By David Ljunggren and Ed White
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Scott Moe, premier of the major grain-growing Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said on Thursday he will travel to China soon for talks to persuade Beijing to drop new tariffs on canola.
China hit Canadian canola seed imports with preliminary 75.8% duties last week following an anti-dumping investigation, escalating a year-long trade dispute. China is by far Canada's biggest canola seed market.
Canadian Federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald also
pledged support for farmers and the industry, which says it employs 200,000 people and produces C$43 billion in economic value.
"We're working diligently alongside them," MacDonald said in a phone interview after the meeting ended.
Canada, the world's largest exporter of canola, shipped almost C$5 billion ($3.63 billion) of canola products to China in 2024, about 80% of which was seed. The steep duties on canola seed, if they remain in place, would likely all but end those Chinese imports.
China objected when Canada imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles a year ago, and launched an anti-dumping investigation into canola seed shortly thereafter. In February, it imposed a tariff on Canadian canola oil and meal, as well as a number of other agricultural products.
This month's addition of canola seed to China's tariff targets came shortly after Canada imposed tariffs on steel in July, which also upset Beijing.
"Myself will be in China in the next couple of weeks with potentially another opportunity for engagement before the end of the calendar year," Moe told a news conference after a meeting with industry officials and MacDonald. Moe also reiterated a call for federal aid for the industry.
MacDonald said it was too early to decide what help farmers might need, but "it could be there some day" if the dispute drags on.
He added that it was difficult to assess all of China's motives in the dispute.
"You're dealing with a partner that you're not 100% sure all of the time what their prerogatives are. Are they just political, or is it something else?" MacDonald said.
($1 = 1.3905 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Ed White in Winnipeg; Editing by Mark Porter and Edmund Klamann)
