Mayor Olivia Chow has responded to U.S. tariffs by announcing she will consider cancelling Toronto’s contracts with American suppliers, and convene a business roundtable, among various efforts to protect the city’s economy.
“Everything is on the table,” Chow said at a Monday press conference, flanked by members of her executive committee.
“A Team Canada approach is the only way forward, and Toronto is ready to do its part.”
City manager Paul Johnson will be “looking at all contracts, all procurement policies” and report back to Chow in the coming days, she said.
Coun. Shelley Carrol, the city’s budget chief, said the timeline for this undertaking could come later on Monday.
“We expect to hear that timeline sometime today, maybe tomorrow,” she said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. will impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods from Canada, with Canadian energy also subject to a lower 10 per cent tariff.
In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a 25 per cent tariff on $30 billion worth of American products starting Tuesday, with another round of tariffs to come on $125 billion worth of goods 21 days later.
Convening a roundtable of business and labour leaders
Chow’s plan also includes convening a roundtable of business and labour leaders to advise her on “strategies to protect the sectors of the economy most at risk, defend jobs and keep workers front and centre,” according to a press release.
The mayor said she will move in lockstep with the federal and provincial governments as the situation unfolds. Johnson has already talked with the most senior civil servants at the federal and provincial levels about a coordinated plan of attack, Chow added.
Chow is also encouraging Torontonians to buy more local products.
“When we support local businesses, we strengthen our economy and our communities,” she said.
Coun. Mike Colle has a motion on Wednesday’s city council agenda that would direct the civil service to launch a comprehensive “buy local” campaign. Colle didn’t mince words when speaking about the effects of the tariffs and what regular Torontonians could do to fight back.
“This is like an economic 9/11 hit on Canada,” he said. “We can’t just take this lying down.”
The tariffs are slated to come a week before council finalizes the 2025 budget, but Chow said “there will not be any substantial change” to the spending plan.
“We're building healthy reserve funds because we're worried about rainy days, and sure enough, rainy days are upon us,” Chow said.
But the city “may have to tap into” its nearly $14-billion reserve fund to weather the storm, she said.
Coun. Carroll said the budget’s timing could strengthen the city’s response, rather than hurt it.
“There is ongoing procurement, but the big stuff comes after Feb. 11,” she said. “So we have between now and then to really make that legal review, make that policy review and decide what to do.”
Concern over increased tensions with U.S.
Some councillors expressed concern the city could open itself to legal and financial trouble if contracts are cancelled.
“We’re not the provincial government. We’re not the federal government. We don’t have revenue tied to GDP or income. We’re on the property tax base,” said Coun. Brad Bradford. “So we do have to be very thoughtful, recognizing it could be very, very expensive to rip up contracts that are underway.”
Bradford also criticized Chow’s plan for not being ready ahead of the tariffs.
“We should have the T’s crossed, the I’s dotted, because we knew this was coming,” he said.
Coun. James Pasternak also said he’s concerned about any future procurement changes because they could further increase tensions.
“You have to be very careful when you adopt a preferential purchasing policy that it doesn’t work against you and violate existing policies on the books,” he said. “Sabre rattling and countermeasures rarely produce the desired outcome. All they do is ratchet up the temperature, create animosity and everybody loses."
Also on Monday, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford banned American firms from bidding on provincial contracts and cancelled a $100-million deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink that would’ve provided satellite internet to tens of thousands of Ontarians.
The 25 per cent tariffs were also supposed to apply to Mexican goods, but U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would pause them for one month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised to deploy 10,000 soldiers along the border.
Trudeau also spoke with Trump on Monday morning but did not appear to extract any concessions. The two leaders are expected to speak again on Monday afternoon.
This is a developing story. More to come.
