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1. Economists almost unanimous—rising trade barriers not good

   Trade with China may actually have increased manufacturing employment in the United States. ...

2. Trump administration summons ‘national security’ to justify tariffs

   The Trump administration has justified its tariffs on U.S. imports of steel and aluminum from Canada (and several other countries) on grounds of national security. Under U.S. law, specifically Section 232 of the Trade Adjustment Act of ...

3. In the evolving trade debacle with the U.S, Ottawa must act

   The outlook for ongoing NAFTA negotiations grows dimmer by the day, notwithstanding the conciliatory statement by Mexico’s new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known colloquially as AMLO). In a recent interview after exit polling ...

4. The United States calls the kettle black

   Canadians owe Donald Trump a debt of gratitude for repeatedly referring to our average 270 per cent tariffs on dairy products coming into—or trying to come into—this country. For many Canadians, that’s probably the first they’ve heard of ...

5. Withstand the trade war by trading more

   Canada and the United States are in a trade war. The ongoing drama of NAFTA negotiations, and the possibility that the current trade arrangements, may not continue raises an important question. What is the Trudeau government’s Plan B? ...

6. Through the WTO, Canada could reaffirm its commitment to multilateral institutions

   The Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports to the United States, and the G7 debacle, which ended in unprecedented acrimony between U.S. and Canadian officials, underscore two compelling issues ...

7. Canada, Trump and tariffs—a counterproductive and self-defeating quarrel

   President Trump’s recent actions have drawn widespread media attention to tariffs. Economic science provides an effective means of discerning the implications amid the hyperbole and rhetoric. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ...

8. The end of Trump-whispering

   I wrote in January about how economists, apart from warning about the consequences, don’t have an awful lot to say about how best to fight a trade war. Adam Smith himself wrote that such wars were a situation in which policy be left to ...

9. Steel, aluminum, tablecloths and NAFTA

   What do steel and tablecloths have in common? They are now products that are part of a dollar-for-dollar tariff war between the United States and Canada. They are also canaries in the NAFTA coal mine, signalling that the oxygen has ...

10. Congress resists crony diplomacy—good!

    Even an economist with libertarian tendencies, which I am, thinks there are times when it’s actually reassuring to have a “deep state,” though it would be nice if it weren’t quite so swampy. The Wall Street Journal reports that some ...