-
Building a Sovereign, Value-Added, and Sustainable Economy
In this existential 'Elbows Up' moment for Canada's economy, public discourse has been overly influenced by loud demands from corporations and their political backers to implement their age-old agenda: deregulate (especially environmental rules), cut taxes, build more pipelines.
-
Trump’s “Shakedown” Must be Resisted: Media Coverage of Centre for Future Work Report
The Centre for Future Work’s new report on trade talks between Canada and the U.S. has received extensive coverage in Canadian media, as the August 1 deadline to reach a ‘deal’ with the U.S. looms. The report, “A Bad Deal With Trump is Worse Than No Deal At All,” lists several reasons why locking in one-sided U.S. tariffs in a non-binding memorandum with the erratic U.S. President would hurt Canada much worse than other U.S. trading partners, and reduce chances of rolling back Mr. Trump’s aggressive trade war through either international dispute settlement or in U.S. courts.
-
A Bad Deal with Trump is Worse than No Deal at All
Trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. are continuing, as the revised August 1 deadline approaches. Reports indicate that despite Canadian concessions (on border security, defense spending, and the Digital Services Tax), the U.S. is refusing to remove current and threatened tariffs on Canadian products. Last week Prime Minister Carney warned Canadians that an eventual deal with the U.S. will likely include continued substantial U.S. tariffs. An emerging narrative from government and business quarters suggests that if tariffs imposed on Canada are lower than on other countries (resulting in a less severe ‘average effective tariff’ rate), then Canada should count this as a victory.
-
Giving Donald Trump Some of His Own Medicine on Services Trade
The Canadian government recently abandoned its new Digital Services Tax (DST), which since January 1 2024 had collected a 3% levy on all revenue in Canada from sales of digital advertising or marketplace services. The companies which dominate this industry (like Google, Meta, Amazon, or AirBnB) typically avoid most or all normal corporate income tax, by shifting revenue and profits from countries like Canada to tax havens where taxes are low or zero.
-
New Data Confirms Canada-U.S. Trade is Balanced and Mutually Beneficial
The U.S, Census Bureau has released year-end 2024 data on America’s bilateral trade flows in goods and services. This data reconfirms that the U.S trade deficit is neither new, nor an “emergency” (as Trump has claimed in order to invoke special emergency powers to set tariffs). And it reconfirms that the U.S. trade relationship with Canada is uniquely balanced, and beneficial to the U.S.
-
Lessons from (Another) Crude Oil Price Collapse
This commentary draws on analysis of oil futures markets contained in the Centre for Future Work’s recent report, Counting the Costs: Impacts of the 2022 Oil Price Shock for Canadian Consumers and Workers, by Jim Stanford and Erin Weir. That report computes the costs of the 2022 oil price spike for Canadians: directly & indirectly it cost the average Canadian household $12,000 over 3 years.
-
Most of our GDP Never Crosses a Border
Most of what our economy produces—close to 80%—never crosses a national border. Rather, it is produced in Canada, by Canadians, for Canadians. In fact, the economy is not as ‘globalized’ as is often assumed. To be sure, Trump’s trade war will cause enormous disruption. But Canadians should feel confident in out country’s ability to survive, and ultimately thrive
-
Three New Videos: Trump’s Trade War; Wages, Profits & Prices; and Defending Living Standards
President Donald Trump’s repeated threats against Canada’s economy have caused great alarm. Meanwhile, home-grown right-wing populist forces have been advancing similar arguments here at home: claiming all of Canada’s problems arise from big government, big unions, or high taxes.
-
Canada needs a new National Policy
U.S. President Trump’s imposition of 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada will cause severe economic dislocation across Canada. Hopefully, a combination of negotiations backed by counter-measures announced by Canada will succeed in removing the tariffs in coming months. However, Trump’s actions have permanently damaged the credibility of any Canadian economic strategy based on continental free trade. In this commentary, originally published in the Toronto Star, Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford argues Canada needs to develop a new ‘National Policy’: one focused first and foremost on developing Canadian industries and capacities....
-
Who’s Subsidizing Whom?
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened immediate across-the-board 25% tariffs on imports from Canada, possibly as part of a plan to use “economic force” to annex Canada. Trump claims the Canada-U.S. trade deficit constitutes an “emergency” (thus justifying violation of America’s trade treaties), and amounts to the U.S. “subsidizing” Canada to the tune of $200 billion per year.