🇺🇸🇧🇾 Washington announced a potash deal with Belarus to replace Canada, and Minsk answered within hours that 85 percent of its supply is already sold to China and Russia Raymond Zucaro runs an emerging-markets fund and watches these announcements move prices at 9:24 every morning, so the Belarus episode caught his eye. The deal was floated Monday, Lukashenko said he had nothing to sell almost before the post finished loading, and the landlocked country ships everything out through Russian and Arctic ports anyway because the EU closed the Lithuanian route. Maybe it was meant to squeeze Ottawa. Either way it lasted about a coffee break. The pattern matters more than the potash. Diesel sits at a record $6.50, Europe is days from dry pumps, and every announcement that dies on contact teaches the next country to test the next threat. The one Zucaro wants people watching is quieter: the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which will carry the gas that once fed Germany to China, priced in anything but dollars. @RayZucaro @WeTheBrandon

TRUMP EYES MAJOR BELARUS POTASH DEAL President Trump says the U.S. is working on a large-scale agreement to buy potash from Belarus. Trump says the fertilizer would be purchased at substantially lower prices than current Canadian supplies, potentially reducing input costs for U.S. farmers and ranchers.