We spoke with Dr. Joel Bruneau, professor of economics at the University of Saskatchewan, about how the tariff ups and downs are affecting the world, the country, and the province. Bruneau said Trump doesn’t understand what he’s doing, but he’s reassured by the calm rhetoric coming from both potential Prime Ministers during their campaigns.
“The Trump tariffs, it’s kind of like watching a bus crash in slow motion. It’s just goofy,” Dr. Bruneau commented on watching the tariffs applied, retracted, and adjusted seemingly at random.
“I've been telling people this is like Flat Earth economics. Businesses understand tariffs. Economists understand tariffs. But the Trump administration is just choosing to say, 'No, no, we have a totally different understanding of tariffs. And we're right and you're all wrong.’”
Bruneau emphasized the uncontrollable effects that are resulting from the Trump administration’s haphazard approach.
“What they want to do, it could work,” he said, “but not the way they’re doing it.”
Tariffs, Bruneau explained, are best used to make slow, steady changes, applied gradually over a long enough period that all parties involved have time to adjust. By throwing away previously negotiated trade agreements like the USMCA, which he signed into law in 2020 and is now violating on a daily basis, Trump is devastating consumer confidence and market predictability.
Moreover, while the markets will eventually recover and stabilize, anyone who is now living on a pension, or is reliant on their financial holdings for daily necessities, is facing a loss of income.
Canada is somewhat insulated from the effects, thanks to the exchange rate with the US dollar and some availability of alternative markets. And Bruneau said he’s encouraged by the fact that no matter who wins federal power, it is likely that they will chart a steady economic course — policy consultations, Parliamentary bills, the predictable workings of bureaucracy, and a plan to follow.
“We’re not talking about radical changes in the direction of Canada, depending on who forms government,” he explained. “The Trump administration is causing chaos, and the response from Canadian politicians has been much more calming — ‘We have a plan, we’ll do something about it’. And that in itself is reassuring, because if you look at Trump, he’s been telling us all along that he’s going to be radical.
“You want to be careful about how you intervene, and that’s often why we talk about policies as, you know, put it in low for now, build it up over time, see how the economy responds. If it’s responding quickly, great. If it’s slow, maybe you turn it up. And if it’s responding in a weird way, maybe you have to rethink that. But Donald Trump is breaking exactly that rule.
“One of the things we learn as economists is, (the economy) is really freaking complicated. So, if you don’t know what you’re doing, probably keep your hands off it.”