Why Canada needs the United States to fight Coronavirus
The Coronavirus crisis reveals that most countries are vulnerable to breaks in the international supply chains of essential medical products for the fight against the coronavirus. Canada is no exception, as the recent controversy caused by US President Donald Trump when he asked 3M to stop exporting masks to Canada to ensure that the United States shows are not lacking. Although the problem has been resolved quickly and the 3M masks continue to be shipped to Canada, it is interesting to examine Canada's dependence on the United States for all medical products.We have studied the information published by COMTRADE, a database managed by the United Nations which tracks bilateral trade for nearly 200 countries and 5,000 product categories. Some categories are larger than the specific produ...