United States President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency over the availability of phosphate fertilizers, authorizing the temporary duty-free importation of phosphate fertilizers from the Kingdom of Morocco in a bid to safeguard U.S. food production and agricultural security. In a proclamation signed on June 29, 2026, Trump said……
United States President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency over the availability of phosphate fertilizers, authorizing the temporary duty-free importation of phosphate fertilizers from the Kingdom of Morocco in a bid to safeguard U.S. food production and agricultural security.
In a proclamation signed on June 29, 2026, Trump said the move was necessary to address mounting threats to fertilizer supplies caused by global supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, and trade restrictions affecting major fertilizer-producing nations.
The proclamation invokes Section 318 of the Tariff Act of 1930, granting emergency powers to the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to facilitate the importation of Moroccan phosphate fertilizers without the collection of certain duties for up to eight months or until the emergency is lifted.
“Fertilizers are an essential component of agriculture and food production,” Trump said in the proclamation. “Producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, and a variety of other crops need phosphate fertilizers to ensure strong crop yields to feed the population.”
He stressed that maintaining reliable food production was vital to both the economy and national security.
“Food production is critical to human health, farm security, and to the function of major sectors of the economy, and even isolated interruptions in food production can have serious health and economic consequences,” the President stated. “Robust and reliable food production is therefore critical to the economic and national security of the United States.”
Read Also: Trump Showcases Special US Passport for 250th Independence Anniversary
According to the proclamation, American farmers apply more than half of the country’s annual phosphate fertilizer consumption between the fall and early spring, making timely access to fertilizer supplies essential ahead of the next planting season.
Trump warned that recent disruptions in global fertilizer supply chains had significantly increased procurement challenges for U.S. farmers.
“Global supply chains for phosphate fertilizer and fertilizer inputs… have been disrupted in recent months by, among other things, conflicts in fertilizer-producing regions as well as trade actions taken by major fertilizer-producing countries,” he said.
The President noted that disruptions affecting one of America’s largest foreign suppliers of phosphate fertilizer had placed “additional pressure on the farm economy and the production of certain categories of domestic food.”
He added that persistent instability in the global fertilizer market required the United States to diversify its import sources.
“Persistent threats to the global fertilizer supply chain, which create rapid price increases and procurement challenges, require the United States to procure phosphate fertilizer from diversified foreign sources to mitigate the significant risk of harm to the agricultural food production of the United States,” Trump said.
The proclamation also acknowledged that current domestic fertilizer production remains insufficient to meet national demand after exports are taken into account.
While the federal government is working alongside the private sector to expand domestic manufacturing capacity, Trump said those efforts would take time before yielding meaningful results.
“Immediate action is necessary and appropriate to ensure in the interim that United States farmers have access to a sufficient and timely supply of phosphate fertilizers during the planting and growing season,” he said.
Identifying Morocco as a reliable supplier, Trump said producers in the North African nation were capable of supplying phosphate fertilizers without disruption.
“It is imperative to immediately facilitate importation of phosphate fertilizers from the Kingdom of Morocco to mitigate the significant risk to the agricultural food production of the United States, to safeguard the economic and national security of the United States, and to ensure a stable domestic food supply,” the proclamation stated.
Under the emergency declaration, the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce are directed to consult with each other and with the Secretary of Homeland Security before implementing measures to allow duty-free imports of Moroccan phosphate fertilizers. The relief will remain in effect for eight months or until the emergency ends, whichever comes first.
The proclamation further requires both departments to monitor developments related to the fertilizer supply emergency, brief the President on any circumstances requiring additional action, and report measures taken under the emergency authority to Congress.
Trump said the proclamation supersedes any previous executive actions that conflict with its provisions while emphasizing that it does not alter the legal authority of federal agencies or create enforceable legal rights for private parties.
The emergency declaration comes as the United States seeks to stabilize agricultural production amid continuing volatility in global commodity markets, with fertilizer availability remaining a key concern for farmers preparing for future planting seasons.
