03/05/2025
I haven’t posted on this page in quite some time, due to having mostly retired last year, retaining only a small number of clients. However, I feel a need to post regarding the current state of things between the U.S. and Canada from an economic standpoint. The tariffs being imposed will definitely hurt. However, the fund managers that handle investments and work in the investment field for a living would have prepared as much as possible ahead of time to mitigate investment losses. That is their job. Yes, I’m sure investments will go down in the near term, but I’m also a believer that they will rise again. Historically, that has been the case whether through a world war, 9/11, 2008 financial meltdown, Covid etc. The important thing is to not panic and pull out of the market to try to avoid losses. You will never be able to regain those losses by trying to time selling and repurchasing. As for the situation Canada finds itself in, I, like many economists, lay that at the feet of the Trudeau government. Canada has for too long been complacent living next door to the U.S. and taking the trade and defence security for granted. We could be a world leader in energy production and sales, but have instead done nothing for 9 years. We have been our own worst enemy by inaction and having trade barriers within our own country and now having a record setting deficit. Speeches from politicians with tough talk but no actions are meaningless. There seems to be no real plan in place to help the Canadian consumer or businessperson from the federal level other than more tariffs which will only hurt the Canadian consumer further. I don’t like what the U.S. President is doing, but it may be the wake up call that Canada needs to become the country we can be, with some common sense leadership.
