(Canola Council website)

By Roman Hayter - CKOM News

Trade deal

‘Excellent first step’: Sask. farmer welcomes progress on trade deal with China

Jan 17, 2026 | 5:06 PM

Saskatchewan farmers are possibly getting a break when it comes to the Chinese trade front.

This week’s trade mission by Prime Minister Mark Carney that included Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, was able to make some good first steps when it comes to reducing some of the Chinese tariffs on Canadian agricultural products.

The deal announced Friday will see Canada allow up to 49,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into the market annually with a 6.1 per cent tariff applied to their imports.

In exchange, China will drop levies on canola seed down from 100 per cent to 15 per cent by the end of this year and drop tariffs on canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas from March until at least the end of 2026.

Saskatchewan farmers like Jeremy Welter say they are happy to see some progress made in trade with China, but say more still needs to be done.

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“I think this is an excellent first step. I would say it’s certainly very beneficial on the face of it, but I would certainly stress that it’s a great first step. This isn’t a done deal where everybody can kind of shake hands and go home,” he said.

“This deal is beneficial in that it still doesn’t fully address the picture, because there is still a 100 per cent tariff on canola oil. There’s a 25 per cent tariff on pork products that either wasn’t discussed or an agreement wasn’t reached,” said Welter.

“Certainly kudos to Prime Minister Carney and Premier Moe. Hopefully they recognize the reality that this is an excellent first step, but it is a first step. We need to keep working on this, and we need to ensure that we’ve got open and tariff-free deals for all of our agricultural commodities,” he said.

Welter said that it’s good the negotiations were done in person.

“When elected members look at a situation where we’ve got turmoil in our trade markets, the elected official looks at it and goes, ‘I need to be there, and we need to do this face-to-face.’ I do think that it made a difference,” Welter said.

The new trade deal marks a change in temperature when it comes to China-Canada relations, following roughly five years of growing trade tensions.