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The free trade deal is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026, but US President Donald Trump is using threats of tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico to pressure the two countries to start early, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
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“This is a gift from the gods,” Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, said in a recent interview with The Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn. “We cannot wait to be slaughtered by these tariffs, which will be devastating beyond all imagination to our economy.”
Lee said Canadian governments should seize the opportunity to appeal to the US president and reach a new deal that includes removing all tariffs.
“He sees himself as a deal maker,” he said. “Start talking to Americans instead of threatening them.”
Canada’s response to Trump’s tariff threats so far has been disappointing because politicians have focused on the wrong issues, Lee said.
“They see this as a kind of Macho-Man contest that could show how hard it is to punch Donald Trump and his administration in the face,” he said. “The idea that we could take over or actually hold the United States back is unstoppable.”
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Part of the problem, Lee said, is that Trump’s economic advisers — Steven Meiran, Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent — are more qualified than anyone in Canada.
“It is embarrassing that Cabinet, federal and provincial, simply does not have the depth of knowledge or experience that these three financial economic secretaries possess,” he said.
• Email: novid@postmedia.com
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