Senior Multimedia Reporter
peter.christopher@guardian.co.tt
Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal yesterday welcomed the United States’ decision to remove the reciprocal tariffs on fertilisers, potentially strengthening T&T’s manufacturers of ammonia, urea and Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN).
On November 14, 2025, United States President Trump signed an executive order to reverse his April 2 directive that had imposed a 15 per cent tariff on nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers previously listed under Annex II of Executive Order 14257.
This would allow T&T to once again benefit from duty-free access for key fertiliser products, including anhydrous ammonia, urea, and UAN.
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that also removes tariffs on tea, fruit juice, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and certain fertilisers.
Dr Moonilal said, “The decision to remove US import tariffs on nitrogen fertilisers, specifically ammonia, urea and UAN is a significant win for Trinidad and Tobago. As we know, earlier this year, a tariff of 15 per cent had been placed on these exports, and the elimination of these duties marks an important reversal with major economic benefits.”
The Energy Minister said the news was a good boost for the economy, as ammonia exports had been a constant source of foreign exchange.
He said, “This move not only secures one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most important foreign exchange earning industries, but also reinforces our country’s position as a reliable supplier within the global fertiliser supply chains.”
He continued, “This is a welcome move by the United States government, and Trinidad and Tobago will certainly benefit on a broader level. It strengthens Trinidad and Tobago’s exports, underscoring the nation’s natural gas-based fertiliser production capacity, which remains competitive and critical to key international marketing.”
However, former Energy Minister Stuart Young was dismissive of the government’s claim that their negotiations had led to the removal of the tariffs, as he noted several other countries had similar tariff removals as a result of the order. He also questioned the impact of the move given Nutrien’s shutdown of operations in October.
“The UNC government continues to attempt to hoodwink citizens and grasp at straws. The removal of tariffs by the US has nothing to do with the Trinidad and Tobago government,” Young said, in a social media post.
Young continued, “What does have to do with the UNC government is the shutting down of four plants by Nutrien, which is one of the largest producers of ammonia and urea globally. The continued shutdown of Nutrien’s plants is negatively affecting our country’s reputation, revenues, jobs and even other industries and businesses.”
Nutrien, T&T’s second-largest ammonia plant operator, shut down its operations in T&T on October 23, 2025, citing “uncertainty with respect to port access and a lack of reliable and economic gas supply that has reduced the free cash flow contribution of the Trinidad Nitrogen operations over an extended period of time.”
Negotiations were said to be ongoing between the government and Nutrien concerning the restart of operations, but no agreement with regard to the payment of retroactive port fees had been reached between the parties to date.
In the company’s financial report for 2025 released earlier this month, the company said it did not expect additional sales volumes from its Trinidad operations in 2025.
According to Nutrien’s 2024 fact book, T&T was Nutrien’s top ammonia export region for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The fact book also stated the US was the company’s second-highest import region, trailing only India. T&T was the second-highest source for US ammonia imports via Nutrien, behind only Canada.
