Published in the The Globe and Mail Canada’s defence spending has long been a source of friction with our allies. Now Ottawa is finally showing a sense of urgency. The government’s commitment this month to meet NATO’s 2-per-cent target this fiscal year, earmarking $62.7-billion, is a historic shift. And Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Europe this week to […]
From: Lawrence HermanTo: Trade ObserversDate: June 24, 2025Re: Shooting Ourselves in the Trade Foot. Again. It never ends. On June 5, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet tabled Bill C-202, a private member’s bill that’s yet another regrettable effort to enshrine Canada’s Soviet-style supply management system in the statute books. The bill would prohibit any increase in imports of […]
US manufacturing productivity growth has been dismal since the “Great Recession” of 2007-09, with the reasons why a mystery. During that time, growth in Canada’s manufacturing productivity has been on the rise, easily outpacing that of the United States. That’s the good news. However, the gap measured over a longer period remains and we will have to do better to attract manufacturing investments […]
June 18, 2025 – Against the backdrop of this week’s G7 summit, Canada must avoid overreacting to escalating US trade actions and approach the upcoming Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review with discipline and strategic calm, according to a new Verbatim from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Urgency and Caution: Charting a Careful Path to the […]
Canada must avoid overreacting to escalating US trade actions and approach the upcoming Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review with discipline and strategic calm. Meredith Lilly argues that Canada should avoid knee-jerk responses to US provocations and focus instead on long-term economic and diplomatic priorities. Her message: show restraint, work closely with Mexico, and let seasoned trade officials guide the process.
This Graph of the Week shows the proportion of businesses by size involved in goods trade with other countries, including a breakdown just for the United States. Across all business sizes, few firms trade to “all destinations” that also don’t trade with the US, indicating low diversification and vulnerability to the US market. Imports are more geographically diversified, with more […]
To: Trade war watchersFrom: Lawrence HermanDate: June 11, 2025Re: A Last Roundup for the Group of Seven? As this weekend’s G7 meeting in Kananaskis nears, the mood is overwhelmingly coloured by fear of a public blowup between Donald Trump and the other leaders over tariffs, leading to a US walkout that would shatter the proceedings and […]
From: Jon JohnsonTo: Trade WatchersDate: June 10, 2025Re: The Trump Tariffs and the US Tariff Schedule – Where Does CUSMA Stand? The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, or USMCA in the United States) was negotiated and came into effect during first Trump administration with strong support from the president. While it did not radically depart from […]
Introduction Canada faces a dual strategic challenge: an emerging trade war with the United States threatens our economy and fiscal capacity, while chronic underfunding for defence has left us strategically vulnerable and increasingly unable to meet our NATO commitments. Both our prosperity and our territorial integrity are at risk. “Guns or butter?” is the classic […]
June 5, 2025 – A new working paper from the C.D. Howe Institute suggests that Canada could leverage increased defence spending and targeted US procurement commitments to help restore tariff-free trade in a manner that can reinforce national sovereignty. The paper outlines how a time-bound alignment of defence and trade policy could offer Canada renewed […]
To: Canada’s ministers of health and ministers of financeFrom: Rosalie WyonchDate: May 29, 2025Re: Trump’s Pharma Pricing Order Could Have Big Canadian Consequences Donald Trump’s May 12 executive order that US drug prices must not exceed the lowest price in other nations doesn’t mention Canada explicitly, but could cause significant damage to our public healthcare system […]
Canada must take a strategic approach combined with clear tactics as it heads toward a full renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in 2026, according to the C.D. Howe Institute’s Trade Crisis Working Group. US concerns over Canada’s digital services tax, dairy tariff quotas, and demands for tighter auto rules of origin will drive tensions at the July 1, 2026 deadline for a trilateral review of CUSMA (or USMCA in the United States) approaches.
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Published in the The Globe and Mail Canada’s defence spending has long been a source of friction with our allies. Now Ottawa is finally showing a sense of urgency. The government’s commitment this month to meet NATO’s 2-per-cent target this fiscal year, earmarking $62.7-billion, is a historic shift. And Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Europe this week to […] 
From: Lawrence HermanTo: Trade ObserversDate: June 24, 2025Re: Shooting Ourselves in the Trade Foot. Again. It never ends. On June 5, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet tabled Bill C-202, a private member’s bill that’s yet another regrettable effort to enshrine Canada’s Soviet-style supply management system in the statute books. The bill would prohibit any increase in imports of […] 
US manufacturing productivity growth has been dismal since the “Great Recession” of 2007-09, with the reasons why a mystery. During that time, growth in Canada’s manufacturing productivity has been on the rise, easily outpacing that of the United States. That’s the good news. However, the gap measured over a longer period remains and we will have to do better to attract manufacturing investments […] 
Canada must avoid overreacting to escalating US trade actions and approach the upcoming Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review with discipline and strategic calm. Meredith Lilly argues that Canada should avoid knee-jerk responses to US provocations and focus instead on long-term economic and diplomatic priorities. Her message: show restraint, work closely with Mexico, and let seasoned trade officials guide the process. 
This Graph of the Week shows the proportion of businesses by size involved in goods trade with other countries, including a breakdown just for the United States. Across all business sizes, few firms trade to “all destinations” that also don’t trade with the US, indicating low diversification and vulnerability to the US market. Imports are more geographically diversified, with more […] 
To: Trade war watchersFrom: Lawrence HermanDate: June 11, 2025Re: A Last Roundup for the Group of Seven? As this weekend’s G7 meeting in Kananaskis nears, the mood is overwhelmingly coloured by fear of a public blowup between Donald Trump and the other leaders over tariffs, leading to a US walkout that would shatter the proceedings and […] 
From: Jon JohnsonTo: Trade WatchersDate: June 10, 2025Re: The Trump Tariffs and the US Tariff Schedule – Where Does CUSMA Stand? The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, or USMCA in the United States) was negotiated and came into effect during first Trump administration with strong support from the president. While it did not radically depart from […] 
Introduction Canada faces a dual strategic challenge: an emerging trade war with the United States threatens our economy and fiscal capacity, while chronic underfunding for defence has left us strategically vulnerable and increasingly unable to meet our NATO commitments. Both our prosperity and our territorial integrity are at risk. “Guns or butter?” is the classic […] 
To: Canada’s ministers of health and ministers of financeFrom: Rosalie WyonchDate: May 29, 2025Re: Trump’s Pharma Pricing Order Could Have Big Canadian Consequences Donald Trump’s May 12 executive order that US drug prices must not exceed the lowest price in other nations doesn’t mention Canada explicitly, but could cause significant damage to our public healthcare system […] 
Canada must take a strategic approach combined with clear tactics as it heads toward a full renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in 2026, according to the C.D. Howe Institute’s Trade Crisis Working Group. US concerns over Canada’s digital services tax, dairy tariff quotas, and demands for tighter auto rules of origin will drive tensions at the July 1, 2026 deadline for a trilateral review of CUSMA (or USMCA in the United States) approaches.