John Talerico

I’m Canadian. I vote in Canada. I don’t get a ballot in the U.S. Whether you love Trump or hate him is irrelevant to this point: our economic problems existed long before tariffs. That should be the only thing dominating headlines. Housing didn’t collapse because of Trump. Productivity didn’t stall because of Trump. Per-capita GDP didn’t weaken because of Trump. Capital wasn’t initially fleeing because of Trump. Justin Trudeau didn’t step down over tariffs—he stepped down because Canadians no longer believed he could fix what was already broken. Tariffs didn’t create our vulnerabilities… they highlighted policy failure that was previously masked. If one trade shock rattles your economy, the structure was already fragile. So why are we gossiping about Trump’s personality instead of dissecting our own numbers? Why are we speculating about American politics instead of talking about Canada’s declining productivity, stalled investment, rising debt, and capital flight? 75%-85% of our exports are covered under USMCA. Yet tariffs are still the convenient villain—because it’s easier to blame an American president than to reform tax policy, reduce regulatory drag, attract investment, and grow productivity. Talking about Trump every day doesn’t fix Canada. But reading our own economic data just might. Canada doesn’t need an American scapegoat… It needs structural reform. And until we address taxation, regulation, capital formation, and productivity, we’ll keep treating symptoms with rebates and headlines while the underlying problem gets worse. It’s been a year. At this point, obsessing over Trump isn’t analysis… It’s continuing to avoid and hold the government accountable.