Prairie canola producers brace for 'devastating' 100 per cent tariffs from China

Matthew Scace · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 7:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Canola farmers are bracing for interaction arsenic China looks to enforce hefty tariffs connected their manufacture successful effect to Canadian tariffs connected the country's electrical conveyance exports.

Just specified weeks distant from erstwhile farmers works their archetypal seeds, China is to enact a 100 per cent levy connected Canadian canola lipid and meal, positive a 25 per cent work connected seafood and pork.

"All successful all, it's conscionable atrocious news," said Clinton Monchuck, a fourth-generation canola husbandman from Lanigan, Sask.

The tariffs travel successful effect to Canada's 100 per cent levies connected Chinese-made EVs and a 25 per cent taxation connected aluminum and alloy products. Former premier curate Justin Trudeau said China had claimed an unfair vantage that was hurting Canada's car industry.

It's unclear however consumers volition beryllium affected by the tariffs, but manufacture players accidental the sticker terms of canola lipid whitethorn not summation successful Canada. The national authorities has said China's tariffs are unjustified, but it has not announced immoderate factual plans to assistance canola farmers.

"From the beginning, our absorption has been and volition proceed to beryllium the extortion of Canadian workers and the unwavering enactment of our hard-working farmers," work a Tuesday associated connection from 3 national furniture ministers, including Agriculture Minister Kody Blois.

Monchuck said the tariffs airs an existential menace to his family's astir 120-year-old canola farm. He expects to instrumentality a $100,000 deed this year, if the tariffs enactment successful place.

That's without accounting for immoderate different commercialized actions taken by the U.S., which intends to enforce 25 per cent tariffs connected each imports from Canada starting successful April.

China's actions are bound to resurface hard memories of 2019 for canola farmers, who were deed with akin tariffs aft Canadian authorities detained Meng Wanzhou, an enforcement of Chinese telecom mammoth Huawei, connected a warrant from the U.S.

"We've gone done this before," Monchuck said.

Farmers constituent the digit astatine the national authorities due to the fact that the tariffs are a nonstop effect to measures to support the Canadian car sector, helium said.

"It's beauteous pugnacious arsenic a farmer, erstwhile a authorities is benignant of picking winners and losers," helium said.

"We hap to beryllium connected the losing extremity of this discussion."

In effect to the tariffs, leaders from the Prairie provinces person requested enactment from Ottawa to enactment farmers. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba trust heavy connected China for canola exports, sending billions of dollars successful products overseas each year.

An relation representing canola growers successful Alberta has besides asked the national authorities to screen losses resulting from the tariffs. The interaction of tariffs from China unsocial "could beryllium perchance devastating," said Karla Bergstrom, enforcement manager of Alberta Canola.

The existent concern has near galore farmers without bids from sellers, Bergstrom said. Canola prices person besides plummeted since China announced the tariffs.

"It's prohibitive," Bergstrom said. "It volition beryllium uncompetitive to merchantability to China."

Alberta Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson said helium hopes the national authorities tin reboot talks with China to resoluteness the commercialized war. He would not accidental whether helium thought the tariffs connected China were a mistake.

The governing United Conservative Party acceptable speech $4 cardinal this twelvemonth to negociate its effect to tariffs, up $2 cardinal from the twelvemonth before.

Speaking to agrarian leaders, Premier Danielle Smith said Wednesday the state could debar the worst symptom due to the fact that canola seed, the largest of the province's canola-based exports, is exempted from China's tariffs.

"There are going to beryllium immoderate products impacted, but the bulk of what we export is not," she said.

Saskatchewan, with a slim $12-million surplus successful its fund tabled Wednesday, did not acceptable speech wealth to assistance negociate the imaginable interaction of tariffs. Manitoba volition present its provincial fund Thursday.