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News of a deal that will see China reduce tariffs on Canadian canola is being gladly received in Manitoba but not yet loudly cheered.
“We’ve all been looking for, in Western Canada, an off-ramp so that our ag exports would be able to get into the second biggest economy in the world,” said Premier Wab Kinew, who is holding a scrum with media at 10:45 a.m.
CBC News will livestream that event here and on CBC Gem, but Kinew has indicated there won’t be much to say just yet.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has called a meeting with provincial and territorial leaders at noon CT to break down the trade deal, and Kinew said he would have more to share after that.
Curtis McRae, who farms about 1,500 acres near St. Andrews, just north of Winnipeg, said he woke up pleased on Friday but still cautious as news broke that China will reduce tariffs on his crop from 84 per cent to 15 per cent.
“Definitely happier than sadder, that’s for sure. It’s moving in the right direction,” he said. “You have to deal with external forces as a farmer. The less you can have the better, so to get rid of an international barrier, that’s a huge help.”
Since 2024, Canada has imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) imported from China. The government at that time said it was to protect and grow Canada’s own EV sector.
China retaliated in March 2025 with its own tariffs on a number of Canadian agriculture and food products.
In return for China lowering the canola tariff to 15 per cent by March, Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into the Canadian market each year, at a 6.1 per cent tariff.
Some Manitoba canola farmers were ready to reduce production this spring due to the tariffs and plant supplemental crops instead, McRae said.
He isn’t sure if Friday’s news will change those plans.
“There may be a shift between some crops, depending on how much this really does move the market,” he told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa.
By Friday morning, the price of canola had already jumped $10, McRae said, but other commodity and input costs have also increased for farmers.
The price of canola will ultimately determine what they seed this year, he said.
“The main issue will be how much will that get back to the farmer’s pocket at the end of the day. Between farmer and China, there’s still a lot of people in between that need to take a cut,” he said.
“There is a better feeling, though, that family farms aren’t having to subsidize those the likes of the giant auto manufacturers. There’s enough factors that farmers have to deal with, we don’t need artificial ones.
“It’s really scary when nations start strategizing or playing with food markets.”