(0:00 - 1:31) Tariffs have dominated the headlines in recent months, with many Canadians very concerned about their economic impact here at home. But the truth is that U.S. tariffs are, in fact, a minor matter and unlikely to last beyond Donald Trump's administration. There are much larger forces at work globally, and the impact of those macro elements will stretch decades, possibly centuries, into the future. World War III, which the EU will start, which will create a Russia-China alliance, and which the EU will lose, even if they are joined by America. A probable global population crash, potentially a reduction in global population of up to 30% in the next 20 to 30 years, which will have a devastating effect upon our economy through the simple realities of supply and demand. The breakup of Canada, with Alberta likely to separate in the next couple of years, and other provinces will follow, and other provinces such as Saskatchewan and Quebec likely not far behind. And even the U.S. may fracture, as California is seriously discussing secession. There has not been this much uncertainty and instability in the world since before the Second World War. And instability is never good for the economy. (1:32 - 2:46) So where do you put your money in order to safely ride this out? To not be one of the billions of people who will descend into poverty when governments and global markets collapse? Laurent Lequeu is known online as TheMacroButler. He's a political analyst and financial consultant who specializes in seeing the big picture, and then providing his clients with advice, which takes into account the global economy. He joins me today to paint a very clear picture of what our world would look like in the coming decades, and it would be dramatically different from what it is now. And to provide essential advice on how to protect your wealth, your family, and your assets in order to not only ride out the coming economic earthquakes, but even to profit. Laurent, welcome to the show. It's my pleasure, Will, to be on your show. (2:46 - 6:26) And you have a very unusual or interesting name for your substack, TheMacroButler. I'm sure it means something to a financial consultant and political analyst like yourself, but could you explain for our viewers, TheMacroButler, what does this mean? Well, I decided to name my substack TheMacroButler because, in fact, it's what I'm doing professionally over the past 18 months. So since I left the corporate world and I set myself as an independent advisor, I try to be the financial butler of anyone who wants to listen to me. And I use MacroButler because I try to have a global view of the world. So I look at the lens of the world through different cycles. I try to connect the dots between the cycles. And also, I would think it's important for investment to understand politics and geopolitics. So at TheMacroButler, we try to connect all these dots between finance, politics and geopolitics. All right. Thank you very much. And I do at some point in time, I'm really glad that you have that global perspective because I do want to talk about the EU and about Russia and about China. But of course, my audience is primarily Canadian. So let's start here at home. And Trump's tariffs. And there's been this narrative since the beginning that the tariffs were there to prevent fentanyl and terrorists from coming into the US. This is clearly nonsense. You know, he slapped tariffs on everybody. We don't have terrorists slipping across the border into the US from China, not unless they're very good swimmers. So Laurent, what's the real reason for the tariffs? Well, I can see three reasons for the tariff. And I think that all the three reasons are kind of linked together. So I will try to explain succinctly the three reasons that I see why Trump has decided to tariff the world. So the first reason, I would say, is the most common sense reason. It's just that Trump was looking to bring back manufacturing into the US. So I would say that since the 1980s, all US multinationals have moved out of the US and used a lot of fiscal loopholes and also the deregulation around the World Trade Organization to move their manufacturing and even to move some development center outside the US. So, I mean, this is the best example of all these companies are the magnificent seven or what we can also call the platform companies. So these companies, in fact, still do some R&D development in the US, but for most of them, manufacture in Asia can be in China or in India and have some a subsidiaries in Ireland. And these subsidiaries in Ireland are mostly there for fiscal purposes. (6:27 - 10:32) So the first reason that Trump decided to implement tariff is to bring back manufacturing into the US and kind of create manufacturing jobs. And this was to clearly attract, I would say, the MAGA voters that have supported Trump during his first mandate and that has brought back Trump to the White House since January 2025. I would say that, I mean, this is a good reason to put tariff on everything imported into the US. The issue that I see for this to be successful is that, I mean, the US has not really anymore any manufacturing. No US infrastructure are kind of in a very poor state. So to be successful in this reindustrialization of the US, in fact, Trump needs foreign investment to do so. And he mostly needs Chinese investment because whatever we can read or listen on financial news media, I mean, China today has the state of the art manufacturing of the world. So, I mean, if Trump wants to be successful in reindustrializing the US or re-manufacturing the US, he needs to attract the best manufacturer in the world, meaning that he needs to attract Chinese manufacturers as, I mean, it happened in the past where we had the Japanese automakers coming into the US to manufacture their cars and bring the know-how that they had during the 1980s, 1990s. So that's the first reason. And this reason is linked to the second reason that I see is that I think that Trump is what I called a man from the tree, meaning that he's not in favor of a globalist agenda. And if he wants to rebuild a fortress America, meaning that he wants to end the American empire and he wants to focus on America first, he needs to manufacture most of the goods that America consumes into the US. So, I mean, the two are linked together. And I would say that, so these are, I would say, very understandable reasons to put tariffs. I think that every country in the world, in fact, should focus on its domestic manufacturing capability. At the end of the day, that's what makes the strength of a country. Here again, and this is also, I would say, a third reason without being the major third reason, the reason that Trump wants to focus on America first is that he understands that the US cannot spend recklessly anymore as it did, especially over the past four years during the Biden administration. So the US needs to reduce spending. And if we look at the budget of the US, I mean, one of the major spending of the US government is defense. (10:32 - 12:11) So if the US reduces defense spending, I mean, it means that it focuses on America first, it rebuilds the fortress America and to rebuild the fortress America, clearly the US needs to produce domestically. So I would think that these are very good reasons that any, I would say, politician will focus more on the interests of his own citizen, rather than on a global agenda can have to put tariff. And I really understand, and in fact, a lot of countries in Asia itself have put some form of tariff. If it's not an official tariff, there are some restrictions in terms of regulation that protect their own domestic manufacturing industry. And that's completely understandable from, I would say, an American domestic point of view. All right. Thank you, Laurent. And there's a couple of things to be unpacked from what you've just told us. I would tend to agree with you on it hasn't been very effective. And if I get any of my numbers wrong, please correct me because this is an area of expertise for you and not for me. There was a report that came out a couple of days ago that said that the tariffs so far have generated 3% of government expenditures. It doesn't seem to be a huge impact. (12:13 - 13:39) So there's two things where we have, I think this is a two-part question, Laurent. First, because his primary motivations are manufacturing and fortress America, in other words, he wants to bring everything home. That's not going to happen quickly. And so that suggests that these tariffs are going to go on for a very long time, possibly his entire term in office. And so the first question then would be, what will be the impact on the rest of the world, part one, and then the projection for America itself economically? Because as you've said, it's not really working. But on the other hand, there were a lot of people, analysts, who when he first announced the tariffs said, oh, it's going to be a disaster. There's going to be a recession. Doesn't seem to be happening. In fact, another report came out just yesterday, I believe it was, that said that when Biden was in office, 25% of new jobs were government jobs. During the five months of Trump's administration, 99% of new jobs have been in the private sector. So clearly that much is working. He's generating jobs for people. So just to reiterate my questions, number one, let's assume that this goes on for a long time, possibly his entire term. What are the implications globally? And second, what happens to America itself economically?