US President Donald Trump’s administration is putting pressure on Lithuania, demanding that it reopen the seaport in Klaipėda for exports of Belarusian potash fertilisers.
The US wants to reduce its dependence on supplies from Canada and cut costs for American farmers, Politico reports.
According to European officials, the US special envoy for Belarus, John Cole, has in recent weeks been holding talks with Lithuanian diplomats about easing the blockade. The restrictions are part of EU-wide sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. However, EU sanctions require annual renewal, and Lithuania, which will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU at the start of the year, theoretically has the right to veto their extension in February. Even so, the country remains one of Ukraine’s most consistent allies and opposes such a move.
Trump said he is working on a major deal with Minsk to buy potash at a significantly lower price. But this arrangement is only possible if transit goes through Baltic ports — Klaipėda or Riga. Washington’s interest in Belarusian potash has grown after trade talks with Canada collapsed, tariffs rose, and global fertiliser prices increased.
At the same time, such initiatives are being met with strong resistance in Europe. Eastern European diplomats stress that they do not intend to give in to US pressure, as this would strengthen Lukashenko’s regime and give it greater scope for repression.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius denied reports of pressure and assured that there are no plans to revise the sanctions policy.
- The EU introduced trade restrictions on Belarusian potash after the rigging of the 2020 election and the violent crackdown on protests, and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with Belarus’s involvement, the sanctions were further tightened.
- The US has already partially lifted its own restrictions on the Belarusian Potash Company, but European countries are in no hurry to follow suit.