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 in the face of protectionist headwinds from the United States raising the cost of Canadian goods in that market. For more on how Canada can further grow its manufacturing industry in the face of tariffs, see this C.D. Howe Institute report.
