Denis Ferland on Trade War Fallout for Lexpert

Why uncertainty may lead to more financial distress for businesses

Denis Ferland was featured in a recent Lexpert article titled “How Ongoing Trade War Uncertainty Could Lead to More Financial Distress.” The article looks at how Canadian businesses, particularly those that export to the US, are being forced to adjust to new developments in a volatile trade war, which intensified when talks broke down in August and both countries imposed a new round of tariffs.

Denis argues that these tariffs only compound a bigger consequence of the trade war: ongoing uncertainty. As businesses cannot predict what is coming, they slow investment and delay transactions, and Denis notes that replacing that activity with new transactions and new sales “is easier said than done.” He also predicts business relocations and consolidation in some sectors, with fewer competitors left. However, Denis does not expect insolvency filings to rise right away, pointing out that many filings in 2025 and 2026 reflect the delayed impact of the COVID-19 period, and noting that “a number of lessons from COVID will be useful for what we're going through.”

Read the full article.