Tariffs, Trade Wars, and Alberta’s Resilience: What You Need to Know

The global economy is shifting fast — and Alberta’s place within it is evolving just as quickly. In the wake of a major U.S. tariff announcement, Mark Parsons, vice-president and chief economist at ATB Financial based in Calgary, shared his take on what it all means for Alberta’s agricultural and export-driven economy.

“Yesterday changed a lot,” Parsons says, referencing the U.S. decision to enact a suite of global tariffs on April 2. “We’re moving from the inflation battle into a trade war, and that brings a whole new level of uncertainty.”

While Canada was exempt from many of the new tariffs announced on April 2, Parsons notes that Alberta entered this phase with strong economic momentum. Inflation was cooling, and the Bank of Canada had been signaling progress. But now, with U.S. tariffs taking centre stage, the landscape looks far less predictable.