Sask. premier says 30-day pause on tariffs good for all of North America

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he was happy to hear that U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods would be paused for 30 days.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday afternoon that Trump will hold off on levying tariffs on Canada for at least 30 days after Canada made a series of commitments to improve security along the border.

"This is positive, albeit for only 30 days," Moe said in an interview with CBC's Power and Politics just minutes after Trudeau made the announcement. 

"This is a significant change and it's a positive change, I think, not just for each of us as Canadians, but also for North America."

Moe said the pause is an opportunity.

"We have 30 more days to engage on how integrated our North American economy is and how beneficial that integration is to each of us, wherever we live, north or south of the border," Moe said.

At a news conference Monday morning, Moe called for a de-escalation of the trade war between Canada and the United States, saying both countries lose in that battle.

"We are an exporting province. We are an exporting nation. We should not be heading in that direction," Moe said, while acknowledging he supported Canada's proposed first round of retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods.

Several provinces, including Ontario and British Columbia, had started pulling American liquor from shelves as an opening salvo.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also said he was ripping up Ontario's $100-million contract with Elon Musk's Starlink in response to the U.S. tariffs.

Moe said he wasn't ruling any options out, but that Saskatchewan wouldn't be following suit.

Instead, Moe advocated bringing Canada's Border Security Agency under military control. He said doing that would allow Canada to put troops at the border, addressing Trump's concerns about drugs and illegal immigrants moving into the United States from Canada.

Business groups want barriers to interprovincial trade removed

Moe also called for an end to interprovincial trade barriers to offset the 25 per cent tariff. That sentiment was echoed by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.

Prabha Ramaswamy, CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, told Saskatoon Morning that the impact of tariffs would be severe and far-reaching for Saskatchewan's economy.

"What President Trump has done is unjust, unfair and unwarranted," he said Monday morning.

Ramaswamy's comments came as businesses, politicians and consumers across the country are grappling with how best to deal with potential tariffs and support Canadian businesses.

Ramaswamy said provincial chambers of commerce and the national branch are asking that premiers put interprovincial trade on the table immediately to make it easier to move and sell goods between provinces.

She said that move alone could generate $150 billion for the Canadian economy.

"So to some extent that would offset tariffs."

Shannon Friesen, CEO of the Construction Association of Saskatchewan, said the proposed American tariffs and Canada's retaliatory tariffs will push prices up in her industry and create volatility in the supply chain.

"Canadians aren't going to lie down and take this reckless tariff easily. We'll find new ways of responding to this," 

Jason Aebig, CEO of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, said most of the response to American tariffs should have been done years ago by building pipelines to move Canadian oil to markets outside of the U.S.

"The fact of the matter is we have had about a decade to prepare for this kind of moment," Aebig said.

He said he hopes businesses stockpiled some inventory and inputs needed to keep their immediate costs down.

But without the energy infrastructure needed to sell oil, gas and liquefied natural gas to markets outside of the U.S., Canadians remain vulnerable, Aebig said.

"Now I think it's about holding on as hard as you can and shoring up whatever customer base that you have," Aebig said.