CEOs and other business leaders are very concerned about rising U.S. protectionism, believing that this challenge should receive the highest priority consideration of the federal government. They are concerned about trade dilemmas relating to wheat, automobiles, and especially softwood lumber.

While impatient for action, business leaders present the federal government with a catch-22 situation. They evince no consensus about what to do apart from a near unanimous conviction that action must be taken as quickly as possible.. The closest to a consensus is relatively strong but not unanimous support for harmonization of industrial and trade policies. Meanwhile they are divided about whether Canada should launch a PR and advertising campaign to win the hearts of the American public or to embrace U.S. foreign policy objectives in the world as a way of winning the friendship of the government and public. On the specific issue of autos, business leaders embrace the idea of tax support for training and retraining, are divided on an infrastructure fund and tax support for overseas exports, and resolutely oppose tax support for investments in parts manufacturing.

These are key findings from this week’s National Post/COMPAS survey sponsored by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and CIBC Small Business.

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