Certain agriculture inputs will be exempt from the 10% across-the-board duties and higher reciprocal duties applied to specific trade partners, according to a detailed list of carveouts published by the White House.
Listed among the 37 pages of products excluded from the steep new duties are potash, certain herbicides and pesticides, peat, lumber products, lubricating oils, some energy products, and certain pharmaceuticals, including tranquilizers and vaccines for veterinary use. Diquat and paraquat are among the herbicides listed.
Representatives from the agriculture industry as well as farm-state lawmakers had been pushing the administration in recent weeks for a slate of exemptions to any new duties. AmericanHort, an industry group representing the horticulture industry, had appealed to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for a carveout for peat moss, for example.
“I’ve weighed in with the administration on that for months,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., told Agri-Pulse this week. “Key inputs, potash, nitrogen, actually, peat moss.”
U.S. agriculture depends on countries like China and India for many widely used pesticides. The U.S. imports more than 19 million kilograms of paraquat each year, according to Department of Commerce Data, and more than 3 million of diquat. Paraquat also received an exemption from tariffs imposed during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
While the exemptions apply to the new 10% duties and reciprocal tariffs set to go into effect on April 5 and April 9, the list does not apply to the 25% tariffs already in place on Mexico and Canada, even though Canada is a major U.S. supplier of some of the articles listed.
The U.S. receives the vast majority of its peat imports from Canada, according to data from World Integrated Trade Solution. Those remain subject to duties under the fentanyl emergency declaration issued in February.
The U.S imports around 90% of its potash, with Canada alone making up about 80%. Canadian potash that qualifies for duty-free treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement can still enter the U.S. without being subject to duties. Imports that don't qualify for duty-free treatment will still be subject to existing 10% duties imposed under the executive order related to Canada’s tariffs.
But if those tariffs are lifted, these exemptions would apply to the reciprocal tariffs Canada and Mexico would face, according to the executive order.
Ag industry representatives had been calling for exemptions to fresh produce and food products that the U.S. does not produce domestically, but none were included in the list of exempted products.
These exemptions “were hard fought for by agricultural organizations,” the American Farm Bureau Federation’s economist Betty Resnick wrote in an analysis published Friday, and “are a testament to the effectiveness of farmers and ranchers raising their collective voice.”
Even if the exemptions provide some price relief on critical inputs, they will do nothing to soften the blow of any retaliatory tariffs imposed by foreign governments. China responded to the new duties with a 34% tariff on all American exports on Friday. The European Union has also said it is assembling countermeasures.
“With the simultaneous increase of input prices and decrease in demand, farmers who are already in financial distress will further feel the squeeze,” the ABFB analysis argues.
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