The chief executive of one of the largest pipeline companies in North America has warned that US tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil and gas will fuel inflation and threaten energy security, as fears of a global trade war mount.
François Poirier, of TC Energy, told the Financial Times in an interview that US tariffs would reduce efficiency and impose an unnatural barrier to cross-border trade. He added that the three countries should instead remove regulatory hurdles to building infrastructure as a way of boosting liquefied natural gas exports and providing electricity to help fuel the growth of artificial intelligence.
Tariffs “are typically inflationary in nature because you are not delivering production from the most efficient point to the point of demand, and also . . . prevent collaboration that could help assist with energy security”, he said.