US-Canada Trade Tiff Creating Uncertainty on Both Sides of Border

Relations between the U.S. and Canada continue to grow even colder, following last weekend’s war of words at the G7 Summit and President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau’s escalating trade tiff.

Professor Peter Koveos is the Department Chair in Finance and teaches a range of courses in finance, international business and global entrepreneurship at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. Koveos says any disruption of trade with Canada would entail significant costs, especially for Upstate N.Y. companies.

Koveos says:

“You can sense the outrage in some of the Canadian press. But, this also has an impact on us.

“About 20 percent of New York State’s exports go to Canada. The number is much greater if you just consider the Upstate region. So, for our companies, any disruption of our trade with Canada would entail significant costs.

“When you also consider the other disruptions (tariffs and such), many of our companies will be adversely affected domestically as well as internationally. So, all this talk inserts a great deal of uncertainly on both sides of the border. The prospect of failure of the NAFTA negotiations makes the situation bleak.

“The benefits of U.S.-Canada relationships, economic and otherwise, have been proven through the years. It is important to view these relationships from a holistic, rather than situation-specific, point of view. The two countries have had their share of trade disputes, but their inter-connectedness was recognized by both and the relationships survived. This is different, of course, because of the tone and substance of the exchange. On the other hand, it may change tomorrow.”

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