Q: Could Trump force the Canadian banks & insurance companies close their operations in the U.s. and sell the proceeds to their U.S. competitors?
5i Research Answer:
This would be a highly difficult move, and would be nearly impossible to actually execute on. This would likely involve violations of trade agreements and investment protections under the US law, as well as this sort of move would likely require approval from US financial regulators (Federal Reserve, FDIC, SEC) which would likely not allow this to pass. Trump has spoken on the asymmetry of Canadian banks and US bank operations across the border, but we feel going through with such a plan would involve a lot of legal battles, economic fallout, that it would be very unlikely to actually pass.