Sask. exporters following Trump trade tirade closely

The Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) says U.S. President Donald Trump’s name-calling trade tirade on Canada is just the typical “bullying tactics” many have become accustomed to.

Leaving the Quebec G7 Summit on Saturday, Trump tweeted out calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “dishonest and weak” after Trudeau criticized U.S. tariff threats in a post-summit news conference.

“It’s more of the same bullying tactics that we see from the White House. Once you come to understand it, you’re less concerned about it,” said Chris Dekker, CEO and president of STEP.

“We’ve really got to focus on the negotiations that are happening at the trade table as it relates to NAFTA and beyond.”

He noted it’s crucial Canada maintains the access into the U.S. market that NAFTA delivers — even if Trump should decide to withdraw from NAFTA and his decision gets passed by congress.

“What would happen is we would then apply the rules of WTO, or most-favoured-nation tariffs — those are the rules that are governed by WTO as to what countries can apply the maximum tariff and (how much) countries can charge each other when it comes to trade and export,” Dekker explained.

“Trade will be impacted, but not to a highly detrimental effect. The bottom line is consumers will mostly be impacted as consumer goods increase in cost.”

In the meantime, he said STEP is also keeping an eye on the tariffs that are already in place and could be in place, should Canada follow through with its counter tariffs next month.

— With files from The Canadian Press