling it “an insurance policy against damage” for U.S. farmers.
“I’m not saying we can eliminate the disruption that has been created so far, but we can minimize it,” Hassett told CNBC.
Fertilizer supplies have shrunk as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has cut off vital nitrogen supplies from the Gulf to farmers around the world, causing prices to surge by more than a third in recent weeks.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Karas has floated the idea of ​​replicating a U.N.-brokered deal that saw food shipped from Ukraine during wartime. It allows Ukraine to export grain, food and fertilizer through the Black Sea without civilian ships being attacked by Russia. She said she had discussed the idea with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and that the U.N. was “working to resolve the issue.”
(Reporting by Katherine Jackson and Susan Seavey; Editing by Michelle Nichols)
