Moe to join Carney on China trade mission, producers optimistic

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Scott Moe are set to travel to China in the coming days to discuss trade matters. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

Saskatchewan’s premier will accompany Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first official trip to China later this week.

In a surprise update late Monday afternoon, the provincial government revealed Moe would join the federal leader on his trade mission to the far east.

“Canada and Saskatchewan need a strong relationship with China and these meetings support the process of recalibrating how we work together,” Moe said in a statement. “I am pleased to join Prime Minister Carney as we advance interests that are important to Canadians.”

The province described the visit as centered on building and strengthening diplomatic and economic ties, with an emphasis on “trade, investment and long-term engagement.”

According to a senior source in the Government of Saskatchewan, Moe is currently on holiday in Vietnam. A discussion began late last week with the PMO about the premier joining Carney for “a couple of engagements” in China.

The idea came about because of Premier Moe’s trip to China last September and the fact that he was already in the region.

Moe was able to make arrangements for the appropriate visas and is currently heading to China.

The PMO has confirmed Moe will join “a few of the meetings” in Beijing.

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Saskatchewan producers and suppliers have said they are optimistic about Carney’s visit to China this week, hailing it is a positive start towards rebuilding international trade relations with countries other than the U.S.

The upcoming trip will be Carney’s first official visit to China, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last October in South Korea.

The five-day trade mission is intended to raise Canada’s engagement on trade, energy, agriculture, and international security with China. In addition to expanding its markets for Canadian goods.

“You can’t ignore the economic giants, China, India, the U.S. [where] predictable and positive trade relations with each is going to be important,” said Murad Al-Katib, president and chief executive officer of Saskatchewan-based AGT Foods.

“It’s not about trading less with the U.S., but in order to have diversification we need strong relationships with India and China.”

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Currently, China has imposed tariffs on Canadian exports which include canola, seafood, and pork. The trade action was in response to Canada imposing a 100 per cent tariff on electric vehicles and a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum from China – similar to the U.S.

Measured expectations from producers

Since enforced, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) president Bill Prybylski said the tariffs have negatively impacted producers across the province.

“We’ve seen our input costs have continued to rise, although maybe not as fast as they had been in the past, but they’ve continued to increase and we’re seeing our commodity prices decreasing,” Prybylski told CTV News.

“It’s made for a pretty tight squeeze on a lot of margins on a lot of farms.”

One of the outcomes Prybylski said producers would like to see come from the international trade meeting is an agreement that would remove the tariffs placed on agricultural products.

“We need China as a market for the products that we grow here. It’s a very important market for the commodities that we grow. Ultimately, we need to see those trade relations normalized,” he stressed.

“We’re optimistic that this is a good step in the right direction and we’re hoping for a positive outcome from these talks that will lead to more talks, that will hopefully ultimately end in some sort of an agreement to get rid of these tariffs.”

Al-Katib said a “face-to-face” visit with Carney and China’s president is the only way a resolution can be brought forward regarding ongoing trade disputes.

“I think that we all have to be realistic that elimination of tariffs is probably going to be unlikely in the near term. Tariffs are the new weapon of establishing the new world order in trade,” Al-Katib explained.

With China being one of the largest markets in the world for Canadian canola, Al-Katib said Carney’s visit can potentially bring some relief to Saskatchewan’s food suppliers if an agreement on tariffs can be reached.

“We want reliable, predictable tariffs so that we do know what they are and we don’t want them to be changing without subject notice,” Al-Katib said.

“From that perspective I think that normalization of the trade will give us further predictability on the trade flow for canola and yellow peas and pork, and getting certainty on trade flow is certainty on price.”

Carney will be visiting China from Jan. 13 to Jan. 17. It will be the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.

Canada’s exports of goods to China totalled $29.9 billion in 2024, while imports were close to $89 billion, according to the Government of Canada.

-With files from Mike Le Couteur and Abigail Bimman