Osgoode webinar tackles shifting U.S.-Canada trade relations

The world of U.S.-Canada trade relations has undergone a seismic shift over the course of Jonathan O’Hara’s legal career.

When he first joined McMillan LLP in 2012, O’Hara says there was something approaching a consensus in trade circles on both sides of the border:

“Everyone was very keen on trade liberalization and multilateral rules-based trade built around the World Trade Organization,” says O’Hara, who is now the national co-chair of the international trade group at McMillan LLP in Toronto.

“There has been a bit of an evolution over the last 10 to 12 years,” he adds, explaining that the ascendency of free trade has been challenged by the rise of “fair” trade, where the focus is on addressing the competitive advantage that nations gain by taking a more lax approach to areas such as labour rights, worker safety and environmental protection.

The pace of change accelerated significantly during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and his second term promises to be just as radical, judging by the proliferation of announcements regarding tariffs and trade relations since his inauguration in January.

“The U.S. has certainly moved very far from that free-trade philosophy,” O’Hara says.

On March 5, Canadian business and legal leaders will have a chance to get up to speed with developments at OsgoodePD’s Canada-U.S. Trade: Post-Inauguration Update, where O’Hara will be joined in a riveting panel discussion by trade experts Matthew McConkey, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer from the firm Mayer Brown, and Peter Burn, a former member of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and current counsel at McMillan LLP. The trio will explore the shifting landscape of U.S.-Canada trade law in the second Trump era.

After graduating with a B.Sc. in computer science, O’Hara got his first, tangential experience of international trade at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, where he spent several years in its software development unit before pivoting to the legal profession.

“They had a big international trade group, which put it on my radar as an area that I might be interested in exploring at law school, but I wasn’t married to the idea,” O’Hara says. 

The turning point came during a second-year moot competition, which brought together students from around the globe to debate issues related to World Trade Organization law.

“I really enjoyed the competition and we did really well,” says O’Hara, whose team placed second in the world.

At McMillan, he helps a wide range of clients to negotiate the intricacies of the legal and regulatory regimes that govern international trade, frequently handling anti-dumping and government procurement matters before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and Canada Border Services Agency.

The last couple of months have been hectic for O’Hara and his international trade colleagues, as the new Trump administration delivers on a promise to reshape the U.S.-Canada trade relationship in a way that could deeply affect the economy.

One of the big topics at the March 5 U.S.-Canada trade webinar will be the future of the USMCA. While a review of the trade agreement was already scheduled for 2026, O’Hara says trade experts are now preparing for the prospect of a full-scale renegotiation.

Another focus will be on the direct impact of the tariffs that President Trump has already imposed on imports from specific nations and industries such as aluminium and steel, as well as the knock-on effects for the Canadian market when producers of tariffed goods redirect their exports away from the U.S.

“Canada is going to look like an attractive market for some of those goods, which is going to put pressure on Canadian producers,” O’Hara says.

In addition to lawyers with an international dimension to their practice and in-house counsel, O’Hara says the panel will also be a valuable resource for business executives on both sides of the border who hope to thrive amid the uncertainty of President Trump’s remaining time in office.