Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods has already been felt locally.
Stuart McFadden, director of economic development for the municipality, said some potential new industry has hit the pause button on development plans.
“We’ve had a number of companies especially in the EV (electric vehicle) market, working with the province or the federal government. We’ve been told they’re going to take a pause until they better understand what might happen,” he said. “They’re going to hold off on any major investment until they better understand the possible ramifications.
Trump has threatened a 25-per-cent tariff on all Canadian goods heading south unless Ottawa improves border security.
McFadden said the sabre rattling has had an impact.
“All of a sudden he drops a bomb (tariff threat) and we came up with $1.3 billion with increased border security,” he said, referring to the federal government increasing spending on border security and our immigration system in mid-December.
McFadden said any information economic development receives from senior levels of government is being proliferated with local manufacturers and producers.
“We are sharing information received from the province as it arrives as well to keep people informed,” he said.
McFadden hopes what Canada has done to date will placate Trump, or someone close to him reminds the president that any tariffs on Canadian goods will hamper his citizens.
“Let’s just keep hope that common sense will prevail and the new president is reminded by industry leaders the impact of such a move would have on prices on both sides of the border,” he said. “The impact on the U.S. would be incredible as well.”
Canadian politicians are reacting to the tariff threats, regardless of political stripes. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a Conservative, suggests Canada hits back if tariffs are imposed against Canadian goods hitting the U.S. market.
“When they attack our country, when they attack our people, when they attack the jobs of hard-working Canadians, you cannot sit back and say, ‘Keep on attacking,'” he said. “You have to hit back with every single tool in our toolbox.”
That could, according to federal officials, include the suspension of oil exports to the U.S. Canada sends about four million barrels of oil to the U.S. every day. Many American refineries are heavily dependent on Canadian heavy crude oil. Stopping the flow could seriously impact the American economy.
Trump was to take office on Jan. 20. He has stated he quickly wants to implement tariffs on a number of countries, including Canada.
Part of his reasoning is to force Canada to crack down on his perceived flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the U.S.
We have always had a “relationship” with the US, and Not a good one. Sure it has always looked like the US was the good big brother… My question is, Define Good. I’m not a young man but I do remember when the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US. It was a school trip to the Detroit Zoo and my grandfather insisted I take american cash with me, not to give them our good money!
Fact is we are rich! Steel, Lumber, Electricity, Oil, Gas… the list goes on. Let’s look at this fact for a moment, The Netherlands, a small country Only send out Value Added Goods. They won’t sell you lumber but you can buy a chair or a table. They won’t sell raw ore, but you can buy a machine or a car. Everyone stays working that way.
We buy US debt, and we do it now by directly selling electricity for less than we pay to generate it!
This makes our dollar worth less than the US, keeping jobs here. Let’s just shut down the US on everything and see just how many days/weeks it takes for Trump to renegotiate. It is high time we actually love our own country and stop giving stuff away.
Don’t sell them the whole turnkey business. Keep it, enjoy it, be proud of it, own it. If everyone cared about Canada instead of being dissapointed with, it then things would change. Trudeau does not care about anything but his popularity and his own bank account. Time to go! Beat it! Let someone in office that was born and raised Canadian. Then you have someone who understands Canada, not a modified version of Canada. Pretty simple really, Just care.
DP