Our next PM Pierre Poilievre talks directly to our American friends.

[Terry Keeley]

 

[RonVanWagnen]

He needs to learn the definition of "reciprocal" as in Trumps reciprocal tariffs.
They are lopsided right now.

 

[Terry Keeley]

He needs to learn the definition of "reciprocal" as in Trumps reciprocal tariffs.
They are lopsided right now.

What's lopsided? If you take our cheap oil that we export to you (millions of barrels a day because you don't want $6/gal gas) out of the equation we actually buy more from you that you do from us.

Energy accounts for all of the U.S. trade deficit with Canada​

• The trade narrative shifts dramatically when trade flows are decomposed into energy and non-energy components.
• Last year, Canadian exports of energy products (oil, natural gas, power) to the U.S amounted to nearly $170 billion, or almost 1/3 of total shipments. In contrast, energy accounted for only 6% of all U.S. imports. Put simply, Canadian sources are critical to U.S. energy security.
• Remove Canadian energy exports from the equation and the trade story flips. Ex-energy, the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus with Canada of around C$60 (US$45 billion). (Chart 7)
• Canada’s trade advantage in energy has been rising steadily in recent years, most recently on the back of the Transmountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) that, in turn, has sharply boosted Canadian oil exports to the U.S. west coast in addition to Asian markets.
• Canadian crude is a key supplier to U.S. refining, predominantly in the mid-West, with a steadily growing share in the Gulf coast. Since many refineries are built to process Canadian sour, heavy crude, it’s difficult to shift away from that feedstock to alternative sources. This is true even from the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is largely comprised of conventional crude. Countries that could fill the gap are Mexico and Venezuela, but the latter would require lifting sanctions. Given Mexico already enjoys the second largest trade surplus with the U.S., this shift in demand would further widen that chasm, potentially allowing it to overtake China in the pole position.
• If tariffs were extended to Canadian crude oil, it could lead to an immediate jump in U.S. gasoline prices of as much as $0.30-0.70 per gallon. One of the most price-transparent and inflation-sensitive areas for consumers is the movement in gasoline prices.
• Elsewhere, in 2023, Ontario also directly supplied electricity to 1.5 million U.S. homes and is a major exporter of power to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.

https://economics.td.com/ca-canada-us-trade-balance

 

[RonVanWagnen]

https://economics.td.com/ca-canada-us-trade-balance

Some good and bad news for both of us.
Remember the word reciprocal.

 

[Terry Keeley]

I guess I'm not following you, I know we've had disagreements over lumber but what tariffs do we have now that he's reciprocating against?

1982: The lumber war between the US and Canada​

The US was convinced that it could see the wood for the trees, as it battled Canada over softwood lumber.

The root of the conflict was the fact that Canada grows and harvests lumber from public land, with prices determined by the government. On the other hand, the US harvests lumber from privately owned lots.

In 1982, the US argued that Canada was unfairly subsidising its softwood lumber, which led to several rounds of conflict, tariffs and retaliatory tariffs.

The lumber war continues. Canadian lumber faces an existing 14 percent tariff in the US, even before Trump’s threat to add 25 percent more.

The US imports almost half of its wood products from Canada, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.