Two local chambers of commerce have joined together in a show of solidarity against U.S. tariffs.
The President and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce joined the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce at its 137th Annual General Meeting in Chatham on Thursday to go over the impact the tariffs are already having in the greenhouse, food processing, and auto manufacturing sectors in the region.
Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ryan Donally said Canada must be less dependent on the U.S. in the future while still maintaining a good business relationship with our neighbours to the south.
Donally said 95 per cent of the area exports go to the U.S. and it would be impossible to "divorce" ourselves from our primary trading partner.
"This is an opportunity to find a more nationalized automotive sector, supply chains across our provinces and within our province," said Donally.
Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rory Ring said local businesses have gone through many challenging times, such as a pandemic, high inflation, and high interest rates and survived.
Ring is urging businesses to continue to be resilient to survive this tariff crisis.
"We know that the majority of the U.S. population looks up to and reveres Canada and its citizens. We have to remember that this is policy and not people," Ring said.
Donally said businesses need stability to operate and President Trump's tariffs are creating global instability, which makes it very difficult to do business.
"Until the rubber hits the road and we actually see a tariff being placed on the automotive industry heading across the border mid-next week, we're still in this in-between, upsidedown world," Donally noted.
Ring warned that boycotting American brands could also put a Canadian worker out of a job or at a disadvantage.
Ring is urging the Canadian government to get on with breaking down inter-provincial trade barriers and building an east-west pipeline because our economy depends on it.