YORKTON — The Yorkton Chamber of Commerce has called on the federal government to address trade tariffs between Canada and China.
In a letter sent May 15 to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the chamber warned of significant impacts on Sask.'s agriculture sector and urged Ottawa to take swift action on retaliatory Chinese tariffs affecting canola and pork exports. The chamber noted the Chinese market remains critical to east-central Sask., with canola shipments to China totalling about $6.7 billion in 2024 and pork exports reaching approximately $467 million.
Those exports sustain two canola-crush plants, a pea-protein facility currently under construction, and numerous hog operations in the Yorkton region. The chamber warned that ongoing trade tensions—triggered by Canada’s own levies on Chinese electric vehicles and batteries—now threaten business investments, leading to postponed equipment purchases, reduced processor shifts and uncertainty for rural jobs.
To safeguard prairie agriculture while addressing trade concerns, the chamber urged the federal government to begin bilateral discussions with Beijing aimed at suspending reciprocal tariffs on EVs, canola and pork until a World Trade Organization-compliant solution is reached.
The chamber also called for an industry-government task force—including representatives from the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan—to monitor negotiations and recommend mitigation strategies.
The measures, the chamber said, would help restore stability in Canada’s agriculture export markets and protect thousands of jobs in the prairies.
The letter concluded with an offer to meet with federal trade and agriculture officials to further discuss concerns from the region.
