Sask. premier says collaboration needed to tackle border security and avoid Trump tariffs

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe gestures while speaking during a press conference before Speech from the Throne in Regina, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says an “all hands-on-deck approach” is needed to address border security concerns to avoid U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's tariff threat on products from Canada and Mexico.

“The threats of tariffs are very problematic for us in Saskatchewan. We’re an exporting nation and out largest trading partner, import and export, is the U.S. by a substantial margin,” Moe told CTV News on Thursday.

“Any upset in the market imbalance, the flow of goods moving back and forth across the 49th parallel is extremely challenging for jobs and opportunities right here in Saskatchewan,” he added.

Back in November, Trump said that he would sign an executive order on his first day in office imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico until the flow of illegal drugs and migrants coming into the United States is addressed.

Moe had said the tariff would be disastrous for food security, energy, and employment across North America.

On Monday, Moe joined a First Minister’s Meeting with other premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, focusing on border security and U.S. trade.

Moe said he is in support of efforts by the federal government to work with the incoming Trump administration, adding it will take a collaborative approach when addressing border security concerns to avoid the tariffs.

“It's going to take an all-hands-on deck approach. We'll be supportive of the federal government in their outreach. We'll work alongside other premiers through the Council of Federation table and our outreach, but we'll also work individually as a province of Saskatchewan, using the contacts and relationships that we've built over the last number of years, which are significant as well,” he explained.

Moe said as they enter discussions with the incoming Trump administration, there will be conversations around trade and trade deficits.

“How we are advancing the conversation around what we are actually doing here as North Americans and providing ourselves and others allied nations with food and energy and manufacturing security,” he said.

Moe said although tariff threats are problematic for the province, he sees it as an opportunity to protect jobs for Canadians and ensure that the U.S. realizes there is value to products on both sides of the border.

“When we build this continental energy, food and manufacturing security environment … we're adding value to our products on both sides of the border and providing them to our to our allied nations around the world,” he said.

“This is what we do as North Americans. We do it together. We build and produce these products with our friends and allies in the USA, not for them or not in spite of them.”

-With files from Morgan Campbell