The leader of a local organization that helps promote the area and attract businesses to the community says tariffs could have a big impact on local industry.
CEO of the Quinte Economic Development Commission Chris King says some industries would feel the impact more than others, but it would cause widespread damage.
King says a few years back, they did some analysis of local manufacturers.
He says around 70 percent of local manufacturers export to the United States. They are very dependent on the U.S. market.
Many companies talk about 30-40 or even 70% of their products being exported to the United States.
King says “If there is a 25% tariff, then that has a big impact on the cost to consumers, and they may start to look at other options for buying items they need”.
It’s hard to say what the impact would be (exactly) because the government is talking about providing “some support’ for manufacturers if tariffs are put in place, much like they did during the pandemic, but it will take some time to see the full impact.
Overall, King says It would be very difficult and it would have a definite economic impact but it’s hard to know exactly how big that impact will be and it can vary greatly from business to business.
To learn more about what products are manufactured locally (and support jobs in our region), you can go here.
To learn what products are made in Canada, you can go here.
