Ontario Construction News staff writer
U.S. President Donald Trump says he will impose 25 per cent tariffs on all finished vehicles imported into the United States starting April 2.
The announcement came as Toronto city council approved a plan Mayor Olivia Chow says will support Toronto’s economy and local businesses in the face of American tariffs, including a six-month industrial property tax deferral.
Ten immediate actions were announced in advance of new tariffs expected April 2, including strengthening local supply chains, promoting locally-made goods, prioritizing Canadian suppliers, goods and services in procurement policies, and a six-month industrial property tax deferral program, among others.
City staff have been directed to limit day-to-day spending on American products.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has put his election campaign on pause, planning to return to Ottawa for a meeting of the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee on Thursday.
“We need a united front of workers, of labour, of business, of governments to help us navigate these stormy seas,” Carney said at a rally in Quebec City.
Premier Doug Ford spoke to reporters at Queens Park.
“I’m in full support of preparing retaliatory tariffs,” Ford said at Queen’s Park Wednesday. “Tariff for tariff, but we want to see what (Trump’s) going to do on April 2.”
“As we’ve seen over a number of months, it’s on again, off again, and (Trump) said he wasn’t going to (implement tariffs) until April 2… well, he launched an early attack, which is not surprising.”
Ford added that he asked Carney to call a meeting with all the premiers early next week, ahead of Trump’s proposed auto levy, because he wants to take a “team Canada approach.”
“I do not want to hurt other provinces, but I can assure you one thing, we’re going to make sure that we inflict as much pain as possible to the American people without inflicting pain on the Canadian population.”
“We either roll over as a country and he runs us over 15 times and gets what he wants, or we feel a little bit of pain and we fight like we’ve never fought before.”
