U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a Black History Month event in the East Room of the White House on February 18, 2026, in Washington, DC.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of phosphorus and the herbicide glyphosate, saying they are critical to both national defense and food security.
Glyphosate is often targeted as a harmful chemical by supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Trump aligned himself with the MAHA movement after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew from the 2024 race.
“We recognize that ensuring domestic extraction of the elemental phosphorus and reliable production of glyphosate-based herbicides in the United States is central to America’s economic and national security,” President Trump said in the executive order. “Without immediate action from the federal government, the United States remains ill-equipped and vulnerable.”
Glyphosate has been used in U.S. agriculture for years and has been the subject of controversy over its links to cancer. bayerthe company that makes the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup, recently offered to pay $7.25 billion to settle a lawsuit that claims the chemical causes cancer.
Roundup products can be seen sold at a store in San Rafael, California.
Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images
Phosphorus, also covered by the order, is a precursor to the production of glyphosate and is also used to make certain military equipment.
The order requires Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to issue orders and regulations to implement increased supplies of phosphorus and glyphosate.
A White House fact sheet on the executive order states that President Trump signed the order “to ensure domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides,” the loss of which would cripple critical supply chains.
The fact sheet states that because there is “only one domestic producer of elemental phosphorus- and glyphosate-based herbicides,” shortages of both chemicals “could make our nation’s defense industrial base and food supply vulnerable to hostile foreign powers.”
Kennedy once won a nearly $290 million lawsuit against Roundup maker Monsanto (later acquired by Bayer) against a man who claimed he developed cancer from using the herbicide.
But since being named secretary of health by President Trump, he has softened his tone on chemicals.
“We cannot take any action that would put one farmer in this country out of business,” he said at a hearing last year. “There are 1 million farmers dependent on glyphosate.”
CNBC has reached out to HHS for comment.
Monsanto said in a statement to CNBC that the executive order “reinforces the critical need for American farmers to have access to essential, domestically produced crop protection tools such as glyphosate.”
The company said it would “comply with this order to produce glyphosate and elemental phosphorus.”
