Kingston, Ont. businesses not seeing a decline in U.S. visitors
Tourism operators in Kingston are hopeful the trade war won't lead to a decline in U.S. visitors this summer. CTV's Jack Richardson reports.
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CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Investors wary of U.S. assets are helping to strengthen the loonie: strategist
Sorry, we're having trouble with this video. Please try again later. [5006/404] As investors continue to look for alternatives to U.S. assets amid heightened uncertainty due to U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war, the Canadian dollar is gaining against its American counterpart. That's largely due to global investor sentiment shifting towards increased diversification, according to Jeremy Stretch, chief international strategist at CIBC Capital Markets. 'In a sense the diversification narrative is playing negatively in terms of the U.S. and looking certainly far more positive in terms of other asset markets,' he told BNN Bloomberg in a Thursday interview. 'So, we're tending to find that looking at the asset market performance, whether it be the equity market or elsewhere, is providing a more constructive bias for currencies such as the Canadian dollar and that's been one of the reasons why we have witnessed this rebound.' The loonie was trading at 73 cents US on Thursday afternoon, its highest level against the greenback since October. Stretch noted that many of his clients, particularly institutional investors, are reevaluating their reserve holdings given the uncertain environment in the U.S., and alternative jurisdictions like Canada are seeing an influx of investor interest. 'There is that appetite to look at alternative markets, look at alternative investment destinations where there is good governance, where there are stable political dynamics and obviously the election in a sense has removed one of those uncertainties from the Canadian dynamic,' he said. 'As well as a reasonably stable or constructive fiscal backdrop relative to elsewhere, so that does provide appetite and interest in terms of Canadian products and if you look at some of those trends in terms of overseas purchases of Canadian fixed-income paper, those are reasonably positive.' Stretch said momentum for the loonie may keep rolling on in the weeks and months ahead, though it will depend heavily on upcoming economic data releases in Canada and the U.S., as well as the next Bank of Canada interest rate decision. 'That might be one of the factors which could temper a little bit of enthusiasm,' he said, 'but ultimately it's that dollar diversification story which seems to be the preeminent one.'
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Five things to know about Canada's counter-tariffs on the U.S.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) OTTAWA — After U.S. President Donald Trump boosted steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent, some industry groups and the Official Opposition have called on the federal government to retaliate in kind. Here's a look at the counter-tariffs Canada has imposed so far. 1. What do the counter-tariffs cover? The Canadian government has imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods three times since Trump's trade war began, aimed at what it says are imports worth $95.4 billion worth. On March 4 — after the U.S. imposed 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods, along with 10 per cent on energy products — then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the first raft of counter-tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods. Those 25 per cent tariffs target things like orange juice, motorcycles, clothing and shoes, coffee, cosmetics and alcohol. On March 12, the U.S. added a 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminum products, which was stacked on top of existing levies on Canadian goods. Canada's response a day later was 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on another $29.8 billion of U.S. goods, including steel and aluminum, tools, computers and sport equipment. On April 9, in response to another round of U.S. tariffs — this time targeting the Canadian auto industry — the federal government imposed 25 per cent duties on 'non-CUSMA compliant vehicles' from the U.S. and 25 per cent tariffs on the content of CUSMA-compliant vehicles from the U.S. The government says this covers $35.6 billion in auto imports from the United States. 2. What are the exemptions? On April 15, in the midst of the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the government was exempting some products from tariffs for six months to help Canadian businesses adapt. The tariff holiday covers specific categories: goods used in Canadian manufacturing, processing and food and beverage packaging, as well as imports used to support public health, health care, public safety and national security objectives. And when it comes to vehicle tariffs, the government said 'companies that produce autos in Canada have been granted remission to ensure the ongoing viability of their Canadian operations,' but that it is 'contingent on them maintaining production levels in Canada and on following through with planned investments.' 3. Does this mean all counter-tariffs have been dropped? On Wednesday, Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer said the government 'secretly dropped those tariffs to zero during the campaign.' This line has been repeated often by the Conservatives since the release of a report by Oxford Economics on May 13, which said Canada paused counter-tariffs for six months 'on nearly all U.S. goods imports.' The report said it estimated the exemptions would cover about 97 per cent of the tariffs. The government said that's not true. A spokesperson for Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said the exemptions apply to 30 per cent of the $60 billion worth of goods that are subject to tariffs — a figure that doesn't include the auto tariffs. William Pellerin, a partner in international trade at McMillan LLP, said the exemption is not nearly as broad as what's been reported. 'I think that report caused a lot of consternation within the trading community and the legal community. It is absolutely, certainly not zero impact on our clients,' he said, noting many of them are paying millions of dollars in duties already. 4. Where does all this leave Canadian businesses? Pellerin said there's a lot of confusion out there about what's covered by the exemptions. The Canada Border Services Agency has issued a customs notice explaining how to interpret the exemptions, 'but in many circumstances it's simply not obvious at all,' Pellerin said. As an example, he said he has clients who have been told by the CBSA that imported agricultural equipment is not exempt. 'We actually think that that's legally incorrect, that they've poorly interpreted the order-in-council,' he said. That's the kind of thing his firm is trying to sort out while it waits and hopes for a long-term resolution. 'Whatever actions need to be taken to get back to a tariff-free world (are) absolutely necessary,' he said. 5. How much tariff revenue has the government collected and where is it going? Conservative MPs have been asking this question in the House of Commons all week. On Tuesday, Conservative MP Dan Albas charged that 'Liberals promised $20 billion in elbows-up U.S. tariffs, but later dropped them with no regard to affected Canadian workers or fiscal impacts.' Prime Minister Carney responded to say that tariffs are still in effect and $1.7 billion has been collected so far. The federal government's latest fiscal monitor showed Canada collected an extra $617 million in import duties in March, as compared to the year before. Figures for April and May have not yet been published. During the election campaign, the Liberals and the Conservatives both estimated Canada would collect $20 billion in tariff revenue this fiscal year. In its election platform, the Liberal party pledged that 'every dollar raised from these tariffs will support Canadian workers and businesses affected by the trade war.' Officials at the Finance Department said in a statement that the money is going into the consolidated revenue fund and being used 'to support those hardest hit by this economic disruption.' The statement said that is happening through programs like employment insurance work-sharing, deferral of corporate income tax payments and GST/HST remittances, or by offering liquidity support through Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada, Business Development Canada and the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan Facility. — With files from Craig Lord This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2025. Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
This $4.6-billion money manager used the April downturn to buy Canadian dividend stocks on sale
While the U.S.-led trade war hasn't been as catastrophic for Canada as originally feared, at least so far, money manager Scott Lysakowski is still cautious about the impact the ongoing uncertainty is having on the economy. 'It hasn't really materialized in the numbers yet,' says Mr. Lysakowski, managing director and a senior portfolio manager at RBC Global Asset Management in Vancouver. He's also head of the Phillips, Hager & North (PH&N) Canadian equity team. While he's 'not overly defensive' right now, Mr. Lysakowski says he's 'mindful' of the pullback in business spending and impact on jobs that could weigh on economic growth in the coming months. 'And of course, when you've had the markets recover like they have, the risk-reward today is a lot less compelling than it was during the depths of the market volatility in April,' he says. Mr. Lysakowski, who manages the $4.6-billion PH&N Dividend Income Fund, used the April downturn to buy companies he felt were on sale, including Canadian dividend-paying stocks. The fund returned 16.7 per cent over the past 12 months, as of April 30, and has a three- and five-year annualized return of 8.5 per cent and 15.1 per cent, respectively. The performance is based on total returns, net of fees. The Globe spoke with Mr. Lysakowski recently about what he's been buying and selling. Name three stocks you own today and why. Arc Resources Ltd. ARX-T, the mid-sized natural gas producer, is a long-time core holding and a stock we've been adding to recently. It has assets in some of the best acreage in the Montney region of northeast B.C. and northwest Alberta. Arc is a low-cost producer that's disciplined with its production growth and capital allocation. And despite natural gas being a volatile commodity, it has done a good job of maintaining and growing its cash flow. Its strong balance sheet has allowed it to acquire more assets to help it build inventory for long-term growth. The company has also sustained and grown its dividend over time, which is an important feature for us. Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T are both core holdings and stocks we added to in April. Before the tariff threats, railroad stocks faced freight recessions, which are characterized by declining volumes, pricing pressure and operational challenges such as labour unrest and wildfires. We're about three years into this freight recession, a follow-on from the pandemic, which meant lagging performance. We believe railway stocks are high-quality growth cyclicals that will be impacted by economic activity but will survive. CP has been the clear outperformer in recent years and continues to drive synergies thanks to its merger with Kansas City Southern, and we expect those results to continue. There's a particular opportunity for CN to make up some lost ground. CN has lagged its peers in North America with declining volumes and operational outages. The company is focused on returning to its historical growth trend in terms of volumes, getting some of these operational issues behind it and focusing on productivity. We have been adding more CN than CP recently because we see more growth potential ahead. Telus Corp. T-T is a stock we've owned for several years and bought more of recently. All telecoms have faced several headwinds, including increased wireless competition, decreasing population growth and rising interest rates. All of the telecom stocks have underperformed the market significantly, but Telus has done slightly better than its peers. It has delivered slightly better than average revenue and EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] growth. Its capital spending has peaked and is now being reduced, which enabled it to recently increase its dividend, which is quite different than some of its peers. Telus has also signalled to the market that it aims to deliver some dividend growth over the next few years. Name a stock you sold recently. Northland Power Inc. NPI-T, the offshore wind generation company, is a stock we recently exited after owning it since the fall of 2023. Investor sentiment toward renewable stocks has soured lately with the new U.S. administration removing some of the tax incentives in the industry. That led us to reduce our exposure to that group as a whole, but specifically to Northland Power. The company is developing two large-scale offshore wind projects. It has a reasonable track record of delivering projects like this and does its best to de-risk them, but as it moves through the construction phase, it will experience an elevated payout ratio – the dividends it pays out as a percentage of cash flow will be high. The market is concerned about the payout ratio and the potential risk of a dividend cut. So, as a dividend manager focused on dividend growth, I don't want to be invested in companies that are cutting their dividends. We decided to step aside during this period of uncertainty. This interview has been edited and condensed.
