Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe prepares for trip to China

At the cabinet office Thursday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe confirmed his trip to Asia alongside trade and development minister Warren Kaeding.

The goal of the trip is to open the doors for constructive conversations surrounding Chinese tariffs on canola. Moe and Kaeding will be joined by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s parliamentary secretary, Kody Blois.

Moe and Blois will begin their trip in China as Kaeding heads to South Korea to talk trade and exports. On the final two days of the trip, they will meet in Japan to have more trade discussions.

“On behalf of Saskatchewan people, we will strongly be making the case to be part of the supply chain for many countries around the world.” shared Moe.

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“We absolutely need to be engaging with countries like China, with countries like India, (and) the European Union as well as Japan, South Korea and many others.”

This trip comes a year after Canada announced tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, as well as steel and aluminum. China retaliated by launching an anti-dumping investigation into Canadian canola. In March came fresh tariffs on canola oil and meal.

Canola is a $4.5-billion industry, making it one of Canada’s most valuable crops.

The trip comes with criticism from the official opposition, with NDP trade and export development critic Kim Breckner saying Moe has let this issue go on for too long.

“This trip was thrown together last minute, looking at the results of the devastating tariffs on our canola products. I am here to simply ask why he has taken so long?” said Breckner.

With the uncertainty that lies ahead, Moe says targeting other markets will decrease the reliance on both China and the United States. Minister Kaeding shared that they are looking at markets in Singapore, Malasa, Indonesia, India, Japan and Korea, adding that there has been a lot of growth and interest in agriculture products in South America, Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador.

However, this mission to China won’t make any major changes overnight. Moe admitted that real change can only happen between Prime Minister Carney and President Xi Jinping.

Moe is hopeful that his trip will open the doors for those big discussions in the future, sharing that there are active conversations for a larger mission later this calendar year.