It is unknown whether Canada’s dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on $27 billion of U.S. goods, which go into effect on Sept 8, will impact local businesses, according to the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Last week, Prime Minister Carney announced that negotiations with the U.S. were “suspended” and walked away from the table. This resulted in the U.S. implementing 50 per cent tariffs on a selection of Canadian goods, totalling about $28 billion.
“From the local perspective, at this point, it’s hard to know if there will be unintended consequences to those counter tariffs,” said Charla Robinson, chamber president.
“We’re trying to find out from our members if their suppliers can’t get certain things from within Canada, will they have to use suppliers from the States?”
She added that the chamber is trying to get more information to share with its members.
“The federal and provincial governments also announced this week some expanded support such as increasing dollar supports for employment insurance (EI), work sharing programs, tariff supports, and cash flow loans, for businesses,” she said. “They’re broadening out the support that is available to businesses and to individuals impacted by any potential downturn that happens, to try to keep Canada moving, while really focusing on how we can help businesses to diversify.”
Robinson says they are still waiting to find out the details of eligibility criteria, specifically for the funding program that’s available through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor).
“Previously there were some pretty high limits on what your revenues had to be, the number or minimum number of employees, that cut out some really small businesses that would have been impacted,” she said. “It will depend on who’s impacted.”
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu, minister of jobs and families and minister responsible for FedNor, said the ideal situation is that the trade storm can be weathered with people’s ability to stay attached to the workplace, which is why part of the support package is called work sharing.
“We’ve made the work sharing rules easier so that employers who want to pivot to new products or want to hold on to their workforce while they attempt to find new markets can actually hold on to those workers and that talent,” Hajdu said.
“Ultimately, what it does is it provides compensation for salaries through the EI program while that worker stays attached to that workplace.”
Hajdu added that they know that some people will lose their jobs, and that’s why they’ve changed the rules of EI to be more generous, easier to access, and for people to be able to hold on to separation pay without any ding to that first payment of EI.
Meanwhile, Robinson says businesses are concerned but say they think they’re going to be OK at this point.
“But again, there’s the uncertainty about what’s going to happen,” Robinson said. “The impacts will not be felt quickly, so what is that longer-term slowdown potentially? That’s where the concern is. It’s just not knowing how this ball is going to fall.”
