Not A Dent

The myth of Canada hurting the US is just that:

There are undoubtedly other product lines that saw declines. But after several hours spent combing through thousands of separate data points, I can’t find clear evidence of boycott-driven changes. Perhaps it will just take more time for shifts in consumer spending to affect store inventories and, ultimately, imports. And perhaps I just missed a few more interesting cases.

Either way, even in areas where I found an effect, those were modest. In April, meat and fish imports were down just $4.5 million from January. Prepared cereals fell only $3 million over the same period. In the aggregate, whether April’s numbers for imports of non-tariffed items are lower than January’s also seems to depend on how the data is seasonally adjusted.

In short, government measures—like removing U.S. wine from store shelves or imposing tariffs—had clear, measurable impacts. The same cannot be said of consumer boycotts. While individual choices may have shifted behaviour at the margins, the data reveal no consistent or large-scale changes in imports outside of tariffed goods.

More data in the months ahead may tell us more. But for now, the conclusion is clear: while retaliatory tariffs had measurable effects on Canadian trade flows, and consumer boycotts—however well-intentioned—reflected genuine public anger with the U.S., neither has yet produced any meaningful economic impact south of the border.

 

Our economy is smaller, dwindling, less productive, less even in terms of what is produced, and it certainly isn't growing.

The Liberals have missed (decidedly) several opportunities to grow he country's economy and missed.

But they still get their pensions.