Sask. premier heads to India to talk tariffs

Saskatchewan’s premier says he will meet with Indian officials to talk about the steep tariffs levied on the province’s pulse exports.

Scott Moe is to leave today for a week-long trip to India where tariffs on chickpeas were increased to 60 per cent in March.

“This is a sensitive discussion with respect to the tariffs, both market and non-market tariffs have been applied to our products,” Moe said Thursday.

The province says it is India’s largest supplier of lentils and peas. India is Saskatchewan’s third-largest trading partner and imported about $1.1 billion worth of goods in 2017.

Moe said he also hopes to increase exports of the province’s uranium and potash.

Saskatchewan was critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India earlier this year because the government said it didn’t alleviate the tariffs.

Moe said his trip will be different because it will be led by industry leaders who have operations or interests in both India and Canada.

Opposition NDP critic Nicole Sarauer said Moe set the bar pretty high for his trip when he criticized Trudeau for coming home without any deals.

“So we’re hoping, and we should as a province, (to) see a positive impact for Saskatchewan from this trip,” Sarauer said.