Swiss economist grapples with US-Canadian trade relationship

Economy and democracy are two sides of the same coin. This is what Bernese economist Daniela Hauser has discovered while working in Ottawa, where she is trying to work out the consequences of the latest proposals from incoming US President Donald Trump. “This feels a bit like Europe,” Daniela Hauser tells SWI swissinfo.ch during an interview in the lively ByWard Market district at the heart of the Canadian capital. And just like in her hometown of Bern, the 43-year-old economist likes to travel on foot wherever possible. “I love hiking, whether in cities, out in the wilderness or in the Bernese Oberland.” Hauser caught the Wanderlust bug shortly after completing her high-school diploma. Her fascination with the big economic questions was sparked during her years at the Neufeld Gymnasium in Bern and later deepened when she studied economics at the University of Lausanne. After a short stint in Geneva, Hauser earned her doctorate in Barcelona where she also met her future husband, an ...