“We need to continue leveraging our relationships as we work to find a more permanent solution.”
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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the decision to pause tariffs between Canada and the United States is welcome, but there’s more to be done.
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“We know there is more work to do,” said Moe in an email statement Monday evening. “This is a temporary pause, and we need to continue leveraging our relationships as we work to find a more permanent solution.”
The prospect of a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy and a 25-per-cent tariff on all other Canadian goods loomed after U.S. President Donald Trump announced this weekend that the levies would come into effect Tuesday.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said Canada would respond with its own tariffs, beginning with a targeted selection of American goods. More duties were to follow at the end of the month.
Trudeau had two calls with Trump Monday. After the second, the Canadian prime minister announced on social media that the tariffs would be on hold for at least 30 days.
Canada has agreed to deploy its $1.3 billion border plan and nearly 10,000 front-line personnel on the border it shares with the United States in exchange for the pause, his post said.
Moe had said he hoped Trump and Trudeau could agree to such a pause, which Mexico achieved earlier in the day with a commitment to send 10,000 National Guard members to its shared border to stem the flow of drugs and people from entering the U.S.
Moe had previously suggested there is a role for the military to play at the Canada-U. S. border and said he was in support of the Canadian government mobilizing soldiers there.
“I would encourage the federal government to move quickly on their border security commitments to demonstrate real action in this 30-day window,” he said in his Monday evening statement.
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Moe, who was not in favour of tariffs that would hit energy exports to America, had said the province was looking at “retaliatory measures,” but did not commit to anything.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford had said his province would cancel its $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s company, Starlink, to provide satellite internet access.
British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Quebec had announced they were retaliating by taking American liquor off public store shelves.
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Speaking Monday morning in Regina outside an emergency meeting of her MLAs, NDP Leader Carla Beck said there was “no way in hell” Canada will ever become the 51st American state.
Beck had made repeated calls for the legislature to be recalled to address the “attack” posed by tariffs.
“No one wins in a trade war,” Beck said in an emailed statement Monday afternoon, adding that over the next 30 days there would be work done to shore up the economy.
“We are ready to work with our neighbours to the south to ensure the prosperity of those on both sides of the border. But we will not sit down or roll over to threats to Canadian livelihoods and sovereignty,” said Beck.
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In 2023, among Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan was the top per-capita exporter, selling $49.3 billion in goods including potash, crude oil and agricultural equipment to international markets.
The United States accounted for over 50 per cent of those exports — but that number had fallen from the previous year. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan was exporting more goods to China, Germany, Algeria, the U.K and Latin America.
In 2023, the United States bought $6.7 billion worth of Saskatchewan agri-food products alone. The province’s next-biggest international food buyer, China, purchased $4.3 billion worth of agri-food goods.
Trump “is not your typical rational political actor,” said politics and international studies professor at the University of Regina Tom McIntosh in trying to understand what motivated the tariffs in the first place.
“By keeping everybody off centre, he thinks he can win, and we can’t forget that.”
In the U.S., the trade war with Mexico and Canada isn’t the lead story, argued McIntosh.
“It’s clearly the lead story in Canada, but the Americans are not yet paying attention to it,” he said.
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When news broke Monday morning that Mexico would avoid threatened tariffs from the U.S. for a month, McIntosh made a quip.
“Well, maybe this is the shortest trade war in history,” McIntosh joked.
— with files from Julia Peterson, Saskatoon StarPhoenix and The Canadian Press
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