Trying to keep up with all the U.S. trade wars? We’ve got experts to help you keep track.
On Wednesday, March 26, Glen MacDonald, a geographer who chairs the UCLA Canadian Studies Program, moderates a virtual symposium that brings together faculty with deep expertise in the tenuous trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada. Participants include: economist Jerry Nickelsberg of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, global affairs professor Kristen Hopewell of the University of British Columbia and professor of Brett House at Columbia Business School, who is also a fellow at the University of Toronto.
Trade wars: Impacts of the changing economic-political relationship between Canada and the U.S.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025, noon PT
Since the implementation of the NAFTA and USMCA trade agreements, the United States and Canada have experienced three decades of closer economic integration, relatively harmonious trade and mutual economic benefits. Under the administration of President Donald Trump, the United States has announced punishing tariffs on Canadian goods, including resources such as energy. President Trump has also threatened to annex Canada to make it the “51st state." Reciprocal tariffs have been announced on U.S. goods by Canada, and attitudes toward the United States as a reliable trading partner and ally have turned sharply negative. A stellar panel of American and Canadian economic and policy experts share their perspective on this situation and how it could affect the economies, people and environments of both nations.
UCLA has other economists with their eyes on the trade wars with Canada, Mexico and China, and the impacts on domestic industries and consumers.
Kimberly Clausing, an economist at the UCLA School of Law whose research examines how government decisions and corporate behavior interplay in the global economy, with a focus on international taxation, public finance, international trade and climate policy, says:
“North American production is very integrated, and more than half of our imported goods are intermediate goods. The tariffs will be experienced as a large supply shock for U.S. manufacturing industries, harming productivity and growth. Chinese companies will reorient their production toward other markets. The U.S. only accounts for about 13% of worldwide merchandise imports.”
UCLA Anderson professor Christopher Tang, an expert on supply chain management, retailing, outsourcing and business in Asia, says:
“Reciprocal tariffs could be an important first step toward fixing longstanding U.S. problems with trade and manufacturing. U.S. tariffs are among the lowest in the world. The new plan starting on April 2 is expected to roughly equalize U.S. tariffs with the tariffs other countries impose on us. Trump and his advisors see them as an important part of their effort to negotiate to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., reduce trade deficits and protect national security. However, it also risks higher prices for consumers and potential retaliatory measures from trading partners.”
