Trade war: tariffs, tactics and the threat to the global economy
Members of the media may directly contact the following experts on this topic:
Geneviève Dufour (English & French)
Full Professor, Faculty of Law - Civil Law Section
Professor Dufour's research focuses on free trade issues and trade interactions.
“There's nothing rational about this decision. It has nothing to do with national security and fentanyl. It's not going well in the U.S. so they're reacting and Trump likes to say it's other people's fault.
It's completely illegal, Donald Trump doesn't have the means to justify the tariffs he's imposing.”
Errol Mendes (English only)
Full Professor, Faculty of Law - Common Law Section
Professor Mendes can comment from a legal point of view.
"Retaliatory tariffs may not be enough to get Trump to drop the tariffs, Canada needs to threaten to stop all rare minerals needed for key U.S. electric vehicles and communications technology, impose an export levy on all oil products , sectors vital to the U.S. economy.
"If we don’t threaten this, we will be subject to higher tariffs that potentially could devastate our economy. We also need to develop a coalition of our European and Latin American allies to show how such tariffs are the kind of madness that triggered the 1930 great depression that threatens the global economy."
Jennifer Quaid (English & French)
Assistant professor, Civil Law, Faculty of Law
Professor Quaid can comment on:
- questions related to competition law, and in particular questions related to mergers and acquisitions that might involve US companies seeking to do deals in Canada.
- questions of business regulation and how the trade dispute between the US and Canada might affect Canada’s capacity to impose regulations that diverge from US regulations. Possible areas of interest lie in the regulation of AI, media (esp Canadian content), and environmental protection.
Canada’s ability to enforce its laws against US-based companies with substantial economic power and influence in the US, such as the tech giants.