Both Saskatchewan’s trade and agriculture ministers have sent their concerns to Ottawa regarding an ongoing dispute involving Canadian canola shipped to China.

Premier Scott Moe shared the letter in a post to X on Wednesday.

In it, Ministers Jeremy Harrison and David Marit call on their federal counterparts to resolve the issue quickly.

“Saskatchewan is deeply concerned by the announcement from China to launch an anti-dumping investigation on Canadian canola, just days after the Government of Canada announced the 100 per cent tariffs on electric vehicles from China,” the letter read.

The duo argued that Saskatchewan producers will bear the brunt of the economic impact as they have in the past.

The ministers say the market access bans put in place by China from 2018-19 led canola exports to China to drop by $2 billion.

Exports from Saskatchewan made up half of that figure.

According to the province, Canada’s top exports to China continue to be goods from Saskatchewan including canola seed ($2 billion), potash ($903.8 million) and peas ($576.2 million).

In 2023, those exports totalled $5.5 billion.

SaskCanola echoed the province’s concerns in a press release on Tuesday.

“We are confident in the quality of Canadian canola,” the organization said in the release. “We await further details on the investigation and will work closely with the federal government on this situation to support rules-based international trade.”

An anti-dumping duty is described as a tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.

On Aug. 26, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would impose tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles as well as 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Overall, Canada and China maintain a $100 billion trade relationship.