As tariffs loomed, Canadas economy grew 2.2% in the first quarter – National [Video]

A rush to get ahead of Canada’s looming tariff dispute with the United States powered economic growth in the first quarter, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Real gross domestic product rose 2.2 per cent annualized in the three-month period, the agency reported, up a tick from 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Annualized real GDP figures for the final quarter of 2024 were revised down by half a percentage point, StatCan said, and other quarters from last year were also adjusted in Friday’s release.

The first quarter figures topped StatCan’s flash estimate for annualized growth of 1.5 per cent and beat calls for 1.7 per cent from a Reuters poll of economists.

Threats of tariffs from the United States suffused the first quarter for Canada’s economy, particularly for the trade-sensitive automotive industry and steel and aluminum sectors.

Those import taxes and Canada’s retaliatory tariffs were initially applied in early March, …