The U.S.-Canada trade war escalated sharply over the weekend. …There are a few obvious implications of the trade war that could fall on Canada’s environment and the nation’s natural resources:

• Potential increase in greenhouse-gas emissions.
• Pressure on Canadian natural resources. 
• Critical minerals become strategically more important.

Potential impacts to the environmental industry:

• Greater demand for environmental services. 
• Clean technology could face a more complicated environment.
• Carbon pricing and environmental regulation become more difficult.
• Create opportunity to develop a stronger domestic environmental economy.

The US–Canada trade war is not necessarily bad for the environmental industry, even though it can be bad for environmental outcomes. Trade disruption creates environmental risks, but it also creates demand for environmental solutions. …The biggest environmental risks we must beware of are weaker regulation, accelerated resource extraction, inefficient supply chains, higher emissions from trade diversion, and the possibility that short-term competitiveness concerns overshadow long-term climate and biodiversity objectives.