THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay is near the top of a list of cities in Ontario that will suffer deep economic impacts from a trade war with the United States.
A recent report ranked Thunder Bay the third most vulnerable city in the province to tariff impacts, Intergovernmental Affairs Committee chair couns. Kristen Oliver told council on Monday.
“Jobs for many people in our community will be in jeopardy,” said Oliver.
Oliver said in the “worst case scenario” that up to 7,000 jobs could be impacted if U.S tariffs are implemented.
"The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee had recently received a report that identified that Thunder Bay, in particular, as a community in this country that will definitely feel the impacts of tariffs if they are implemented as the President of the United States has stated," Oliver told Newswatch.
In light of the report, Oliver petitioned the city council to stand with the Federal and Provincial governments to do their part in eliminating the threats of tariffs set by U.S. President Donald J. Trump.
Council voted unanimously to stand ready to provide any assistance requested by the federal and provincial governments, and all municipal and business associations.
“The trade that we have that goes across the border. The United States requires softwood lumber for a number of their buildings in particular, and with the tariffs that are proposed, it will devastate the forest industry, which, by extension will have grave impacts on many of the services and companies that support that sector in particular,” said Oliver.
She said by supporting this petition council will send a strong message that the municipality will stand together with upper levels of government and the business sector to do what it can to combat the tariff threat.
"The fact that softwood lumber is a huge contributor to the economic backbone of our city and the region, we look at steel, we look at other products that we have that are going across the border, we know that it could be upwards of 7,000 people could be losing their jobs, and that's a huge hit for a community of 110,000 people," said Oliver.
One potential safeguard, Oliver said, was the federal government's removal of over half of its inter-provincial trade barriers.
“We know that for a long time that has had a significant role in terms of how provinces even interact in a business sense. So that discussion is now happening. So, those types of initiatives, if the United States does move ahead with implementing tariffs, will help to contribute to lessening the blow per se,” said Oliver.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff also stated that Ontario’s big city mayors are taking the stance to keep an open dialogue with the American border mayors to “make appeals to their respective governments” to not impose the tariffs.
“Our communities understand trade and reciprocity and cross-border cooperation. I think we're blessed with that knowledge and the fact that we share strong relationships with our American neighbours,” said Boshcoff.
Thunder Bay is ranked 13 out of 41 Canadian cities' vulnerability to U.S. tariffs in another report, from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
In 2023, 99.3 per cent of Thunder Bay's exports went to the U.S – $602.4 million worth of goods – according to that report. That's the highest proportion of any city in the country.
