U.S. trade threats top concern for C-Suite

U.S. trade protectionism tops a list of near-term challenges that Canadian CSuite executives see hitting the growth of the Canadian economy.

Some 23 per cent of Canadian chief executives, chief financial officers and chief operating officers cite U.S. protectionism as their top economic concern in the most recent quarterly CPA Canada Business Monitor survey.

That protectionism would top the list is especially notable, given that most of the quarterly survey was administered March 30 to April 18, and for much of that stretch of time U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to have softened his position on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump was last year elected U.S. president on a promise to renegotiate or tear up NAFTA. After he took office in January, he seemed to change his tone. During a February appearance in Washington alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he even talked about merely “tweaking” the pact between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Things started to change on April 18 — the last day captured in the survey — when he criticized Canada’s dairy industry. Since then, his administration has slapped tariffs on Canadian lumber shipments and at one point Trump almost signed an executive order to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA.

At 17 per cent, oil prices came second in the Business Monitor list of 10 challenges facing the Canadian economy. Uncertainty surrounding the Canadian economy and the state of the U.S. economy were tied in third place with 14 per cent.

The CPA Canada Business Monitor is commissioned by the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada. The first-quarter 2017 survey of 485 CFOs, CEOs, COOs and other leaders was conducted from March 30 to April 18. The margin of error is 4.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.