You may not think about it often, but each one of us has encountered and been touched by multiple charities or nonprofits over the course of our lives. It’s not just the ones that spring to mind immediately like hospitals, religious organisations, or community shelters. Your local business improvement association? A nonprofit. A community sports club? Also a nonprofit.

All charities are non-profits but not all non-profits are charities.

Tempus fugit. Time flies. It’s hard to believe, but we are almost halfway through 2025. Blink and you miss it. Time is the scarce resource; once it is gone, it’s gone.

Since President Trump took office just over 100 days ago, major U.S. markets have been extremely volatile, and consumer confidence in the United States (U.S.) has plunged to an almost five-year low. According to analysts, the odds of a recession are increasing. There are more challenges on the horizon and worth watching, including rising prices (inflation), supply chain disruptions, and the potential impact on the global economy of more tariffs.

When astronaut Neil Armstrong declared that he took “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he failed to realise that we experience progress in inches. Often, it’s only when we look back that we actually realise how far we have come.

There are certainly challenges in the world today. Perhaps there will always be challenges. But, some of the dire issues we faced in decades past are barely mentioned anymore.

Recently, the Canadian dollar has strengthened against the United States (U.S.) dollar. It surged above 72 U.S. cents – in February is was trading below 68 cents. That’s more than a 3% rise in a short period of time.

Other major currencies have also rallied against the U.S. dollar as well. Both the euro and the Japanese yen have gained ground against the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year.

One of our roles in managing portfolios is helping clients navigate risk. Historically, the more risk people take in their investments, the higher the potential reward. Which makes intuitive sense. If a knowledgeable investor wants a higher return, they naturally have to seek out strategies that have less certain or predictable outcomes.

President Trump’s tariff policy has had a seismic impact on global markets and caused borrowing costs for the United States (U.S.) government to spike. Major U.S. stock exchanges surged after Trump stated that he would pause higher tariff rates for 90 days on a multitude of U.S. trading partners, while maintaining the 10 per cent baseline levy he imposed earlier this month.

“Liberation Day” delivered the implementation of a universal tariff of 10 per cent on all imports as well as reciprocal tariffs by the United States (U.S.) on pretty much the rest of the world. President Trump enacted these tariffs on U.S. trading partners and, in particular, on those that contribute the most to the trillion dollar U.S. trade deficit. We won’t go so far as to call them reciprocal because… well, they aren’t.

Trade deficits are mentioned almost as much as tariffs these days. But, trade deficits are nothing new. Take the United States (U.S.), for example. They have run a persistent trade deficit since the 1970s. They also ran one through most of the 19^th century.

It was not until the U.S. advanced and began to surpass other manufacturing-based economies that the trade balance went from persistent deficits to persistent surpluses in the first part of the 20^th century.

Economics is a branch of social science that focuses on the production, consumption and transfer of wealth. It is broken into macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics focuses on large-scale factors - interest rates, national and international productivity, etc. Microeconomics, on the other hand,  focuses on the behaviour of individuals, businesses and organisations, when it comes to using their wealth.

So what does this have to do with investing?

Canada has weathered trade wars with the United States as far back as the late 19th century. Tariffs can affect economic growth, consumer spending, trade flows, government revenue, exchange rates, employment, and inflation. As a result, tariffs can and do introduce a layer of uncertainty.