Canada is largely following our Trade Crisis Working Group’s strategy. But how do we implement massive changes to the country’s interprovincial trade, expand globally, and improve productivity while negotiating with a president who doesn’t respect his own trade agreements? Co-chairs Mitzie Hunter and Jason Kenney explain.
To: Canada’s Next GovernmentFrom: John LesterDate: April 22, 2025Re: Responding to Trump’s Trade War Donald Trump’s decision to pause his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days doesn’t affect Canada. We still face the previously announced 25 percent tariff on all imports that don’t comply with the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement and additional levies on autos, aluminum, steel, oil and potash that will seriously […]
This piece was published in The Hub. Elections, we would hope, are a time to grapple with the biggest issues facing the country. As each leader makes their pitch in the final week of the campaign, Canadians should be focused on how they address one particularly daunting challenge: Canada has an acute productivity problem—and since […]
This piece was published in The Globe and Mail. Our country’s largest airbase, CFB Trenton, has lead in its water. This sprawling base, on the shores of Ontario’s Bay of Quinte between the communities of Brighton and Belleville, is home to 8 Wing, and the hub of Canadian Air Force air-mobility operations in Canada. The […]
Canada recorded a surplus of US$35.7 billion in its trade with the United States in 2024, equivalent to 4 percent of the two countries’ total bilateral goods and services trade that year. Without energy trade (oil and gas, other fuels and fuel products, and electricity), which the United States needs to sustain its industrial competitiveness, […]
To: The Next Canadian GovernmentFrom: Daniel SchwanenDate: April 17, 2025Re: Trade Negotiations with the United States: Preliminary Considerations The “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the White House on April 2 were not tied to any specific barrier maintained by trade partners affected by these new duties. They were meant to punish trade partners for the sum […]
Published in The Hub. In geopolitics, the strong are rarely threatened, much less attacked. As we weigh the options for the future of our country in the midst of a federal election, Canada finds itself a target from our neighbour to the south because we are economically weak. The good news is that our weakness […]
April 14, 2025 – US President Donald Trump’s April 2nd tariff announcement and subsequent 90-day pause offers critical lessons for Canada – especially with potential trade and security negotiations on the horizon, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. A new Communiqué from the C.D. Howe Institute’s Trade Crisis Working Group, which met on […]
The Trump administration’s tariff and trade policy announcements on April 2 – and the subsequent 90-day pause on proposed “reciprocal” tariffs, later revised by post-market customs guidance on April 11 to exclude up to $322 billion annually in consumer and producer electronics imports – offer salient lessons for Canada as it prepares for the possibility […]
Published in the Financial Post. Donald Trump’s decision to pause his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days doesn’t affect Canada. His Rose Garden event last week didn’t impose any such tariffs on us or Mexico. But we do still face previously-announced tariffs on autos, aluminium, steel, oil and potash that will seriously harm our economy. And more may […]
Canadians are aware that there remain many important – and silly – barriers to trade within Canada, and that we can ill-afford the cost of these barriers to East-West trade, especially given the furious headwinds against North-South trade coming out of the White House. However, it would be wrong to suggest that there has not been important progress in reducing these barriers.
To: Canada’s trade warriors From: William B.P. RobsonDate: April 7, 2025Re: Next Up: A Fight with Trump Over the GST The “reciprocal” tariff rates announced by Donald Trump on last week were worse than expected – not only because they were high, but because the calculations behind them were absurd. The idea that a country’s trade balance with the […]
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Canada is largely following our Trade Crisis Working Group’s strategy. But how do we implement massive changes to the country’s interprovincial trade, expand globally, and improve productivity while negotiating with a president who doesn’t respect his own trade agreements? Co-chairs Mitzie Hunter and Jason Kenney explain. 
To: Canada’s Next GovernmentFrom: John LesterDate: April 22, 2025Re: Responding to Trump’s Trade War Donald Trump’s decision to pause his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days doesn’t affect Canada. We still face the previously announced 25 percent tariff on all imports that don’t comply with the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement and additional levies on autos, aluminum, steel, oil and potash that will seriously […] 
This piece was published in The Hub. Elections, we would hope, are a time to grapple with the biggest issues facing the country. As each leader makes their pitch in the final week of the campaign, Canadians should be focused on how they address one particularly daunting challenge: Canada has an acute productivity problem—and since […] 
This piece was published in The Globe and Mail. Our country’s largest airbase, CFB Trenton, has lead in its water. This sprawling base, on the shores of Ontario’s Bay of Quinte between the communities of Brighton and Belleville, is home to 8 Wing, and the hub of Canadian Air Force air-mobility operations in Canada. The […] 
Canada recorded a surplus of US$35.7 billion in its trade with the United States in 2024, equivalent to 4 percent of the two countries’ total bilateral goods and services trade that year. Without energy trade (oil and gas, other fuels and fuel products, and electricity), which the United States needs to sustain its industrial competitiveness, […] 
To: The Next Canadian GovernmentFrom: Daniel SchwanenDate: April 17, 2025Re: Trade Negotiations with the United States: Preliminary Considerations The “reciprocal” tariffs announced by the White House on April 2 were not tied to any specific barrier maintained by trade partners affected by these new duties. They were meant to punish trade partners for the sum […] 
The Trump administration’s tariff and trade policy announcements on April 2 – and the subsequent 90-day pause on proposed “reciprocal” tariffs, later revised by post-market customs guidance on April 11 to exclude up to $322 billion annually in consumer and producer electronics imports – offer salient lessons for Canada as it prepares for the possibility […] 
Canadians are aware that there remain many important – and silly – barriers to trade within Canada, and that we can ill-afford the cost of these barriers to East-West trade, especially given the furious headwinds against North-South trade coming out of the White House. However, it would be wrong to suggest that there has not been important progress in reducing these barriers. 
To: Canada’s trade warriors From: William B.P. RobsonDate: April 7, 2025Re: Next Up: A Fight with Trump Over the GST The “reciprocal” tariff rates announced by Donald Trump on last week were worse than expected – not only because they were high, but because the calculations behind them were absurd. The idea that a country’s trade balance with the […]