SASKATOON — The Saskatchewan NDP has renewed its call to ease the trade tensions between Canada and China on the issue of tariffs.
Canada imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made EVs in October last year as a way to protect the local EV producers and market. China, which is Canada’s largest export market for canola seed, countered with 100 per cent duties on Canadian canola oil and meal in March, and an almost 76 per cent anti-dumping tariff on canola seed last month. Last year, China exported 5.9 million tonnes of canola seed from Canada, worth $4 billion.
Canola seed exports to China dropped from 651,080 tonnes in June 2024 to 237,897 tonnes in June this year, while canola meal fell to 32,506 tonnes from 141,938, based on data from the Canadian Canola Council. According to the Saskatchewan NDP, Saskatchewan’s canola exports to China fell to 28.8 per cent in July 2025 from 48.5 per cent in July 2024.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck said both countries need to come up with an urgent agreement, with canola farmers and producers hoping for a positive result on Premier Scott Moe’s trade mission to China ahead of the fall harvest.
“They [canola farmers] think that there is an opportunity, but that window is shrinking to have these tariffs removed. They want to see leaders at all levels of government, regardless of political strife, to be doing everything they can to settle this issue. If it's not removed, it's going to be devastating. It's going to dethrone the producers,” said Beck.
Beck made her comments during a media availability with Trade and Export Development Shadow Minister Kim Breckner on Tuesday just across the elevators of Viterra Canada’s Saskatoon facility.
Breckner said the Chinese government’s additional 75.8 per cent anti-dumping tariff on Canadian canola seed is a massive blow to canola producers and threatens to disrupt the province’s canola industry. She has called on the federal government to act now.
“Our federal leaders need to start listening to the Prairie provinces. This is about fairness and our future, the future of our agriculture sector, the future livelihoods of so many producer families in this province and country,” said Breckner.
Beck added that the Opposition has been sounding the alarm for months, has written letters to federal leaders and met with federal ministers to explain the importance of the issue and its devastating impact on the people of Saskatchewan.
“The goal has to be the removal of these devastating Chinese tariffs. There is no participation revenue. This has to be about ending these tariffs. We expect that leaders of all political stripes, of all levels of government, will treat it with the urgency that it deserves. We've seen urgency when it comes to the auto sector, as it should be. We've seen urgency when it comes to the steel sector, as it should be,” said Beck.
She added that canola producers deserve the same attention and clarity from all levels of government, and accessing other markets is also essential, as long as it involves investing in the critical infrastructure needed.
