Politicians, business leaders discuss U.S. tariff strategies

What is the best strategy to deal with the incoming U.S. tariffs?

Tensions between Canada and the United States have been running high since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.

“The Trump administration is not an ally of Canada. It’s threatening in the most egregious way, economically,” says Jeff Macleod, political science professor with Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia.

The threat is in the form of 25 per cent tariffs that could come into play by the end of the week, potentially impacting the $6 billion in daily trade between Canada and the U.S.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told CTV Atlantic he wants a government that will fight back strategically, dollar-for-dollar.

“I would retaliate and I would target products and services that A) We don’t need, B) We can make ourselves, and C) That we can buy elsewhere so we maximize impact on the Americans while minimizing impact on Canadians,” Pierre Poilievre says.

Gage Haubrich with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says tariffs imposed by either side would be bad for Canadians.

“It’s just another tax that’s going to increase the amount of money that people are paying for goods being shipped across the border,” says Haubrich.

“Canada needs to respond,” says Matthew Holmes, vice president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Holmes thinks an all-out tariff war should be a last resort. He says a renegotiated trade deal between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico could be the way to appease President Trump.

“The three markets together in that trade agreement represent about a third of global GDP, it’s really one of the largest economic unions in the world already so talking about what do we need from each other and what other areas can we share responsibility,” Holmes says.

MacLeod thinks a closer economic partnership is a risky step.

“Why should Canada link itself to a declining power that is retracting from the world? It’s retracting from the United Nations. It’s cancelling all its foreign aid so it’s becoming an isolated, declining power,” he says.

Canada’s response is on hold until Trump’s tariff deadline arrives on Feb. 1.