Moe looking to fix and expand trade with China in imminent trade trip

It’s a trade mission Premier Scott Moe has been on before – he travelled to China as premier in 2018 – but this time he will bring with him more weighty intentions.

Seven years ago, the trip was about expanding Saskatchewan’s trade markets and, while that remains one of the intents of his upcoming mission, he’s also looking to pave the way for a resolution to tariffs and trade issues between China and Canada.

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Chinese tariffs on canola products, as well as pea and pork products, were the impetus for the mission. Speaking on Thursday ahead of the trip, Moe repeated that it won’t be him and Chinese President Xi Jinping signing a trade deal, that will have to happen with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

What Moe said he wants to do is create an opportunity for that deal to happen.

“The opportunity for that conversation, a closer trading relationship between Canada, specifically Saskatchewan agriculture, and China,” said Moe.

The premier said he’d also like to do some work on broadening that trade relationship and taking steps to develop more opportunities.

“The reason we sell the amount of canola – oil, meal and seed – into China, one is, it’s a growing market, and two, it’s a premium market for us,” said Moe.

“It has helped us diversify a significant amount of exports away from North American destinations, and has helped our ag industry diversify to a large degree – not with challenges every three or four years, and we’re in one of those now.”

The prime minister won’t be joining Moe, but will send his parliamentary secretary, Kody Blois. He was also Carney’s representative in talks in Saskatoon a few weeks ago between the federal government, provincial government, and the industry and producers.

Moe said they wouldn’t be giving the small group’s exact itinerary, but said they’d worked with the federal government on what the mission would entail and the targets, and that the meetings would concentrate on Chinese government officials and stakeholders in Chinese industry that have been affected by the tariffs.

Moe puts China in a category along with members of the European Union, India, South Korea and Japan, where Saskatchewan has been working to, and succeeding in, expanding its market.

He said, in the turmoil that’s surrounding Canada’s relationship with India over the past few years, at times, Saskatchewan’s trade commissioner has been the highest-ranking Canadian diplomat in India.

These have been some of the most significant challenges for Saskatchewan canola, according to Moe, between the Chinese and U.S. tariffs happening at the same time. But Moe said this is doing business in a global world.

“You are constantly going to be working through challenges just like this,” he explained.

South Korea and Japan

Saskatchewan’s Trade and Export Minister Warren Kaeding will be on his own trade mission at the same time, spending a handful of days in South Korea, speaking with trade and energy partners.

“Engaging in industry round tables, we’re going to be talking CCUS (carbon capture utilization and storage), nuclear, and while we’re there, we’re also going to be witnessing an extension that VIDO (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization) has with their infectious disease organization in South Korea,” Kaeding explained.

He said missions like this are all about engaging with partners and building relationships.

“Ultimately, it’s a government-to-government relationship where they need to feel comfortable that they are dealing with a reputable and responsible government on the other side,” he said.

Kaeding and Moe’s groups will meet in Japan toward the end of the week for a short mission there.

He said they’ll be engaging in a couple of conferences, including a made-in-Canada conference, where he said they’re going to speak with a number of Japanese businesses that want to increase their business in Saskatchewan.

The two missions are expected to run from Sept. 6 to Sept. 12.

– with files from 650 CKOM’s Mia Holowaychuk