Economist Peter St. Onge, Ph.D., said a growing number of Canadian manufacturers are relocating production to the United States, citing a recent KPMG survey that he argues reflects the combined impact of U.S. trade policy and years of Canadian economic policies under Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney.
In a recent commentary, St. Onge discussed the survey’s findings, which indicate that many Canadian manufacturers are either moving operations south of the border or preparing to do so.
“A new study finds nearly half of Canadian manufacturers are moving production to America. So much for elbows up, Canada’s globalist new slogan to fight Trump by giving him all the manufacturing jobs,” St. Onge said.
He pointed to data from KPMG showing that a significant share of manufacturers are already shifting production.
“A new KPMG survey found that 42 percent of Canadian manufacturers have either moved production to the U.S. or are planning to. 20-9% have already moved at least some production. Another 13% are preparing to. Three quarters of those expect to move within two years. In other words, during Trump’s presidency,” he said.
According to St. Onge, many manufacturers are delaying expansion plans while evaluating whether to relocate.
“Worse, KPMG says the majority of Canadian manufacturers are now operating in what they call ‘quote endurance mode,’ as in survival mode, not expanding, not investing, just running down the factory, apparently counting the days till they can move to America,” he said.
He also cited survey findings showing that businesses are reducing investment.