Saskatchewan reacts to new Trump auto tariffs

The Saskatchewan Automobile Dealership Association’s executive director Larry Heggs admits Canada dodged a bullet yesterday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on all foreign-made vehicles.

“The tariffs that Donald Trump imposed on Canada weren’t that bad for Canadian consumers and manufacturers at the end of the day,” said Heggs when asked about what the tariffs mean for Saskatchewan.

In response to the tariffs on Thursday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada would add a levy on U.S.-made vehicles that are not in compliance with the current Canada, United States and Mexico agreement.

Heggs suggested the counter tariffs implemented by Canada will hurt Saskatchewan consumers.

“Today was a little bit more impactful,” Heggs said. “Our stance was against reciprocal tariffs, and we don’t think they’re the right move for the consumer. The actual impact to the consumers in Canada was certainly minimal – the reciprocal tariffs that were imposed today by Mr. Carney were far more impactful.”

Read more:

• Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will match U.S. auto tariffs
• ‘Liberation Day’: A timeline of Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada
• Tariffs & Saskatchewan: What you need to know

Heggs admits there are still a lot of questions to be asked, and it’s not quite yet known what all this will mean for Saskatchewan consumers and dealerships moving forward.

“It certainly is concerning,” he said.

“Inventory levels are good across the province – so there isn’t an immediate impact on the dealer. (But) it’s about the consumers. That’s who drives our economy in this country, and we need to make sure they have availability to what they want. We just want to make sure that it continues to flow for us, and we’ll work with manufacturers to try to lessen that burden to consumers.”

Economic consequences

Jason Childs, professor of economics at the University of Regina, said Trump’s announcement yesterday should give multiple industries a sense of relief.

Speaking on The Evan Bray Show, he said Trump’s tariffs don’t necessarily mean it is the start of a trade war.

“There’s an easy out, and it’s a reciprocal tariff reduction. We’ll see if that’s followed through,” Childs said.

“It is a reordering of trade, and it’s going to force a lot of countries to refocus on who they trade with.”

Listen to the full interview here:

Bray asked if there is a benefit for Canada to diversify its trade portfolio, to which Childs replied that there could be some, but he’s not sure how much it will be.

“We’re not a huge market in terms of consumption for a lot of these other countries,” he said. “We’re still really tied into the U.S., and we might get tarred with that brush to some degree.”

Bray said there’s been a “tone change” towards Canada within the last week, asking Childs if it’s because of the counter tariffs Canada has put on certain products in the U.S.

“That’s the main driver of this,” Childs replied

“I think there’s a lot of other factors in play, and I think a lot of the sort of soft diplomacy… the soft power approach that some players have been using on the Canadian side is really going to pay (off).”

Saskatchewan business relieved

Business owners in Saskatchewan are breathing a sigh of relief after being left off of US.. President Donald Trump’s retaliatory tariff list.

Paul Martin, Rawlco Business Commentator said there is some concern among business owners.

“If we have to wait until the Canada, U.S. and Mexico trade agreement is renegotiated, then this means this may just be a postponement,” he said. “It’s also an indication of just how integrated the North American economy is.”

Currently, items listed under the Canada, United States of America and Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA) are exempt from being tariffed.

But the CUSMA agreement is up for review in 2026, and despite Trump being the president who advocated for the agreement in his first term, Martin said the conversations will be very different this time around.

“His (Trump’s) stance on trade appears to have become much more hardlined,” said Martin. “I think that it’ll be quite a difficult conversation if Canada (and) Mexico are looking to open trade and the US is trying to restrict it.”

Martin said he’s heard that many business owners have begun to explore more trade relations with European countries.

“(There’s) a recognition of our dependence on the U.S. market is somewhat frustrating,” he said. “We’re starting to hear people talk about maybe we should be more proactive about how we diversify our customer list.”

Martin said this could mean more European and Central and South American trade relationships being built, but added this wouldn’t mean that Canadian business owners would abandon the U.S.

Jason Aebig, CEO, Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, said, “I think the U.S. administration and the president in particular finally started to hear and appreciate the level of integration that these economies have,” he said.

Aebig called the emotions of being exempt from these tariffs a combination of relief and surprise.

“Over the last several months, the speculation around this specific date and some of the early signals coming from the administration were signalling we would see something much more extensive,” he said. “What we saw was simply more of the same in terms of what had already been advanced.”

— with files from 650 CKOM’s Shane Clausing, Mia Holowaychuk and Will Mandzuk