REGINA — Premier Scott Moe is lowering expectations ahead of his upcoming trade mission to India, suggesting that simply maintaining current tariff levels on key exports could be considered a win.
“I think we always look for marks of success in any international engagement that we do,” said Moe at a news conference at the legislature prior to his trade mission to India, taking place from Feb. 28 to March 6.
But Moe said those “marks of success aren’t always there on completion of the mission. However, the cumulative effect of those missions is important in building the relationship between, in our case, Saskatchewan being a province of Canada and said country.”
According to the province’s news release, Moe’s mission to India is aimed at strengthening trade and promoting Saskatchewan as “a key player in global food and energy security.”
During his time in India, Moe is set to speak at the Raisina Dialogue, where, according to the province, he will “share Saskatchewan’s strengths in energy, mining, agriculture, and critical minerals as well as resiliency and recovery in a time of global economic upheaval.”
While in India, Premier Moe will also join Prime Minister Mark Carney in New Delhi and Mumbai for part of the mission.
Moe said he and Carney will “work together to enhance our economic partnership with India and to optimize any opportunities that may arise.”
Moe also said the province was “encouraged by the prime minister’s commitment” to negotiating the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which Moe said has “been at a standstill for far too long.”
“We’re encouraged by the commitment of our prime minister to reopen and to breathe new life into those negotiations with the country of India.”
Expectations have been raised for what could result from the mission after Moe and Carney’s trip to China in January resulted in a deal that removed most of China’s tariffs on canola.
Moe noted Saskatchewan is currently facing tariffs from India on pulse crops, peas and lentils.
He said that “advancing any trade volumes or opportunities or values in those spaces, I think, would be a potential marker for success on this particular mission. And so that’s what I will be looking for.”
However, those hoping a deal could be struck to remove all tariffs may be disappointed based on Moe’s comments.
One challenge, Moe said, is the possibility that tariffs could “not be removed, but actually, in the case of lentils, potentially be increased. And that is due to some local and domestic challenges that India is having with their agricultural prices.”
Moe said it was his hope to “have conversations that would exempt or not have that tariff increased on the products that we are currently exporting to India, so that we could, on future engagements, actually look at having those tariffs removed. But the hope, I think, today, is to not have them increased. I will be engaging on that topic.”
Moe also said he does not expect a broad-based trade agreement with India to result from the mission.
“What I would hope is that we come away with, you know, ultimately commitments to reinvigorate the discussion around a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with India,” he said.
Moe told reporters that the success of the previous China mission to restore tariff-free or low-tariff trade on agricultural products “wasn’t a result of just attending there in January,” pointing to an earlier mission along with the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.
He emphasized that “cumulative relationship building, the effects and the opportunities that come from all of these missions is really what the success is about,” noting Saskatchewan is “one of, if not the most diversified province when it comes to where we sell our goods around the world.”
As for why Prime Minister Carney invited him to join the mission, Moe said it “speaks to the recognition of the prime minister – and it would be a good question for him – that Saskatchewan has been doing positive work in these markets. And it shows in our trade statistics.”
Moe also acknowledged that “we’ve had some challenges” in trade relationships over the last decade under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, adding that the current prime minister is “focused on advancing those trade relations,” whether on specific commodities like in China or more broadly with India.
“We are happy to see that we have a prime minister that is willing to look at the economic agreements that we have with these countries. And I think we have a role to play in supporting advancing those opportunities. We’ve been waiting some time to have somebody in the room that’s willing to sign a trade agreement with countries like India.”
