Trump's victory sparks concerns over ripple effect on Canadian economy

Donald Trump's impending return to the White House has raised worries that he could complicate the Canada-U.S. trade relationships.

Donald Trump's impending return to the White House has cast a spotlight on Canada-U.S. economic ties amid worries that the president-elect's protectionist stance could complicate the vast levels of trade between the two countries.

Some Canadian business leaders have expressed uneasiness over Trump's promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.

A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.

Canada's manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the "most trade-exposed" within Canada.

"It's in the U.S.'s best interest, it's in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we're able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements," Darby said in an interview.

"It's a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we've had to deal with this before and we're going to do our best to deal with it again."

The campaign promise on tariffs comes ahead of talks set to take place about the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, which came into effect in 2020 under the previous Trump presidency.