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Jan. 22, 2026 by Bill Watts, The Scoop magazine The full cost of fertilizer tariffs - and then some - may have been passed through to farmers in 2025, according to data released Tuesday by North Dakota State University (NDSU). In its monthly Agricultural Trade Monitor, NDSU found that tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) collected an estimated $958 million in revenue from selected imports of agricultural inputs between February and October of last year. Of that, about: *$273 million came from agricultural chemicals *$530 million from farm machinery *$110 million from fertilizers *$44 million from seeds. The report observes that when fertilizer tariffs were imposed in April, U.S. fertilizer prices significantly rose relative to Canadian prices, which weren't subject to the tariff. The premium for DAP, measured by the difference between prices in the U.S. Northern Plains versus Canadian prices, climbed to $343 per metric ton at its peak during the tariff period, marking an increase of $172 per metric ton from pre-tariff baseline levels. MAP and urea each saw a similar divergence. Who pays? The report notes the effective tariff rate on DAP imports was approximately 8% of the import value, while year-over-year spot price analysis showes the differential between U.S. and Canadian spot prices rose by $187 per metric ton in August 2025 compared with August 2024. That's equivalent to a 342% pass-through rate when measured against the 8% tariff. At the retail level, the pass-through rate was lower at 156%, but still exceeded 100%. Context is important, says Shawn Arita, associate director and associate research professor at NDSU's Agricultural Risk Policy Center. He notes the $110 million in IEEPA tariff revenues for fertilizers is less than 1% of the estimated $33 billion in total production costs. "The high pass-through rate may reflect the uncertainty around tariff levels that prevailed around President Donald Trump's April "liberation day" announcement of reciprocal tariffs," Arita says. "It was unclear whether some exporters would be subject to levies above 10% as importers moved to stockpile inventory." To read the entire article click here. Tweet |
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