REGINA - Uncertainty over both the tariff situation and the economy loomed large as Premier Scott Moe opened the Global Food, Fuel and Fertilizer Global Summit conference put on by Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.
Moe’s speech to the audience in Regina touched on the challenges brought on by the tariffs imposed by “one individual,” as he referred to President Donald Trump, as well as from China on canola oil and seed.
The themes weren’t much different from what Moe has been talking about publicly on trade over the last number of weeks. He spoke of how integrated Saskatchewan was with the USA but also China and India on trade.
Moe said that with all three, they would “be having tariff discussions in the weeks and months ahead.”
He said the 100 per cent tariff from China on canola oil and meal was the “most urgent and most significant tariff impacting the Saskatchewan economy today.”
He also spoke of the Trump tariffs, including the latest reciprocal tariffs in which Moe said “we find ourselves in a much better position than what we saw many other countries be facing over the last week.”
“What I would say to all of these is thank goodness for what we produce. Thank goodness for what you produce in this province. We have a tariff response plan that we are working on here, but it’s a lot easier to enact that tariff response plan when you are producing products that are providing food security, when you are producing products that provide energy security, when we do have a relationship with many folks south of the border.”
In speaking to reporters Moe once again called on Prime Minister Mark Carney to continue to reach out to China on the canola tariffs. “That is going to have to happen by either this Prime Minister or the next,” said Moe.
Moe spoke of his own province’s efforts with respect to outreach to China.
“What we’ve done is be in contact with the Canadian ambassador to China, the Chinese ambassador to Canada, and we have formally now contacted or written letters to a number of subnational leaders in China, reaching out requesting to have a phone call with them to ensure that we can state our case with respect to why those tariffs are not only harmful to industries in China, but harmful to the global economy as well.”
It was Moe’s responses at that Food, Fuel and Fertilizer confeeence that the NDP particularly took issue with Tuesday.
At a news conference at the Legislature, NDP critics Trent Wotherspoon and Kim Breckner took aim at Moe for not having a plan.
Breckner particularly roasted Moe, characterizing Moe’s comments at the conference as only beginning to formulate a response to the trade war. She also characterized Moe as only recently reaching out to Chinese officials.
“This should have been done months ago,” said Breckner. “What have these guys been doing?”
Breckner added “this isn’t a time for a Scott Moe victory lap or for him to downplay the everyday challenges Saskatchewan families are facing.”
Beck remarks
Opposition Leader Carla Beck was at the conference Tuesday and she noted the uncertain trade atmosphere surrounding it.
“I think especially this year people were anxious to be in this room to be talking about challenges, but also to be talking about Saskatchewan’s place in future solutions to many of the issues facing the global economy and also to compare notes in terms of the impact of what we are seeing in the US and with the Chinese tariffs.”
Beck said one of the things they continue to hear is that the trade relationships with the USA has been disrupted.
“We need to continue to work to take those messages to the United States, to consumers and leaders in the U.S.,“ said Beck. On the other hand, she said, “we need to be doing everything we can here within this country to improve our ability to get exports to other markets, to build that trade-enabling infrastructure and to be expanding to markets around the world.”
