Sask. premier pleads for action on Chinese canola tariffs before federal election call

WATCH: Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe returned from another trip to the United States this week to call on the federal government to prioritize tariff threats.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe returned from another trip to the United States this week to call on the federal government to prioritize tariff threats from China.

Moe spent time in Houston earlier this week speaking at CERAweek, one of the world’s largest energy conferences, highlighting the importance of Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S.

Moe, alongside Minister of Trade and Export Development Warren Kaeding and Minister of Agriculture Daryl Harrison, held a roundtable with several provincial companies likely to be impacted by the tariffs Thursday.

The premier said that while Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney faces internal political pressure after recently becoming Liberal leader and assuming responsibility for negotiating with American counterparts, he needs to keep Chinese tariffs top of mind.

“This needs to happen before any election call,” Moe told reporters following the roundtable.

“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.”

Last week, the Chinese government announced an intention to implement 100 per cent tariffs on canola oil, canola meal and pea imports, which are scheduled to begin next Thursday.

Ottawa imposed a 100 per cent import tax on Chinese EVs and a 25 per cent import tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum last October.

Moe said putting a tariff on Chinese electric vehicles “that literally no one is buying in Canada” isn’t worth putting the country’s canola industry at risk.

“We would ask Minister François-Philippe Champagne and the Liberal government to represent Saskatchewan communities, where the canola industry is paramount in how we create wealth,” Moe said.

According to SaskCanola, Saskatchewan accounts for 55 per cent of total canola production, with Alberta making up 29 per cent and Manitoba comprising another 16 per cent last year.

China was the province’s second largest market, marking $4.9 billion in exports in 2024.

While a tariff could likely harm the entire sector, Kaeding says he worries most about canola crushing plants, particularly Cargill’s Regina plant, which is expected to open later this year.

“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,” said Kaeding.

“We’ve got a new crush plant that was hoping to come online here very shortly, and I’m concerned about them and the viability of them coming to the marketplace now with all of these tariffs.”

Since last November, Kaeding, Moe and Harrison have spent plenty of time jetting across the world to strengthen relationships and make new trading partners, with an added emphasis since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

Harrison spent time meeting with partners in India and the United Arab Emirates to help diversify Saskatchewan’s markets.

“We want to not only maintain that, but we want to grow it. We don’t want to lose any ground in that market, because once you lose it, it’s tougher to get back,” Harrison said.

Kaeding spent time at the province’s Vietnamese and Singaporean trade offices two weeks ago as well.

On Wednesday, Moe said Chinese tariffs would “decimate” the canola crushing industry in Saskatchewan, and any further impacts will affect the relationships the country has with other markets, which has taken decades to build.

“The people that will be working in those plants will not have a job for a period of time,” Moe said Thursday.

“More impactful than a temporary loss of jobs in the canola crushing industry is the markets that we are losing.”

The federal government said it won’t repeal tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles Wednesday. Moe has differed from his counterparts in other provinces thus far as he’s cautioned against retaliatory threats.

“The economy in the U.S. is ten times our size,” Moe said. “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.”