How Canada Can Stand Up To Trump

Canada should stop playing by someone else's rules and open its market to investment.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods do not weaken the position of U.S. President Donald Trump, but merely increase costs for Canadian consumers and businesses. Instead of erecting trade barriers, Ottawa should open up its own market and implement economic reforms. This view was expressed by a columnist The Wall Street Journal William McGurn.

The trade war between the U.S. and Canada began in February 2025 and shows no signs of ending yet. In response to U.S. tariffs, Canadian authorities imposed 25-percent tariffs on nearly $30 billion worth of goods from the U.S. Washington then extended similar measures to automobiles and auto parts.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney explained the retaliatory measures as necessary to protect workers and businesses. However, this strategy merely mirrors Trump’s protectionist policies.

“Retaliatory tariffs will raise the cost of living for Canadian families, but are unlikely to curb Trump’s obsession with tariffs,” warn Fraser Institute experts Jock Finlayson and Steve Globerman.

The economies of the two countries are closely intertwined. The U.S. is Canada’s main trading partner, and American businesses depend on Canadian supplies of oil, electricity, and natural gas. Therefore, a protracted conflict hurts both sides.

McGurn believes that Canada should focus on lowering corporate taxes, deregulation, and expanding access to its own market. This would help attract investment and strengthen the country’s competitiveness without getting caught up in an endless tit-for-tat tariff war.

“A genuine trade agreement should benefit all parties,” the author emphasizes, urging Ottawa to seek a way out of the conflict not by playing by Trump’s rules, but by opening up the economy.

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