the way that government can react to avoid a recession is by emulating what it did during covid, by absorbing the costs of tariffs and placing them on the national debt. it would be preferable to allow the bank of canada to print this debt than to allow it to accrue interest via private bond holders.
the way to recoup this debt would then be to sue the united states for it both at the wto and through the mechanisms erected in nafta specifically to address it. trump will be gone in a few years (he might die in office. it might not take four years.), and we can address the issue with the next president.
canada and the world should consequently be treating trump like the lame duck that he is, under the expectation that he doesn't last four years and that, even if he does, his policies will not last much longer than that.
if the government absorbs tariff costs by collective action with the bank of canada, it should avoid a recession, at the least, and we'll have to figure out what happens next.
drop the platitudes: tariffs are an act of war and this is a declaration of war. we need to treat it as a declaration of war and to use war time economic tactics in response.
canada should also be absolutely clear that it will refuse to meet the nato spending targets and will consider purchasing military hardware from non-nato countries until the tariffs are removed.
it is very foolish for the united states to declare war on china, mexico and canada at the same time, especially if it seeks to win a long war with china, but it's what we have in front of us.