The Canadian Companies Finding Opportunity Amid Trade Tensions

Discover how Canadian companies are seizing opportunities amid trade tensions to diversify energy trade partners and logistics.

Puja Tayal

Author Bio

Puja Tayal grew up in a small-business family where dinner conversations often centred on working capital and savings. Her early experiences with investing, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis, shaped her approach to understanding markets and evaluating investment opportunities. She began her career at a mutual fund company before moving into investor education and financial writing for asset and wealth management firms. Before joining The Motley Fool, Puja wrote for Market Realist, where she extensively covered the semiconductor industry. Her published work has also appeared in The Indian Express. Puja believes every stock has a story that can help investors understand its potential returns. She combines business analysis with different investing approaches to help investors make informed decisions and align their portfolios with their long-term financial goals. Outside of finance, Puja enjoys long drives, catching up with friends, watching superhero and science-fiction movies, and managing her family portfolio. She also has a keen interest in artificial intelligence and its potential to reshape the world.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance, University of Mumbai (2007)
CFA Level I

Areas of Expertise

Qualitative company analysis, management strategy, risk assessment, long-term investing, portfolio diversification and rebalancing, dividend reinvestment, cyclical growth opportunities, compounding strategies, growth stocks, and dividend stocks.

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"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing." — Warren Buffett

Published April 13, 8:00 pm EDT

The trade tensions began in 2025 with tariffs on almost every good. It then escalated to war, and oil took center stage in escalating trade tensions. The Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland episodes are all attempts to boost demand for the petrodollar. Trade tensions escalating into war have blocked supply chains and made oil and gas a commodity that is minting money from trade tensions.

Warning sign with the text "Trade war" in front of container ship — Source: Getty Images

Canadian companies finding opportunity amid trade tensions

Canada is using trade tensions as an opportunity to diversify its energy trade partners beyond the United States. It is building logistics corridors to make its oil sands reserves in Alberta and Saskatchewan accessible to the world. This could open up new opportunities for Canadian companies operating in the field of oil and gas production and energy infrastructure.

Canadian Natural Resources

Canadian Natural Resources (TSX: CNQ) stock jumped 200% in five years, with a 56% rally coming in 2026 as the Iran war created energy shockwaves. A similar shockwave in 2022 after the Russia-Ukraine war sent the stock up 75%. The stock did see a sharp dip of 30% in June 2022 as oil prices corrected. However, trade tensions escalated and kept the stock price elevated at $30–$35.

Canadian Natural Resources has the low-cost advantage. It leveraged trade tension-induced energy demand growth to grow its production significantly by acquiring more oil sands reserves. The acquisitions increased its debt to $18.7 billion in 2024, but it used the high cash flows from high demand to repay most of the debt and lower the net debt level below $16 billion. This helped it increase its production capacity without increasing the interest burden, which could have become a liability in an energy crisis. It plans to continue repaying debt and keep it below $13 billion, as that is where it will allocate 100% free cash flow to provide returns to shareholders.

Apart from CNQ’s financial discipline, the structural change in the global supply chain gives the company an opportunity to sell oil and gas to international markets.

Energy infrastructure enabling trade

Supporting the trade diversification opportunity is the development of energy infrastructure. TC Energy (TSX: TRP) will significantly benefit from North American liquified natural gas (LNG) exports. The LNG export opportunity that started with the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 is growing as trade tensions escalate.

TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline connects directly to LNG Canada, Canada’s first LNG export facility. It started operations in June 2025, and its Phase 2 is under construction. TC Energy also has the Nova Gas Transmission Line (NGTL) that gathers gas from Alberta and connects with other export lines.

Are these Canadian stocks a buy amid trade tensions?

The two stocks surged significantly in the two energy shockwaves: first during the Russia-Ukraine war, and second from the Venezuela crisis and the US-Israel and Iran war. These stocks are currently trading near their all-time high. Now may not be a good time to invest in them. However, they are worth adding to the watchlist.

A correction could be in the cards depending on how the negotiations between the US and Iran progress. In either case, the world energy supply order will reset, and oil prices will stabilize below US$100. That will drive a correction in their stock price, making them a buy-and-hold for the long term, as they continue paying dividends even in an energy crisis.