Tariffs and turmoil: Trump's trade war persists after dominating Sask. discourse in 2025

The Canada-U.S. trade dispute that animated Saskatchewan’s political discourse at the start of 2025 continued to linger as the year came to an end.

After an initial period of “will they or won’t they,” U.S. President Donald Trump did eventually deliver on his threat in early March by implementing 25 per cent tariffs on many Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy.

As a result, the federal government retaliated by adding tariffs on some products imported from the U.S.

When Saskatchewan introduced its own countermeasures on March 5, Premier Scott Moe said these “extraordinary measures are a direct response to President Trump’s unjustified tariffs,” which he called “a direct attack on the Canadian economy.”

Sask.’s response included a directive that all goods and services procured by the province favour Canadian companies while bringing a halt to purchasing and distribution of U.S alcohol.

By July 11, the province had walked back all of its countermeasures, having already softened its stance on alcohol shortly after the initial response came into force. The federal government also eliminated a number of its retaliatory tariffs in September.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has continued to tax many Canadian goods, impacting industries related to steel, lumber, automobiles and more. Negotiations between the two countries have yet to produce a solution deemed equitable by both parties.

‘Betrayal of Canadian workers’

Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck and her party took several digs at the provincial government throughout the spring, claiming the Saskatchewan Party was going light on the U.S.

“Instead of standing up to Trump and protecting our workers, Scott Moe and the Sask. Party sold them out. This is a betrayal of Canadian workers, especially our steelworkers,” Beck said in July.

For his part, Moe cited the federal government’s role in U.S. trade relations, saying the national “elbows up” campaign used by Prime Minister Mark Carney during his successful election bid was “nothing more than a slogan.”

“When someone says we need to move away from dealing with the United States, that can be true in part, but it certainly can’t be true in all. They are our largest trading partner,” Moe said at the time.

Cross-border debate

The volatility of the Canada-U.S. trade relationship was evident throughout 2025, including here in Saskatchewan.

The Trump administration signalled early that tariffs were coming but uncertainty continued to loom amid shifting deadlines and mounting threats. The U.S. president’s initial rationale for imposing tariffs included allegations of widespread smuggling at the Canadian border.

Moe and others refuted those claims, arguing that the principal movement of illicit substances, guns and more comes from the U.S. into Canada, not the other way around.

“The flow of whether it be illegal migrants or whether it be illicit drugs or whether it be illegal firearms is north, not south,” Moe said in January.

Still, Trump’s admonition of Canada’s border security brought a response from the provincial and federal governments in the form of increased enforcement. As a result, border patrols including helicopters became more prevalent at entry ports like North Portal (Saskatchewan) and Portal (North Dakota).

Trump’s threats of annexation and a renewed focus on buying Canadian have created a rift in a historically close relationship. But in those cross-border communities, the response has been somewhat mixed.

Former North Portal mayor Murray Arnold told the Leader-Post this fall that he made a point of not crossing the border in response to Trump toying with the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state.

“I used to go over all the time. That’s where people get their gas because it’s so much cheaper. Even my wife, who’s American, I think she’s been across once. We refuse,” Arnold said at the time. “I do not like (Trump’s) attitude toward Canadians. The best partner that the American people have ever had, and he treats Canadians like s–t. I have no time for that.”

One of Arnold’s closest friends is an American who made the jaunt north for a visit in 2025. Arnold’s daughter, Lindsay Davis, said she has no problem greeting visitors from the south.

“It’d be foolish to take out any disagreements you have with their government on them personally,” she said. “That doesn’t make sense. We work together every day. These are friends, the people we work with. I haven’t seen a change in personal relationships.”

Related

Trade ‘silliness’ continues

Saskatchewan’s closest Canadian neighbours — B.C., Alberta and Manitoba — were among the provinces to announce in 2025 that they would build contingency plans into their budgets to help weather the impact of tariffs.

However, the strategy of the Saskatchewan government did not include a similar contingency fund.

“This budget is being presented at a time of incredible uncertainty caused by the words and actions of the president of the United States,” Finance Minister Jim Reiter said in March. “It was not possible to build the exact impact of the tariffs into the budget.”

The government suggested it wasn’t interested in adding to Saskatchewan’s deficit by “borrowing” for such a fund, especially given the unpredictable nature of tariff action and how quickly it could change.

“We made the decision not to build in an arbitrary contingency fund that will not have a direct connection to the situation by the time the budget is delivered,” the government said in budget documents.

Now, as a new year begins, Saskatchewan has been feeling the strain of lowered exports and additional tariffs from China and India. Moe previously described China’s canola levies as “likely the most urgent and most significant tariff impacting the Saskatchewan economy today.”

In late November, it was revealed that Saskatchewan’s latest budget has already produced a $427-million deficit midway through the fiscal year. Despite that fact, Reiter struck an optimistic tone in recent conversations with the media.

“If we can get through some of the silliness with trade issues with our major trading partners, if we can get by that, we are very, very well positioned for the future,” he said. “So I’m hopeful that it’ll be a short-term thing.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com

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