As Ottawa appears to inch closer to a trade deal with India, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he hopes the agreement addresses punishing tariffs on pulse crops.
But Moe says if the deal doesn’t remove the duties, it’s something his province can work around.
“The need for pulses in India is not going to go away. (Saskatchewan’s) relationship with India is not going to go away,” he told reporters Friday.
“We’ve had pulse tariffs come on and off over my time in this position … and each and every time, we’ve been able to rely on our relationship.”
Last year, India imposed a 30 per cent levy on all imported yellow peas and a 10 per cent duty on lentils, causing Canadian exports of the crops to dampen.
Over 80 per cent of all pulses exported from Canada to India are grown in Saskatchewan.
Moe spoke at the Western Canada-India Leaders Summit on Friday, where Canadian and Indian diplomats talked about improving the relationship between both countries.
Christopher Cooter, Canada’s high commissioner to India, told the conference he’s confident a trade deal will be signed later this year and that it will help Canada grow its economy.
“Doubling trade is actually a rather modest objective. We should be thinking about quintupling trade,” Cooter said. “There’s so much headroom to grow in so many different sectors.”
Moe said an agreement with India would be positive.
Along with agriculture products, he said there are opportunities to supply India with potash — a key ingredient for fertilizer — and uranium.
In March, Moe was with Prime Minister Mark Carney in India to watch Saskatoon-based Cameco sign a $2.6-billion deal to supply just under 9.9 million kilograms of uranium to the country over nine years.
“Saskatchewan and India are aligned when it comes to reliable, lower emissions energy,” Moe told the conference Friday. “Our uranium and our nuclear sector in this province are going to play an important role in helping both of our nations achieve that.”
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