Canadians would lose if the country becomes steeped in a trade war with the United States, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Monday.
“If we find ourselves in a broad tariff war, or trade war, where everything flowing north and south is subject to tariffs, Canadians will lose that,” Moe told reporters in Saskatoon.
“We are an exporting province and we are an exporting nation, and we should not be heading in that (trade war) direction.”
Moe also said President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs would harm Americans by increasing inflation, reducing jobs and destabilizing investment.
“The job loss will be felt on both sides of the border and it will be decreasing the investment environment that we in Saskatchewan have worked very hard to ensure,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order to hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs on goods starting Tuesday, and both countries promised to strike back.
Moe said Canada could take a page from Mexico, which pledged to send 10,000 troops to the border it shares with the U.S. to fight drug trafficking and its tariffs were put on hold for a month.
He said Canada needs to address border security and proposed the military take control of the Canada Border Services Agency. It would allow the county to put troops at the border while increasing military spending, he said.
“We have an opportunity today to at least delay, like Mexico has,” Moe said.
“It’s incumbent on each of us as political leaders to do what we can to de-escalate any conversation or any talk around the imposition of these very, very harmful tariffs.”
Saskatchewan exported $26 billion of goods to the U.S. in 2023, with potash and oil among its major exports.
The province is the world’s largest producer of potash, which is used in fertilizers to grow crops. Moe said the U.S. receives 90 per cent of the product from Canada.
“The U.S. is able to access the largest, most secure … potash supply for their American farmers, to provide food security for Americans and to export that corn and other products to countries around the world,” he said.
The Saskatchewan Mining Association declined to comment Monday due to “the dynamic and sensitive nature of the imposed tariffs.”
Moe has refrained from taking countermeasures on U.S. goods.
“We’re looking at what opportunities Saskatchewan might have in that space, not to say that we would act on any of those non-tariff or retaliatory measures,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he has cancelled a contract worth nearly $100 million for Elon Musk’s Starlink. Ford also said Ontario would ban American companies from provincial contracts until U.S. tariffs are removed.
Manitoba is also looking for ways to prevent U.S. companies from bidding on provincial contracts.
Both provinces have also joined others in pledges to stop buying U.S. alcohol and to remove it from store shelves.
Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck said the Saskatchewan Party government also needs to pull U.S. liquor from stores in the province.
In addition, she called for the removal of provincial trade barriers and for government contracts to be prioritized for local and Canadian businesses.
“Saskatchewan people understand that this attack was unprovoked, is unnecessary, is unprecedented and it was unwanted. But they sure as hell want their leaders to stand up and fight back, even though we’re underdogs, even though this wasn’t a fight that we wanted,” Beck said.
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