U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to raise the global tariff rate to 15 per cent has injected fresh uncertainty into North American trade talks, even as corporate earnings continue to support Canadian equities. Investors are weighing policy unpredictability against resilient profit growth.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Kyle Taylor, wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Tridelta Private Wealth, who said the Supreme Court ruling on tariffs could harden Washington’s stance in upcoming CUSMA negotiations, while strong earnings and selective opportunities are helping offset trade-driven volatility.
Key Takeaways
- The TSX Composite has posted earnings growth of roughly 14 per cent, with results about five per cent above expectations despite weakness in the Materials sector.
- Nvidia, which accounts for about eight per cent of the S&P 500, and Salesforce are key earnings to watch, with management commentary likely more important than headline results.
- Trump’s 15 per cent tariff increase is limited to 150 days without congressional approval, but other legislative avenues could extend or broaden trade actions.
- Policy unpredictability, rather than tariff levels alone, poses the greater risk to CUSMA renegotiations and targeted Canadian sectors.
- The recent software selloff may be overstating near-term AI disruption, with large-cap tech firms retaining capital strength to adapt through acquisitions and investment.
Read the full transcript below:
ANDREW: U.S. President Donald Trump is hiking America’s global tariff rate to 15 per cent after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his sweeping global import levies on Friday. Our guest says there is a possibility the court decision will lead to a harsher Trump stance in the CUSMA North American trade pact negotiations coming up this summer.
We’re joined by Kyle Taylor, wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Tridelta Private Wealth. Thank you very much indeed for joining us, Kyle. I know it’s a fluid situation, but this may not bode well for the North American trade pact talks.
KYLE: Yeah, I certainly think that. Well, right now, with some of the drama on Friday, I would argue that it’s not necessarily about the tariffs themselves. It’s about the unpredictability of this administration and what that may mean for established trade deals, whether it’s Europe, trade deals with Asia, or the approaching renewal or renegotiation in the summer with Canada and Mexico.
I think it’ll lead to some harsher stances by the Trump administration. We’ve already seen him target pretty specific areas of the Canadian economy. The most recent news items were around Bombardier, or whether it’s a bridge between Windsor and Detroit. I think it can be something that can be a detractor for the Canadian economy, more so than what we’ve already seen.
But I think that there will be opportunities for those who are willing to be patient and take advantage of some of the near-term noise.
ANDREW: One earnings report investors are watching, to put it mildly, is Nvidia on Wednesday.
KYLE: Yeah, Nvidia is, of course, eight per cent, I believe it is today, of the S&P, so that is obviously going to move the market one way or the other. The most recent news was around the expanded partnership with Meta that was worth tens of billions of dollars and helped ease some of the concerns around competitors eating into the market share of Nvidia.
One way or the other, I think it could be more so less about the earnings that are actually posted and more about the management commentary and evidence of spending from other companies around Nvidia’s products. Salesforce is the other one that reports on Wednesday that I’m watching for insight around the software trade, and we’ve seen the volatility there the past few weeks and how that’s developing.
ANDREW: Maybe we can put up a one-year chart for CRM. It is interesting. We just looked at Nvidia’s chart. It is down from its high, but it’s been pretty stable over the past few weeks.
KYLE: It has. I mean, it’s kind of the juggernaut of the market. One of the things that I’ve been advising clients is the fact that in 2026, or maybe it’s 2027, who knows, is that the headline returns are becoming less and less applicable to what the reality is of what’s going on in the market.
We’ve been entering a scenario where, given all the concentration, particularly in the U.S. market, and Nvidia being one of the primary components of that, if the top 10 companies in that index stumble or struggle and produce negative returns, but the other 490 stocks are doing OK or pushing higher, we could still see negative headline numbers. So I think that’s something that people need to be aware of, and it’s another reason why we’ve been very active and very selective with the investments that we’re making as we enter and get deeper into 2026.
ANDREW: We’re looking at Salesforce. That’s been a horrible stock to own over the past year, down 40 per cent, and it is one of the most prominent software names being hurt by AI fears.
KYLE: The software story is interesting to me, and I do think that there’s an opportunity there. We’ve certainly benefited this year pretty heavily from the rotation away from software and some of the mega-cap tech stocks. And as valuations have come down and stock prices have come down, we’ve been looking at some select opportunities in the software space.
I think that the longer-term risks are certainly real, but the speed of the drop is assuming too much disruption in the near term. You even have a lot of these AI-driven companies that are saying that software will still be a primary component of what they’re creating.
And I think in the case of some of the larger companies, whether it’s Microsoft or Google, those companies are so large, they have such vast access to capital. We’ve seen the debt raising that’s been going on. They almost have this opportunity where they could potentially grow out of that disruption by just acquiring what they need, what they think is a complementary acquisition to their business, and can help them trend in the right direction.
So I do think that there is a little bit of silliness going on, and that’s something that people should be looking at.
ANDREW: You have some stock ideas for us. Start off with Intact Financial, massive grip on the Canadian insurance market.
KYLE: Yeah, Intact is the latest addition to our mandate, so I wanted to highlight it. Of course, they’re the largest provider of auto, home and business insurance in Canada. They’re a market leader in several provinces, but they also have specialty insurance offerings in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Europe.
They had a really great key quarter for earnings. Reports beat estimates by 17 per cent. Operating return on equity was almost 20 per cent, which is the highest it’s been since 2021. And we think that Intact is entering this new normal and capitalizing on a strong underlying profitability trend, seeing progress in their U.S. segments. U.K. and Ireland were improving. In Canada, they’re showing some great retention.
What I think could be a catalyst for this stock is investors waking up to the fact that they’ve got a really strong track record of delivering earnings per share growth of around 10 per cent and outperforming competitors. And their debt-to-capital ratio is about 16 per cent today. Why I bring that up is I think it puts them in a good position for additional share buybacks, as well as potential acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe to help grow those revenues.
They highlighted in their Q4 earnings that they bought back about 200,000 common shares in those three months. And since quarter-end into 2026, they’ve bought back an additional 70,000 already. So clearly, management is seeing some opportunity at current levels.
ANDREW: We’re tight for time, but 5N Plus is a stock that’s drawing your attention as well. You like to look at this one.
KYLE: Well, 5N Plus is something that actually was on the show back in June and I highlighted, and it’s been a great addition for us. They’re based in Montreal. They’re a leading producer of specialty semiconductors and performance materials. An example of that is highly specialized products integral in satellite launches and national security.
The national security emphasis from the U.S. has been really favourable for them. There was news in January that the U.S. is investing to expand a germanium production facility in Utah, and that’s something that I think the near-term benefits will be limited, but the longer-term potential is considerable and speaks to 5N Plus’s efforts to entrench themselves in the U.S. market and capitalize on the national security mandate that’s really not going away.
ANDREW: Kyle, thanks very much indeed.
KYLE: Thank you.
ANDREW: Kyle Taylor, wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Tridelta Private Wealth.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Feb. 23, 2026 interview with Kyle Taylor are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
