I would have to say that it depends on the commodity and the source.
However, in general, I'm very anxious about the trend that we're seeing of countries putting new export restrictions on goods. We're obviously in a fractured geopolitical environment, and critical minerals are being used for leverage. In the last few weeks, Zimbabwe put export restrictions on some of the things it produces. Today, Guinea put export restrictions on bauxite, which is an essential element in aluminum. Everything is going to be more expensive and have increased costs, and everyone is going to be more vulnerable because of this trend.
It's tricky, but Canada—especially working in coordination with Australia—has such tremendous global market-setting power. It might be difficult for Canada to do these things alone, but we could coordinate with Australia and some other trusted allies to make sure that we aren't coercing or restricting exports and that people we have free trade agreements with have access to our commodities and know that we are reliable and not a nation that puts caveats on everything we export.
