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Why Canada’s best response to U.S. tariffs is doing nothing at all

Hub Podcasts

Welcome to Hub Podcasts. Today's program features the best commentary and analysis published in the Hub for July 30th. Up first is Trevor Toome, writing on why Canada's best response to U.S. tariffs is doing nothing at all. Canada's best response to the latest round of U.S. tariffs may be to do nothing at all, not literally nothing. Governments will naturally help workers and communities facing serious disruption.

And we should make our economy more productive, competitive, and resilient. But when it comes to retaliation, doing nothing may be the wisest course. That will strike many Canadians as wrong. Early in the trade war, roughly three in four said Ottawa should retaliate with tariffs of its own. A similar share supported restricting exports of electricity, wood, and oil.

Premiers have echoed that. Ontario's Doug Ford has been the most forceful last week, calling on Ottawa to go after energy, potash, minerals, and electricity. They need to feel the pain rather than us constantly feeling the pain, he said last week, adding quite strongly that Canada could dismantle the U.S. if we wanted to. He framed retaliation as not merely an option, but an obligation.

I feel some days that I'm standing alone protecting Canada, and I need everyone else to get on side. The Prime Minister, for his part, has been more cautious, but still says everything is on the table. So what should Canada do? A useful answer comes from Adam Smith, whom my colleague Professor Kent Fellows has regularly cited on this point. Writing in The Wealth of Nations 250 years ago, Smith argued that retaliation may be justified

Why Canada’s best response to U.S. tariffs is doing nothing at all

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Why Canada’s best response to U.S. tariffs is doing nothing at all

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.