“Shocking, unexpected and terrifying,” is how Calgary Chamber of Commerce CEO Deborah Yedlin described her reaction to incoming US President Donald Trump threatening to sign an executive order on his first day in office (January 20, 2025) to ban guns. Imposing a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico as well as an additional 10% tariff on all imports from China.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Yadlin said. “I mean people were kind of thinking about the 10 percent number, but 25 percent just came out of the blue.”
Citing previous Canadian Chamber of Commerce modeling of a tariff impact of just 10 per cent, Yedlin said Canadians “would likely see a 2.5 per cent reduction in economic growth, which would be felt on average by about $2,000 per household.”
Deborah Yedlin, CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, called the threat of Trump’s tariffs a “huge wake-up call.”
Calgary Global
Mitch Jacobsen, whose company makes Rviita Energy Tea at its factory in Calgary, called the tariff threat “really scary, because as a Canadian company that exports to the U.S. we already feel like we’re at a disadvantage, our logistics costs are high, we have a carbon tax here, we make Everything is local, so our expenses are high, and if you add 25 percent on top of that, it makes our product uncompetitive.
“If your price is a dollar or two higher than the next product at retail, how can you compete,” Jacobsen added.
He described Canada’s threat of retaliation as “most terrifying.”
“A big part of our supply chain, being a Canadian company, comes from the U.S., so now we’re taking a hit on the front end where our cost of goods is going up and then our consumer price point is going up as well — so we’re getting hit on both sides,” Jacobsen added. “It’s definitely very scary.”
Mitch Jacobsen, owner of Rviita Energy Tea, in Calgary, says imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports into the United States would make his products uncompetitive.
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In response to the threat of customs duties… Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post That the Trump administration has “legitimate concerns regarding illegal activities” at the border. But she added that the vast majority of Alberta’s energy exports to the United States “are delivered through safe and secure pipelines” that “in no way contribute to these illegal activities.”
Incoming US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports did not indicate relief for the Canadian energy industry.
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While Trump’s threat did not mention exemptions for Canadian oil and gas, Richard Mason of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy said it doesn’t make sense to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian energy imports.
“We’ve had an interconnected continental energy market for decades,” Mason said. “The United States has refineries in the Midwest — dependent on oil from the oil sands, heavy oil and bitumen from the oil sands — more than 3 million barrels per day — for which there is no alternative in the United States.”
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“So if these tariffs are imposed, there will be no alternative for those refiners and they could end up having much higher costs for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, which is inflationary and completely inconsistent with what President Trump was talking about,” Mason said. .
Donald Trump’s threat to impose crippling tariffs on Canadian imports would be counterproductive to his promise to lower the cost of living for Americans, says Richard Mason of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
Calgary Global
While Yedlin said it’s “really important and we need to be able to come together as a united front” to fight the tariffs, Smith also took a jab at the federal government.
“We have had our own representation in Washington since 2005,” Smith said. “We have increasingly seen that we are the best advocates for our own interests, and we will continue to build those relationships,” Smith said. “I would very much love to follow the Team Canada approach, but I can tell you that Justin Trudeau did not make it easy.”
We also need to keep in mind what history has taught us about the impact of tariffs and points to consider, Yadlin said. Smoot-Hawley definitions In the 1930s, the United States imposed crippling tariffs – up to 40% – on all imports from other countries, in an attempt to protect domestic workers.
Many economists blame the trade war for exacerbating the effects of the Great Depression.
Yadlin also calls Trump’s tariff threat “a kind of wake-up call.”
“We’ve been talking for a long time about how we’re too dependent on the U.S. economy for our exports,” Yadlin said. “As you know, 90 per cent of Alberta’s energy exports go to the south. 78 per cent of Canada’s GDP is exported to the south. It’s time to change that equation.”
The potential for a trade war is also a reminder of the importance of buying local, Jacobsen said.
“I think it’s important for Canadian consumers, now more than ever, if this tariff is implemented, to think about supporting local Canadian brands like us, who manufacture here and create jobs in our local community.”
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
