Manitoba’s Budget 2025 includes investments to support Manitoba’s agricultural producers in the face of U.S. and Chinese-imposed tariffs, Finance Minister Adrien Sala announced on March 20.
The new budget lays out a tariff contingency with hundreds of millions of dollars in support to help businesses and agricultural producers pivot to new markets, help workers skill up and find good jobs and support Manitoba’s canola farmers and pork producers facing tariff threats from the U.S. and China, he said.
WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba farmers, like the rest of Canadian agriculture, are trying to figure out how they navigate the potential mayhem with tariffs and tariff threats flying between some of their biggest trading partner nations.
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The budget comes as Canada faces down another U.S. tariff deadline April 2. The U.S. briefly had 25 per cent tariffs in force against most Canadian products in early March, plus other tariffs on Canadian energy, before announcing a month-long exemption for products claimed under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.
The U.S. later imposed 25 per cent tariffs against Canadian steel and aluminum, to which Canada reciprocated, on top of the 25 per cent retaliatory tariffs imposed on $30 million worth of U.S. goods earlier in the month.
On March 8, China joined the party. China announced 100 per cent tariffs on a list of Canadian products, including canola oil and meal and peas, and 25 per cent tariffs against aquatic products and pork. Canada is also awaiting the result of a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into Canadian canola seed.
“Rural Manitobans are asking for a government that has their backs,” Sala said. “We didn’t start this trade war, but we are making sure that our rural economy is protected.”
Last year, over 70 per cent of international exports from Manitoba went to the United States and 7.7 per cent went to China, according to the provincial government. Likewise, almost 74 per cent of the province’s international imports come from the U.S. and 5.4 per cent from China, the next largest source, according to a presentation by the province’s Treasury Board Secretariat prior to Sala’s comments.
Looking just at agri-food, Manitoba Agriculture reports that $4.29 billion of Manitoba’s overall $9.28 billion in exports went to the U.S., and that Manitoba agri-food exports to our southern neighbour have grown 4.5 per cent annually every year for the last decade.
Budget 2025 and the trade war
The province’s tariff response includes a $3.7-billion strategic infrastructure plan, with over $140 million set aside for business risk management programming for producers. Loans will be increased and provision guaranteed by $380 million. The revenue contingency will be doubled to $200 million, while $50 million will go to the Strategic Economic Initiatives Fund. Over $36 million in funding over two years is earmarked to ease access to international markets from the Port of Churchill.
Tax deferrals will be provided to businesses facing uncertainty about keeping staff. The Government of Manitoba will also promote the “Support Manitoba – Buy Local” campaign and help businesses diversify their sales beyond the U.S., they said.
Should tariffs remain long-term, the province plans to seek $500 million of supplemental expenditure authority and $125 million of loan authority from the legislature. That adjusted 2025 budget would also include $100 million for targeted business support programs for Manitoba businesses and $100 million in support for Manitoba’s agricultural sector. The response plan would total over $1 billion.
“We’re a government that’s focused on ensuring that rural Manitobans, folks living in northern Manitoba, and its producers and farmers get the support they need during this challenging time,” Sala said, calling the Trump-imposed tariffs a significant risk to the province’s economy.
The minister further pointed to a continued freeze on Crown land lease rates, AgriInsurance changes, a now permanent gas tax relief and increased Young Farmer Rebate (up to $40,000). Budget 2025 also covers the opening of two Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation offices in Virden and Shoal Lake, announced during Manitoba Ag Days this year.
Agriculture reacts to Budget 2025
The Manitoba Pork Council was encouraged by the government’s attention to the trade trouble facing their industry.
“It is crucial that the 22,000 Manitobans who rely on our sector know that the provincial government recognizes what they do for our provincial economy, which we saw in today’s budget announcement,” general manager Cam Dahl said in a statement. “Going forward, it is critical that we continue to work with key individual states, while at the same time working with other provinces like Saskatchewan and Alberta to mitigate the impact of any tariffs to come, be they from China or the United States.”
The Keystone Agricultural Producers were likewise quick to address the unveiled budget.
U.S. and Chinese tariffs are the largest threat facing producers right now, general manager Colin Hornby said in a release.
“We are encouraged to see a commitment in Budget 2025 to $100 million in future appropriations for support to mitigate financial losses for Manitoba farm operations,” he said. “KAP will continue working with the provincial government advocating to ensure Manitoba farmers get the support they need during these challenging times.”
KAP president Jill Verwey further pointed to $500,000 slated for Sustainable Agriculture Manitoba and the increased Young Farmer Rebate, plus the “accompanying loan limit to $400,000, MASC direct loan limit increasing from $5.25 million to $5.75 million and the stocker loan limit from $1 million to $1.4 million.”
The farm group would still like to see action on farmland school tax, which they argue unfairly weighs on farmers due to their land base.
“Additional actions we recommend the government take in 2025 include Right to Repair legislation, program changes and funding increases for the Disaster Financial Assistance … program, and further action involving the trade office in Washington, D.C. in collaboration with agricultural stakeholders.”
