Scott Moe calls for action on Chinese canola tariffs ahead of federal election

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe wants China to be Mark Carney’s first call once he’s installed as the Prime Minister, to deal with the tariff on canola products.

Premier Scott Moe held a news conference on Thursday morning in Saskatoon, outlining the threats the province faces due to tariffs from China and the United States, and naming a threat from within Canada as well.

Read More:

• Poll suggests 40% of Canadians fear losing their jobs due to U.S. tariffs
• Saskatchewan steel companies already feeling impacts of tariff war
• Looming 100-per-cent Chinese tariffs on canola leave Sask. farmers concerned

Chinese tariffs on canola oil, peas, pork and seafood are expected to kick on on March 20 in response to Canadian tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, causing uncertainty for many Saskatchewan farmers.

The premier called for “urgent engagement” from Ottawa, and emphasized that the industry and Saskatchewan jobs are under threat.

“There needs to be action by our federal government before any election call to engage with China, to ensure that the canola industry is not left in purgatory during the time that we might find ourselves in an election,” said Moe.

“That legacy, of closed canola crush plants, canola crush facilities across Saskatchewan and across Canada would be the Liberal government’s to wear and we would strongly hope that that is not the case.”

Moe said the electric vehicle tariffs are a tax on vehicles “that literally no one is buying in Canada,” and emphasized his call for the federal government to get back to the table and work out a deal that will see the tariffs dropped.

“They need to engage with the Chinese government to show a signal that they are ready to negotiate,” he said.

It’s been reported this week that incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney will head to Europe for his first international trip as the head of the country next week – a move Moe called “not good.”

“We don’t have a trade war with the European Union today, we are in the midst of a trade war with the United States of America and China, the two largest economies in the world, and our two largest export markets and trading partners,” said the premier.

He said Canadians expect the prime minister to do this work.

Moe pointed to comments from federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, saying Canada wants to protect industry, workers and communities.

“We would ask the federal government and Minister Champagne to stand by his words, to represent all Canadian workers, to represent all Canadian communities, and to represent all Canadian industries that are creating wealth,” said Moe.

The premier said, even more impactful than the job losses the canola products tariff could represent, would be the loss of that market – he said it was incredibly hard to build and will be hard to regain.

Saskatchewan trade and export minister Warren Kaeding said he’s been thinking of the canola crush industry that’s developed in Saskatchewan and the billions of dollars invested there, and how this is going to affect the jobs and the value of canola.

“Canola is one of the most valuable commodities that producers have on their production list this year and all of a sudden we’re looking at that now being in the red ink as well,” said Kaeding.

He said there’s a plant that was hoping to come online shortly and he said he’s worried what this situation will mean for it.

Other tariff threats

In his comments Thursday, Moe identified five tariff threats for people in Saskatchewan right now.

One was the Chinese tariff on canola products. Three others related to the U.S. — the tariffs related to the border and fentanyl, the threatened reciprocal tariffs expected in April, and the steel and aluminum tariffs currently in effect.

Moe, meanwhile, has made multiple trips to Washington. D.C. in an effort to head off the tariffs, and took steps to strengthen the border and curb the trafficking of fentanyl in response to concerns raised by U.S. President Donald Trump to justify his suite of tariffs.

Moe said the province is developing a plan to support steelworkers whose livelihoods may be at risk from the 25 per cent steel tariff.

“We have been actively engaged with numerous employers in (the steel) industry on how we can work together to support the work that they do in maybe a little bit different and innovative ways than what we’ve seen before,” Moe said.

The premier said there needs to be a path forward on all the threats, though he did comment on talk about dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Canada.

“The economy in the U.S. is ten times our size. If you think you’re going to stare down that economy, you might not get the result that you were looking for, and we heard that from industry,” said Moe, emphasizing a solution to get to a free and fair trading environment.

The fifth threat identified by Moe was Canada’s own counter-tariffs on American goods, saying they hurt Canadians. He also recommended that Carney’s plan to deal with these things not include export tariffs – Moe said that would be a threat to industry and end jobs.

The United States and China are Saskatchewan’s two largest export markets, with roughly $40 billion in goods crossing the southern border every year. Saskatchewan’s agri-food exports to China were valued at $3.7 billion last year.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick and The Canadian Press