Lack of trade infrastructure, insufficient supports for small business among realities of trade-war woes, say experts

Canada has 'baseline difficulties in building new trade assets,' says Carlo Dade, director of International Policy and the New North America Initiative at the University of Calgary.

Speaking to reporters following a Feb. 19 speech at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said the federal government hopes provinces’ work on reducing interprovincial trade barriers will continue. ‘Anything that secures the lowering of these barriers is fine by us,’ he said. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY JESSE CNOCKAERT

February 21, 2026

Insufficient trade infrastructure and supports for small businesses that “miss the mark” are among the major challenges as Canada feels the strain of tariffs on cross-border trade, with one of the biggest variables being the looming review of North America’s free-trade...

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