YORKTON – Saskatchewan’s Minister of Trade and Export Development, Warren Kaeding, is confronting a complex trade landscape.
As new tariffs and unpredictable international relationships test the province’s agriculture-reliant economy, Kaeding is also forging connections in Asia and advocating for the reduction of inter-provincial trade barriers to strengthen Sask’s economic resilience.
China’s tariffs on key Saskatchewan exports, including canola oil and canola meal have created uncertainty for producers. Kaeding described the situation as “tariff whiplash,” underscoring the toll it is taking on the province’s agriculture sector.
“When (producers) they’re looking at cropping rotations—canola has been at least 40 per cent of their farm income,” explained Kaeding in an interview with SaskToday.ca
“If you cut that in half that’s devastating to our producers as well as the crushers," added Kaeding.
Saskatchewan’s farmers are feeling the weight of these measures, with Kaeding reporting rising anxiety among producers.
“Talking to producers over the weekend—they’re extraordinarily nervous because canola was one of those bright lights or fairly bright light on their production analysis this year,” said Kaeding.
Kaeding said China's tariffs are a response to Canada's 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
"It's not a long stretch to figure out why the Chinese government did this," said Kaeding.
Beyond the challenges posed by China, Kaeding also highlighted the complexities of dealing with the United States, Sask’s largest trade partner. Despite being Canada’s least U.S.-dependent province, with 55 per cent of its goods exported south of the border, the province still faces significant exposure.
“You’re talking to an administration that really nobody can predict,” said Kaeding, describing the shifting and sometimes erratic nature of trade relations under the current U.S. government.
To navigate these uncertainties, Kaeding emphasized the importance of strategic foresight and adaptability. He noted that the establishment of international trade offices has been critical in building resilience, though more work remains.
“Agreements are great but at some point agreements are going to expire,” said Kaeding, adding “a new administration comes in and has a different thought of where they want to take their country. We always need to be working to ensure the best we can for the people of our province."
Kaeding also pointed to inter-provincial trade barriers as a significant hurdle for the Sask economy. In regard to bringing down inter-provincial trade barriers, Kaeding said trade ministers from every province have met twice with Anita Anand, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade.
Using processed meats as one example of a hurdle for inter-provincial trade, Kaeding described the complexities.
"If you're making beef jerky in Manitoba you can't retail it in Sask unless you come from a CFIA (Canada Food Inspection Agency) certified facility. In Sask we have five of those and they're all the big processors. They're allowed to market their products across Canada," said Kaeding, noting local abatoire in the province can't sell processed meat product across the border.
"It's because we have some pretty intense regulations in Sask that are not mutually the same in Alta. and Man. We've got to make sure that we give people an equal opportunity to be able to increase sales of their products," said Kaeding, noting we need to recognize that other provinces will be able to market their products here.
"Everyone has to be able to accept that sometimes we have regulations to prevent others from coming in—those need to be reduced," added Kaeding.
Kaeding said they're finding that there are some federal inter-provincial barriers, but there are regulatory issues between provinces that need to be sorted out as well.
"There's a number of ministries that are intertwined with all these regulatory issues so it's not as easy as saying 'we're going to fix this tomorrow'—we need to understand all the unintended consequences—the rationale of why these were set up to begin with. And if they're no longer valid or now they're an impediment to business we've got to figure out how we can reduce that," added Kaeding.
Kaeding said representatives from the provinces have been meeting once a month since January with the last meeting held at the end of February and noted that talks have been "surprisingly collegial."
"We've got Quebec at the table which is a very large economy and certainly very supportive of their culture and we need to be respectful of that. But I'm finding a very significant willingness for them to participate. In fact they even offered inter-provincial trade missions that they would facilitate and I think we may take them up on that and find some sectors in our province that would probably benefit from an inter-provincial trade mission that may be set up by Quebec."
"Everyone wants to make this better," said Kaeding.
While managing these trade challenges, Kaeding is also optimistic about opportunities in Southeast Asia. During a recent trade mission to Vietnam, he emphasized the region’s urgent need for food and energy security—areas in which Saskatchewan can play a pivotal role.
“They have a sense of urgency to get towards food security and energy security,” said Kaeding, adding, “we just so happen to have a lot of products that we can provide them that will support their move towards both of those strategies.”
Kaeding also participated in the 2025 Canada-In-Asia Conference in Singapore, where he saw firsthand the scale of opportunity for Sask's products in the rapidly growing Asian markets.
“It was really a federal initiative and it’s private sector groups that have gotten together recognizing that Asia is such a huge market potential for Canadian products,” said Kaeding.
“I came back incredibly invigorated. The opportunities that we have for our products, for our businesses, and for our people here in Sask in this huge part of the global economy,” added Kaeding.
Looking to the future, Kaeding remains committed to strengthening Saskatchewan’s international presence, building on a foundation of long-term planning and collaboration.
“Since we’ve come into government we’ve really had a strong focus on increasing our international presence,” said Kaeding. “The foresight [the Sask Party] had in building these international trade offices—and we know we need to do more of that.”
