‘Work towards that common goal’: Sask. leaders support PM’s trip to China

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks during a press conference before the throne speech in Regina on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he is in support of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to China, to increase engagement on trade, energy, agriculture, and international security.

“How can we move the tariffs on some of the products, namely canola for us in Saskatchewan, but also open up opportunities for additional trade with China beyond what we even do today,” Moe told CTV’s Vassy Kapelos on Wednesday.

“So, good step.”

Carney will be travelling to China from Jan. 13 to 17, the first visit to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.

• Mark Carney to visit China next week, first for a Canadian prime minister in nearly 10 years

While appearing on CTV’s Power Play, Moe said he supports the visit and said it will be part of a broader process to see progress on market access for Canadian canola and other products.

The premier also spoke on the trading relationship between Canada and China, saying it “hasn’t been without challenges.”

“I think we have to look at relying and not relying on China, but expanding some of our market diversification … They are the largest economies in the world, and to ignore them, I think, would be a tremendous error,” he said.

“So, we are going to have to find a way to deal with China. We’ve been finding that way for decades now, from Saskatchewan’s perspective, we’re over $4 billion in exports that we send there each and every year. We’ve got a strong trading relationship.”

When asked if he expects the tariffs on canola to be removed during Carney’s trip to China, Moe said he hopes they will be.

“It’s my wish and my ask that they would be, not only on canola, but also seafood and pork,” he said. “I don’t know that that’s realistic. That hasn’t been our experience in the last few times that we’ve had to deal with tariffs.”

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However, Moe remained optimistic and said the way to get the tariffs removed is through engagement.

“Like what we’re seeing right now by Prime Minister Carney and provinces like Saskatchewan as well,” he said. “So, we need to work together, and we need to work towards that common goal, which is, one, to have existing tariffs removed, and two, I would say, to advance additional opportunities to trade, not only with China, but many other countries around the world.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said she is glad to hear that Carney will be travelling to China to advance trade and diplomatic relations.

“The ongoing trade dispute between China and Canada has effectively shut off one of our most important markets for major agricultural exports, seriously harming producers across the province,” she said.

She said the province needs to see concrete results from the visit to get the tariffs on canola lifted.

“Saskatchewan farmers feed the world,” her statement read. “They need access to the Chinese market now.”