SASKATOON – Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Prime Minister Mark Carney should start removing counter tariffs against the United States to get a deal done with President Donald Trump.
U.S Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has asked Ottawa to do away with countermeasures, and Moe says Canada should heed the advice.
“If we’re serious about achieving a renewed, revamped and enhanced trade environment or some type of a new and improved (Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement), somebody’s going to have to move in this space,” Moe said Friday at a news conference.
“We would suggest that it should be Canada.”
Trump followed through late Thursday on his threat to hit Canada with 35 per cent tariffs — up from 25 per cent — on goods not compliant with the trade agreement, better known as CUSMA.
Tariffs of 50 per cent remain in effect on steel and some copper products, and levies on Canadian automobiles and lumber are also in place.
Carney has imposed 25 per cent tariffs on $30 billion in U.S. goods.
Moe said he’s heard from farmers dinged by Canadian levies on steel bins, as it’s importers pay those tariff charges.
“The reason we will be urging for a reduction of counter tariffs is they hurt Saskatchewan and Canadians, our families, our businesses and our places of work,” he said.
”(It’s) in the same way that Donald Trump’s tariffs are pushing up the cost of doing business in the U.S. and really pushing them into a situation where the last two months running, their job numbers have been much more dismal than the projection.”
Moe also called the jump in Trump’s tariffs disappointing.
He said he gives credit to Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc for ensuring exports compliant with CUSMA are tariff-free.
Under the agreement, 95 per cent of Saskatchewan exports move into the United States without duties, Moe added.
“That is incredibly important,” the premier said. ”(It) allows us largely to have an opportunity to create North American energy security, food security and manufacturing security.”
U.S. Census Bureau data shows nearly 60 per cent of Canadian goods that entered the country in May were compliant with the agreement.
Moe and other premiers have also called on Ottawa to cut regulations to spur pipeline and rail development. He said he’s hopeful Carney’s latest law to streamline approvals for national infrastructure projects will do just that.
Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the vast majority of her province’s products remain tariff-free, because they also fall under the trade agreement.
Smith said in a social media post it’s unfortunate non-compliant goods will be hit with the higher tariffs.
“These tariffs hurt both Canadian and American businesses and workers, and they weaken one of the most important trade and security alliances in the world,” she said.
“I remain convinced that the path to a positive resolution with our U.S. partners lies in strong, consistent diplomacy and a commitment to working in good faith toward shared priorities.”
Smith said Carney should continue negotiating with Trump, while working toward diversifying the country’s economy.
Both Moe and Smith recently reallowed U.S. liquor to be sold in their provinces, after temporarily banning such sales when the tariff war started earlier this year.
Moe has said the “elbows-up” approach in dealing with Trump is nothing more than a slogan.
“This is a time for us … to make fact-based decisions, not to make decisions that maybe make us feel good, that we think are going to be good slogans or things of that nature,” he said Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
— By Jeremy Simes in Regina
