Scott Robinson, CEO, Red Deer District Chamber of Commerce. (supplied)

By Ian Gustafson

U.S. & Canada

Red Deer & District Chamber says proposed U.S. tariffs could have local impact

Nov 26, 2024 | 4:57 PM

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose large tariffs once he takes office early in the new year.

On Monday, Trump said he’ll implement a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports until the country stops drugs and illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S. border.

The move could potentially have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy, but Red Deer and District Chamber CEO, Scott Robinson, said it’s important to see if the U.S. government actually goes through with it.

“History with Mr. Trump has shown that there’s a lot of rhetoric upfront and obviously there’s going to be some hard negotiations behind the scenes,” he opined.

“The bigger issue is the Mexico-U.S. border, not the Canada-U.S. border, although I know there’s some concerns there. I’m not convinced it’s going to happen, at least at that level.”

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If it does happen, Robinson said it would have wide-reaching impacts on any goods and services that are exported to the U.S., such as beef, grain products, and oil and gas.

According to the Canadian Press, more than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.

“It would have a very wide-reaching chilling effect on the economy here. There certainly would be a negative impact likely in the equity markets as well, just because of the uncertainty of it all,” he said.

“It could be a very damaging thing in the short term, and in the longer term not likely to last. It would be something I think where every business involved in exporting goods to the U.S. would be concerned about.”

Robinson said Red Deer would also be impacted and he’s not sure if there would be a region in Canada that wouldn’t be.

Red Deer’s biggest industries are likely the energy and agricultural sectors, which would be impacted by the tariffs.

Any businesses in central Alberta who are in the industry of production in oil and gas, such as Nova Chemicals, would be affected. The farming and lumber industries across the west would also be impacted.

Meanwhile, the premiers have asked for an urgent meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to prepare for the new U.S. administration before the tariff threat.

Robinson is unsure if the U.S. will even go through with the tariffs because of the damage it could do to itself.

“These tariffs would have a significant impact on prices in the U.S., and if we’ve seen anything, it’s when inflation jacks up and prices go up, the consumer is never happy. The government will take a lot of heat from that,” he said.

“What’s already happening is the Canadian government is bringing together all the provinces, they’re going to talk, and build sort of a one size fits all strategy that will be communicated to the U.S.

“The strategy is to have a common voice, work with them, and help them understand what impacts it would have on the U.S. and obviously reassure them that the issues they’re worried about such as border security, Canada may have to demonstrate beefing up its border… if we deal with that, things would be better.”