Premier Scott Moe was in Prince Albert on Friday. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Politics

Saskatchewan has cards to play: Moe on tariffs and Trump

Mar 7, 2025 | 6:00 PM

In one of his first public appearances since the start of the on and off tariff war between Canada and the United States, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe pointed out that when it comes to things like potash and uranium, the province has cards to play.

He was asked, should tariffs continue if potash and uranium – two of Saskatchewan’s biggest exports – would be on the table as bargaining chips.

“Saskatchewan has a significant cards to play, if we’re going to start talking about what we’re providing,” Moe said. “90 per cent of the nine million tons of potash that go to the United States of America come from this province. If they want to buy that somewhere else, the next place you can get it is Russia and you can’t actually get it up the Mississippi into where it’s needed for corn,” he said.

He pointed out that the other resources that get sent south of the border include $15 billion of oil and the uranium mined in the northwest corner of the province that powers one in 17 homes in the United States.

“If we join with Alberta, I would say that the deck of cards becomes even more powerful so yes, we have cards to play.”

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More pragmatically, Moe said that it is in the best interests of both Canada and the United States to go back to the previous friendly trading partnership that existed before Trump began the tariffs and threatened to make Canada the 51st state.

“We have built this North American integrated economy by design and I would say that it’s a good thing for each of us that live here, despite the challenges we have.”

“The United States will likely be our largest ally when the dust settles after this conversation, and I would say that the trade relationship and the relationship that we have with the United States is larger than any one gentleman or what he might say,” Moe said.

The comments followed Donald Trump’s public lambaste of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy several weeks ago, where Trump told Zelenskyy he had no cards to play and should sign over rare earth minerals to the U.S. with no guarantee of security.

Prince Albert has welcomed several hundred residents of Ukraine after Russia invaded in 2022.

Closer to home and because he was in Prince Albert, Moe was asked how the recent provincial guidelines on banning the purchase of American alcohol and preventing American companies from being part of Saskatchewan procurements is being handled.

“Things are changing and changing rapidly,” he said, a reference to American tariff policies that change several times a day.

Saskatchewan liquor stores are not allowed to buy American alcohol but can sell what they currently have and the province is re-examining its current contracts to see how it can eliminate American goods and companies from the process.

Moe said that projects have been paused very briefly while that happens and that contractors and proponents are to report their Canadian content and ways they can improve it.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: @susanmcneil@bsky.social