The Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) it took note of this withdrawal while waiting for the decision to be officially announced by the competent American authorities.
“ We now expect the Department of Commerce to publish a notice in the Federal Register rescinding the Administrative Review in the coming weeks,” said the Moroccan giant, as it prepares to assess the impact of this potential reduction on its fertilizer exports to the United States.
The customs duties were initially set at 19.95%, before being provisionally reduced to 7.42%. They are expected to fall further if the appeal filed by OCP before the Court of International Trade progresses.
In November 2020, The US Commerce Department ruled in favor of Mosaic and proceeded to impose tariffs on 20 percent on Moroccan fertilizer giant OCP Group.
Mosaic, a Fortune 500 company csought to impose taxes on Moroccan exported phosphates in order to limit foreign competition, emails, and meeting notes obtained by an American nonprofit watchdog showed.
Mosaic CO had arranged for high-level meetings with White House trade officials under the Trump administration to discuss what they believed to be unfair subsidies for foreign importers.
A piece published by Intercept showed that Mosaic paid a lobbying firm called Ballard $1.49 million in fees to secure meetings with some of the top trade officials in the White House, including chief trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer and the director of the National Trade Council, Peter Navarro.
The OCP Group, Morocco’s leading fertilizer producer and a global supermajor producer of phosphate-based products, argued at the time that there was no basis to impose such duties against which many voices inside the American agriculture industry voiced their opposition, from distributors to cooperatives and elected officials.
Last year, the US Department of Commerce said it will work to reduce duties imposed on phosphate fertilizers imported from Morocco and raise fees on fertilizers from Russia,.
“We hope that this development will prove to be a first step toward ending these tariffs that are preventing U.S. farmers from having reliable access to a high-quality supply of an essential input for growing abundant and healthy crops to feed their fellow citizens and compete in global markets,” said the Moroccan group after Mosaic withdrew its request for higher tariffs
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