The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has eased restrictions on a group of Belarus-linked financial and potash companies in the latest sign of improving ties between the country’s autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, and Washington.
President Donald Trump is expected to speak at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Watch live in our video player above.
The war with Iran has largely stopped the export of nitrogen fertilizers manufactured in the Persian Gulf and limited farmers’ access to key fertilizer ingredients. The skyrocketing cost of fertilizer has left some U.S. farmers unable to obtain it at any price.
READ MORE: Iran war has U.S. farmers worried about the cost and availability of fertilizer
Trump said during a Cabinet meeting that he plans to roll out a “variety” of policies “to support American farmers” as his administration wages war in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, Lukashenko met with Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington to ease some U.S. penalties.
