Russia is the world's largest producer of fertilizers and the USA buys a tremendous amount of it every year. If the U.S. applies "Secondary Sanctions" to Russian oil sales, Russia may retaliate by stopping all fertilizer sales to the US.
At the end of THIS week, President Donald Trump may issue what are called "Secondary Sanctions" against Russian Oil Sales. What this means is that any country who continues to buy Russia oil, would face Tariffs on THEIR exports to the United States of about 100%.
Such Tariffs would double the cost of goods from those countries here in the US, meaning they would not sell because Americans would just buy cheaper alternative products. Such sanctions could literally smash the economies of any country continuing to buy Russia oil.
The US is planning on applying those sanctions in an effort to stop the flow of Russia oil, and the money that comes from that flow. The idea is that if Russia is "broken" economically over the Ukraine war, Russia may agree to stop the war.
But the Russians are not stupid. They know the United States buys millions of tons of Russian fertilizers every year for farmers to grow crops. The Russians are now considering HALTING all fertilizer sales to the US.
This would cause the price for the other fertilizer imports to explode, and food prices here in the US would increase by at least 15% minimum. And that imagines the US could actually get their hands on fertilizers from other sources, which is a real question.
So while the Russians may face economic disaster from Secondary Sanctions, the Americans might face a FOOD DISASTER. Without fertilizer, crop yields would dry up. Very real food shortages would likely occur.
