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The Trump administration is pressing Lithuania to allow Belarusian potash fertilizer to move through the Baltic port of Klaipeda, despite European Union sanctions that bar such shipments, according to a Politico report published October 29.
Politico, citing four European officials, reported that John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, has approached Lithuanian diplomats in recent weeks to ask whether Vilnius would ease restrictions on the transit of Belarusian goods. Two Eastern European officials told the outlet Coale has raised the issue at various levels of the Lithuanian government for more than a year, and that he has also approached Latvian counterparts about using Baltic ports, including Riga.
Washington's aim, according to the report, is to secure cheaper fertilizer for American farmers and to reduce dependence on Canada, which supplies about 80 percent of U.S. potash imports. Belarus holds about 20 percent of the global potash market, and before sanctions about 90 percent of its potash exports moved through Klaipeda.
The push follows President Donald Trump's announcement last month that the United States was working on a "massive Deal" to buy potash from Belarus at prices substantially lower than those American farmers currently pay Canadian suppliers. The United States lifted its own sanctions on the Belarusian Potash Company and Belaruskali in March 2026, after Minsk released 250 political prisoners in a deal brokered by Coale. A first shipment of 30,000 tons of Belarusian potash, loaded September 15 at the Russian port of Bronka, was expected to reach New Orleans in October, routed through Russia because the Klaipeda route remains closed.
European officials have firmly resisted the American approach, according to Politico, arguing that easing sanctions would reward Minsk. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has said EU penalties forbid both the import of Belarusian potash and its movement across EU soil, regardless of who owns the exporting firm or where it is registered. The Lithuanian president's national security adviser, Deividas Matulionis, has warned that violating the sanctions would carry legal, financial and moral consequences.
Lithuania's prime minister, Mindaugas Sinkevicius, told public broadcaster LRT on October 30 that he had received no request on the matter, that Lithuania felt no pressure from the United States, and that Vilnius had no plans at present to review its sanctions policy — a public denial that sits alongside the private approaches described by Politico's sources.
The EU sanctions were imposed after Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko's disputed 2020 re-election and the violent suppression of protests, and were tightened after Belarus's role in supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They fall due for renewal in February 2027, when unanimous agreement among member states will be required. Lithuania assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in January 2027, which would in theory give it the power to block an extension — though Vilnius remains one of Ukraine's most consistent supporters.
Critics of any easing, including Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, have warned that potash revenue would give Lukashenko a financial lifeline and flow into repression at home and the war effort next door. The U.S. State Department declined to comment on specific commercial deals, but said Washington regularly discusses opportunities with allies that align with American economic interests, and that a sale of Belarusian potash to the United States would help reduce costs for American farmers and livestock breeders.