REGINA — A provincial delegation led by Premier Scott Moe is in Asia this week on a major trade mission with canola front and centre.
Moe and the Saskatchewan delegation, which also includes federal Parliamentary Secretary Kody Blois, arrived in China on the weekend and is set to be there until Tuesday.
Their meetings in China are focused on efforts seeking to lift China’s numerous tariffs on Canada, including 100 percent tariffs on canola oil and meal and 75.8 on canola seed.
Few details have emerged so far from China about how things are going. But Moe has told reporters prior to the trip that it will include meetings with Chinese government officials as well as industry stakeholders.
Last Thursday on social media, Moe provided some details about what he hoped to achieve.
“Next week, I’ll be in China to advocate for Saskatchewan producers and businesses, pushing to remove tariffs on canola, pork, and peas,” Moe posted on the X platform.
“I’ll be joined by PM Carney's Parliamentary Secretary Kody Blois. At the same time, Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding, will be leading missions to South Korea and Japan — two growing markets for Saskatchewan’s food, fuel, and fertilizer. Saskatchewan produces some of the most sustainable products in the world, and we’re making the case directly in Asia.”
The China trip will be just the first leg of the Asia trade mission. On Tuesday, Premier Moe will go to Japan and is set to be joined by Minister Kaeding. There, they will spend the next two and a half days pitching to that country the benefits of trade with Saskatchewan.
At a news conference in Saskatoon prior to the trip, Moe described Japan as an “important market for a number of Saskatchewan goods, not just agri-food goods or ingredients but a number of Saskatchewan goods but also canola.
“As global trade patterns are shifting and we're seeing that virtually on a daily basis there are new opportunities for our products in Saskatchewan to gain market share in many markets around the world, and as we know today Saskatchewan products are shipped to over 160 countries around the world and we're seeing some shift in the flow patterns of those products.”
Many observers see Moe’s current trade mission as a potential precursor to more intense discussions that could happen down the road involving the federal government and China.
But hopes that canola tariffs might be removed quickly suffered a setback Friday, with news of a six month extension by China of their anti-dumping probe into Canadian canola seed. That could potentially extend the tariff on canola seed to March 9, 2026.
The Moe government has been cautious to temper expectations about the outcome of the visit to China, consistently saying that any trade deal or lifting of Chinese tariffs would ultimately need to involve the Prime Minister of Canada.
What they are making “every effort” to do, Moe said in Saskatoon, is “to bring the opportunity for that conversation of a closer trading relationship between Canada — and specifically Saskatchewan agriculture — and China to pull that meeting forward and to bring those conversations forward.”
Moe said what would constitute success is “for us to continue taking steps in that broader trade opportunity that we might have with a country like China as well as Japan and South Korea.”
On a related note, canola farmers did get a dose of good news from the federal government prior to the trade mission. On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $370 million biofuel production incentive to aid canola farmers. The feds plan targeted amendments to the Clean Fuel Regulations to accomplish that.
Not the first tariff fight with China
At his news conference Thursday, Premier Moe pointed out this was not the first time Saskatchewan has had to deal with tariff barriers from China, and also India.
Moe said the province has “dealt with this before, and in each country the approach that we take is somewhat different, different with China than it might be with India, with the European Union or the United States of America. And our goal is to actually bring that conversation forward of what a positive trading relationship can actually do for the Chinese economy and opportunities in China being part of their food, maybe even their fuel supply chains.”
One question that has been raised is whether Saskatchewan might be able to find alternative markets for its canola products. Premier Moe noted there is not a lot of opportunity to open up “magical new markets” when it comes to canola exports.
But he told reporters there was an opportunity to “expand on some of the existing markets that have been built over the last number of years through our trade and export offices that have often been criticized by members of the opposition here in Saskatchewan.”
Premier Moe pointed to the work done with Mexico, which he said was “one of those markets that has been significantly increasing over the last number of years in the amount of canola that is being shipped to Mexico.”
Minister Kaeding also noted the growth seen in areas where Saskatchewan has trade offices. He sees the ASEAN region as a particular growth area.
“So the ASEAN area is certainly one, so that's Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, India, Japan, Korea. And then the other area, I think, that definitely has a lot of growth especially in the ag product side is South America, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador — certainly see significant areas there.”
Kaeding also saw opportunity for more trade with eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary or Romania who might be looking for an alternative to Russia.
For canola, Moe said the opportunity was twofold: to “increase some of the exports to some of these other emerging markets that have been going on for the last decade or so, and two, is to replace some of the flow of canola that may be changing and finding its way into China.
“And Canadian canola will continue to find its way into China but the net effect at the end of the day is the depressing of the price which impacts our primary producers and our exporting industry.”
With files from Jon Perez and Ryan Young.
