Weedmark says tariffs are a no-win situation
March 3, 2025, 1:20 pm
With American president Donald Trump saying he will impose a 25 per cent tariff on most Canadian exports starting this week, the World-Spectator asked Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark about the Saskatchewan government’s approach to the threat of tariffs. Following is the interview:
What is the provincial government’s approach to the threat of American tariffs?
With the threat of tariffs we have a three pronged approach, so first of all, engagement with the United States itself, and with the United States our focus remains on de-escalating the conversation around tariffs. I think that the most important thing we can do right now is show what a strong integrated economy across North America can do and share the important role that Saskatchewan plays in the food and energy security conversation.
Our government believes that the free flow of goods and services across the Canada-U.S. border is vital to both the Canadian and American economies and we are doing everything we can to reach out to our American colleagues to try to get that point across and the premiere has been in Washington making the case and many members of our caucus have also been reaching out to all of their contacts in the States and in some cases travelling into the states to try to make that point.
So that’s one of the three prongs. The second is international engagement. Just with the threat of tariffs it reminds us on how dependant we are on the United States as an export market. Saskatchewan is an exporting economy. We produce the food, the fuel, and the fertilizer the world needs, but right now just over half of our exports go to the United States. We’ve had increasing diversification of export markets, but it would help us to diversify those markets even more.
That has been a long-term goal of Saskatchewan is to diversify the international markets that it sells into and that’s why we have international trade offices in China, in Germany, in India, in Japan, in Mexico, in Singapore, in the United Arab Emirates, in the UK, and in Vietnam to help make the province more resilient to market risks such as tariffs and regulatory barriers. The more we can engage with those different markets around the world, the more we can develop those trading relationships, the better it is for our economy because we are dependant on exports, and the more we can diversify the export markets the better.
Further to that, just this last week both Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison and Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding were on the road, were out of the country promoting Saskatchewan to different export markets. I spoke with Warren Kaeding just this morning about his trip to Vietnam and Singapore and he said it was very, very productive.
So over the years we have had all sorts of international missions involving the premier and ministers, to the United Arab Emirates, to India, to Manila, to Singapore, to the Philippines, to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, France, Germany, the UK, Poland, building strong relationships abroad. Just this last week we had two ministers on the road, one in the Middle East, one in South East Asia furthering that goal, and the premier himself was down in Mexico following his visit to Washington. We’re on the road, we’re out there developing the relationships that we need to further develop our export markets.
The third prong of our approach is strengthening internal trade within Canada. Both international trade and internal trade within Canada are critical to Saskatchewan’s economy and together they are worth about 70 per cent of our gross domestic product.
We need to do everything we can to reduce the trade barriers between provinces and make it possible for products produced in one part of Canada to be sold in all parts of Canada with no regulatory barriers to interprovincial trade, because trading within our country, eliminating the barriers to trade makes all our economies stronger within the country and helps every province.
If tariffs are applied, which industries in Saskatchewan will be the most affected?
What we produce here is generally produced for export. Our top exports are crude oil and potash. Crude oil, the Americans have said, would be subject to a 10 per cent tariff and everything else would be subject to a 25 per cent tariff. Just take potash for instance as one of those commodities.
America is a major buyer of our potash, although we do have purchasers around the world for our potash resource. But American farmers depend on Saskatchewan potash to grow the food for the American people and grow food for export. A 25 per cent tariff on Saskatchewan potash might hurt our potash producers in the short term but the world needs potash and there is no doubt we would find new markets to export that potash to.
So all the American tariffs would accomplish is simply driving up the cost for their own farmers and driving up costs for consumers, stoking inflation.
It would cause a lot of damage to the American economy and there would be some damage to the Canadian economy until the potash producers could adjust.
Tariffs are a no win situation. Both countries would hurt from that. The president of the United States is calling for a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian oil exports at the same time he’s suggesting that a Canadian pipeline to export crude oil to the United States should be put back on the agenda. It’s hard to reconcile those two policies, but putting a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian oil would simply drive up the price to American consumers. It certainly wouldn’t impact the Canadian industry likely because there are refineries in the United States that rely on that feed stock. They rely on the Canadian crude oil to supply them.
Tariffs generally create two losers—the country that imposes the tariffs, it drives up costs for the consumers, and the country that is the target of tariffs might see some impact on their industrial production or their resource production.
When we can reduce and eliminate trade barriers, that’s a win-win. That’s a benefit for everyone. And specifically here in North America. We have an integrated economy. Items flow back and forth across the border. You might have steel produced in Canada that goes to the United States to be used in a part that’s shipped into Canada to be assembled into a final product that’s then shipped back to the United States to be purchased and used.
So in a very integrated economy, putting tariff wars in the middle of it doesn’t benefit anyone.
So I’m hopeful that we can de-escelate the conversation around tariffs. Look at all the different industries that Canada has. Potash is one where it’s very difficult to imagine where America would make up for Saskatchewan’s potash exports if it didn’t have that source.
And similarly we produce uranium in Saskatchewan that’s exported into the United States, and it’s very difficult to imagine where that would be made up. Those tariffs certainly aren’t protecting an American industry. There is a negligible American potash industry for instance. So the purpose of backing these tariffs is hard to comprehend. The damage from these tariffs is easy to understand and that’s the point that we have been trying to make.
Now if Americans were going to put a tariff on anything, they should put a tariff on silver because Canada keeps handing them the silver when we take the gold.
Is there any indication that your message is resonating across the border?
We know from individual conversations that various lawmakers, various legislators, various government officials are certainly hearing and understanding the message. But there is one person who needs to hear and understand that message. There’s one person with the power to impose tariffs or cancel tariffs. We are doing everything we can to make that case and we’ll see where it ends up.
What concerns are you hearing from people within your own constituency in regards to tariffs?
In our constituency, like so much of Saskatchewan, we produce things for export. We produce agricultural machinery for export, we produce food on the farms for export, we produce oilfield equipment for export, we produce potash for export, we produce oil for export.
So a lot of people are justifiably worried about the impact that tariffs would have. We’ve been making the case as strongly as we can in the United States, but at the same time we need to make sure that our trade within Canada is as free as possible, which strengthens every province’s economy, and at the same time we need to diversify our international markets so we are less vulnerable to the threat of tariffs in the future.
