Someone finally got through to Trump that Belarus has no potash to spare. All of their production is under contract.
Someone is feeding Trump fake news, and Trump is making very public announcements based on it. The bad intel, one might suspect, is designed to make Trump look foolish, having to backtrack. I wonder if that’ someone’ is Vance, who desperately wants to evict Trump from the White House after the mid-terms?
Respect and the ability to negotiate in good faith probably would have got lower potash prices because it would be mutually beneficial based on all trade (they get something, we get something). Oh, trump! What have you wrought?
The only negotiating strategy Trump knows is zero sum win-lose (I win you lose). He thinks win-win negotiating is for wimps.
The USA already buys many commodities (including potash and crude oil) from Canada at a discount from global prices.
And, because Canada sticks to our agreements (unlike Trump’s USA), we haven’t removed that “most favored nation” discount.