Morocco, a "critical mineral" for the USA: Toward historic legislation to lift sanctions on phosphate

Introduced this Tuesday by Senator Roger Marshall and supported by several of his peers, the bill provides for the immediate elimination of countervailing duties imposed in April 2021 against imports from the Moroccan state-owned group OCP. This legislative move comes amid a profitability crisis for the agricultural sector across the Atlantic. Professionals are bearing the full brunt of the repercussions of the Middle East war and the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage point that has disrupted the global market and sent urea prices soaring by nearly 49%. Today, 70% of American farmers can no longer afford to procure sufficient fertilizer for the planting season.

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Agricultural unions are throwing their full weight behind this legislation, which would require the reimbursement of bonds posted by importers within ninety days. By late March, more than sixty national organizations had already alerted the Commerce Department about these taxes that limit supply and concentrate power in the hands of a few local producers. According to a recent study, these tariff barriers specifically targeting Morocco have cost farmers $6.9 billion between 2021 and 2025. "Phosphate is an essential nutrient for agricultural production, and right now, farmers are paying prices that threaten their bottom line," Senator Marshall stressed to justify his action.

On Bladi.net : The United Kingdom Discovers How Dependent It Is on Morocco

The Kingdom’s role proves strategically indispensable for Washington: the country holds more than 70% of the world’s phosphate rock reserves, which has even prompted the Trump administration to recently add this resource to the American list of critical minerals. From a legal standpoint, the momentum also favors Morocco. After five years of legal battle initiated by complaints from Florida-based company Mosaic, American courts dismissed the existence of illegal subsidies, forcing authorities to drastically lower the tax rate to 2.11% at the start of the year. The adoption of this new law would definitively bury these sanctions without waiting for the end of ongoing review procedures.