Goldy Hyder

Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Canadian Business Council, says if the federal government is comfortable with the status quo on trade with the U.S. it needs to be clear with businesses. If not, then it doesn’t make much sense to sit on the sidelines and wait for a call from U.S. President Donald Trump. Hyder, said U.S. officials familiar with the president’s thinking have told him that Trump is quite content with where things stand with Canada. That includes the significant exemption for goods that would qualify as compliant under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement or CUSMA, which has effectively dropped Canada’s overall tariff rate to the U.S. to around five per cent. But that also means he’s feeling no pressure to lift the 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium and the additional 10 per cent tariff on softwood lumber that comes on top of a 35 per cent tariff on Canadian wood.