Poilievre Says Both Sides Lose Trade Wars, Promotes Inter-Provincial Trade

From Conservative Party Communications

A new trading partner

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released a video outlining his plan to massively increase internal trade in Canada, making us less reliant on trade with the United States and potentially boosting GDP by over $200 billion per year, or $5,100 per person.

Poilievre will:

Within 30 days of becoming Prime Minister, bring together the Premiers to agree on removing as many exemptions as possible.
Prioritize an agreement on one standard set of trucking rules to get billions of dollars of goods moving east-west instead of only going north-south. This move alone would boost GDP by $1.6 billion.
Create a Blue Seal Professional Licensing Standard recognized in each province so doctors, nurses and engineers can work in all provinces and territories and those Canadians trained abroad can quickly get certified and working in Canada up to our standard.
Offer provinces a Free Trade Bonus to get a deal done. Every trade barrier removed by provinces will generate more GDP, and more revenue. Poilievre plans to give this increased tax revenue back to provinces to spend on schools, hospitals, and whatever else Premiers choose. As this bonus would only be paid out of boosted government revenues from free trade, it would not add to the massive NDP-Liberal deficit.

“President Trump’s tariffs are a wake-up call to all political leaders, who are now forced to put the national interest ahead of special interests,” Poilievre says. “Canadians will expect all political leaders to do what it takes to make our country more self-reliant and less dependent on the Americans. It starts with trade at home.”

Trade barriers between Canadian provinces are more costly than trade barriers between Canada and other nations. The result is that we now trade more with the rest of the world than we do with ourselves: in 2023, international trade was worth 66% of GDP, while interprovincial trade was only worth 36%. That makes no sense.

To understand the problem, look no further than the Canada Free Trade Agreement which is supposed to allow commerce between provinces and territories. As the Globe and Mail put it: “It is noted more for the number of exemptions it allows than for the number of barriers it actually eliminates; of the deal’s 340 pages, 133 were needed to list those exemptions.” The Montreal Economic Institute in 2023 counted a total of 245 exemptions across all provinces and territories.

Economist Trevor Tombe estimated that eliminating all interprovincial trade barriers would boost Canada’s economy by as much as 7.9% and generate an economic boost of $200 billion per year, or $5,100 per person.

Free trade in Canada will not be enough to displace the U.S. market, but this move by Poilievre will help start bringing home more business, and make Canada less dependent on forces and countries outside of our control.

We must take back control of our lives and country. That means a Common Sense Conservative government that puts Canada First.

Related Topics:#PierrePoilievre CanadaUSRelations CanadaUSTradeWar Inter-ProvincialTrade TrumpTariffsRetaliation

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Scott Bessent Says Trump’s Goal Was Always To Get Trading Partners To Table After Major Pause Announcement

Published on April 9, 2025

Todayville

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Harold Hutchison

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told reporters Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s goal was to have major trading partners agree to negotiate after Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for many countries after dozens reached out to the administration.

Trump announced the pause via a Wednesday post on Truth Social that also announced substantial increases in tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States, saying 75 countries had asked to talk. Bessent said during a press event held alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that Trump had obtained “maximum leverage” to get trading partners to negotiate with the April 2 announcement of reciprocal tariffs.

“This was his strategy all along,” Bessent told reporters during an impromptu press conference at the White House. “And that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They, they responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors. And, and we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate. It wasn’t a hard message: Don’t retaliate, things will turn out well.”

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WATCH:

China imposed retaliatory tariffs on American exports to the communist country Wednesday, imposing an 84% tariff on U.S. goods after Trump responded to a 34% tariff by taking American tariffs to 104%.

“Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” Trump said. “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

“They kept escalating and escalating, and now they have 125% tariffs that will be effective immediately,” Bessent said during the press conference.

Bessent said that China’s actions would not harm the United States as much as it would their own economy.

“We will see what China does,” Bessent said. “But what I am certain of, what I’m certain of, is that what China is doing will affect their economy much more than it will ours, because they have an export-driven, flood the world with cheap export model, and the rest of the world now understands.”

The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 2,962.86 points Wednesday, with the NASDAQ climbing by 1,755.84 points and the S&P 500 rising 446.05 points, according to FoxBusiness.

Business

Stocks soar after Trump suspends tariffs

Published on April 9, 2025

Todayville

From The Center Square

By Brett Rowland

One gets the feeling this isn’t over yet…

President Donald Trump continued ahead Wednesday with his on-again, off-again tariffs, with his latest tariff suspension sending U.S. markets soaring.

Trump announced Wednesday afternoon on his Truth Social app that he would pause the majority of the reciprocal tariffs he announced last week on “Liberation Day,” the April 2 start of the implementation of the tariffs only to reverse course and put everything on pause.

Stocks jumped on the news with the Dow Jones gaining nearly 6% Wednesday after sharp losses during the previous week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was all part of the plan.

“We saw the successful negotiating strategy that President Trump implemented a week ago today. It has brought more than 75 countries forward to negotiate,” Bessent said Wednesday. “It took great courage for him to stay the course until this moment.”

Trump’s pause includes all the tariffs that went into effect at midnight, except the additional levies on China. Trump has targeted the world’s second-largest economy in a tariff war that China has said it will “fight to the end.”

While many other nations called Trump’s trade team seeking deals to avoid reciprocal tariffs, China showed no signs of backing down.

“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs is doubly erroneous, once again exposing its extortionist nature. China firmly rejects such actions,” China’s commerce ministry said Tuesday. “Should the U.S. persist in this reckless course, China will respond resolutely until the end.”

Trump’s decision to suspend tariffs came after tough questions from Republicans, including U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.

“I just don’t know what his goal is right now,” Kennedy said earlier in the day after comparing Trump to a dog chasing a car and catching it.

“President Trump has been a Rottweiler here, but now he’s the Rottweiler who has caught the car,” Kennedy said. “That’s the moment we are in now. My question is: What is he going to do with the car?”

Trump has made big, bold promises about his tariffs. He has said tariffs will make the U.S. “rich as hell,” bring back manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past and shift the tax burden away from U.S. families. He’s also promised to help working Americans with his tariffs.

On Tuesday, Trump wrote “I’m proud to be the President for the workers, not the outsourcers; the President who stands up for Main Street, not Wall Street; who protects the middle class, not the political class; and who defends America, not trade cheaters all over the globe.”

Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group, said Trump’s latest suspension of tariffs showed he doesn’t support the workers who elected him.

“Who’s left out of his megalomaniacal game? The workers he claimed to support,” said Melinda St. Louis, global trade watch director at Public Citizen. “All he has shown is that he’ll cave to Wall Street’s handwringing and prioritize his own power over real people’s plight.”