To Tariff or Not?
Guest: Roslyn Kunin
In this edition of Journal, “To Tariff or not to Tariff – that is the question.” With apologies to Hamlet, but it is what people are talking about.
Whatever you think of him, President Trump has certainly turned the status quo upside down. From his point of view, it works.
By simply threatening to apply tariffs to all Canadian goods if we didn’t take action on our border and fentanyl issues, our prime minister and premiers sprung into action. Helicopters to the border, more raids on mega drug labs! Drones in the air!
But how will we respond to actual tariffs?
Canadian politicians and economists have had various ideas: We’ll match your tariffs dollar for dollar – or we will target sectors that Americans care about the most.
Our NDP premier floated the idea that we would take liquor and wine off British Columbia’s shelves if they came from red Republican states. I guess that means Kentucky bourbon is out and California wines are in!
While one can’t give in to bullies, it is fair to ask some questions.
Will retaliatory tariffs work, stop a trade war and change President Trump’s mind? Or just up the ante?
And who pays the cost? Consumers on both sides of the border, I would say.
One economist has written an essay titled: “Tariff retaliation is a dead end.” Canada needs to retool its economy, not chase self-defeating tariffs. That economist’s name is Dr. Roslyn Kunin.
Roslyn is an award-winning labour economist and forecaster who has taught at both UBC and SFU. Amongst her many career accomplishments, she served 20 years as Regional Economist for the federal government.
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