The CEO of the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce believes U.S. tariffs may be a positive in the long-term.
Rory Ring told CK News Today the trade war will ultimately force Canada to stop relying on the U.S. and find other countries to partner with.
In his opinion, there's the potential for a lot of exciting things to happen.
"Like removing the internal trade barriers between our provinces, like establishing an east-west corridor for energy," said Ring.
One of the people who agrees with Ring is CK Mayor Darrin Canniff.
He said Canada's economy has always depended on the U.S. and this is the time to take back control.
"There are a lot of other countries that would like to trade with us and we need to open it up for oil, if we had more pipelines we'd be able to export but right now the pipelines lead south," Canniff added.
Ring and Canniff both agree there will some pain in the short-term. Ring mentioned several small businesses have shared their concerns with the Chamber of Commerce with most scared for their consumers and customers since they'll most likely have to raise their prices once again to cope.
"They've gone through a pandemic, that pandemic led to increased inflation, and that inflation led to higher interest rates for borrowing," explained Ring.
Canniff is hoping the provincial and federal governments will step up to help those in need like they did during the pandemic.
Ring and Canniff are also encouraging people to support local businesses and buy Canadian products.
"We need to focus on shopping Canadian because we need to make it felt in the U.S," added Canniff.
Ring added people should do some research before buying anything because, in some cases, Canadian materials are sent to the U.S. to be manufactured, giving some the impression that they may be American when in fact they’re Canadian.
