Ok, so, a short recap of what’s happened:
Farmers need potash as fertilizer. Potash is necessary to grow food and feed the world.
Yet Trump started a completely pointless war in Iran which choked off the Strait of Hormuz. This limits the world supply of potash, as million of tons of it come from Jordan and must travel through the Strait.
Ok, no problem. Our friendly neighbors to the north of us just happen to be the world’s #1 exporter of potash. We’ll just buy from them!
Oh wait, Trump completely wrecked our friendship with Canada for literally no reason by slapping them with egregious tariffs and insulting them by calling them the 51st state.
Well, darn. Ok, then we’ll make a deal with the #4 exporter of potash, Belarus. Belarus is a dictatorship and one of Putin’s satellite states. So, by buying from Belarus, we are indirectly helping Putin fund his war in Ukraine. Not good, but we need to eat.
Oh wait, all of Belarus’ potash has already been spoken for. There’s none for us to buy.
The USA is going to be in deep crap next growing season, and it’s not the kind of crap that can fertilize a field. There WILL be food shortages. Americans WILL go hungry.
That’s the art of the deal, baby!
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko says Belarus cannot supply potash to the United States under Donald Trump's proposed "deal" with Belarus.
Lukashenko said today, "Even if we wanted to supply somewhere else, Western markets, we just don't have those volumes, everything has been contracted."
Donald Trump announced on Truth Social earlier that he was 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."
It appears that Lukashenko just counter-signalled Trump's announcement.
Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre: "I can hardly think of any bilateral partnership which is moving forward at the pace we do now with Canada, Canada and Norway."
It’s truly heartening to see how much of the world has rallied around Canadians after witnessing the attempts from that thing in the WH to break us. It is reassuring to know there are good people who will stand with those being targeted by a bully.
Thank you from 🇨🇦.
The EU has delivered greater stability across the continent, greater mobility for its citizens, and a single market that gives Europe global economic weight.
An honour to hear President von der Leyen address the European Parliament today as we build a deeper partnership for the future.
Canada and the EU are natural partners, united by shared values.
With President von der Leyen and President Metsola, we focused on what comes next: a deeper partnership that reinforces our mutual sovereignty to create more opportunities and prosperity for our peoples.
Over the past year, Canada has signed more than 20 trade and security deals across five continents and more than 50 critical minerals agreements with over 15 countries.
We are also deepening our relationships with trusted partners and opening new markets for Canadian businesses.
BREAKING: EU's von der Leyen to Mark Carney:
I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the European Union.