PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – Tariffs could spell trouble for trade with Canada under some of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans, prompting discussions that are already underway in New York’s North Country.
“We want to continue to be a good trading partner with our neighbors to the north. So yes, there are some concerns about that,” said New York Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, who is also the chair of the New York-Canada Task Force. He says he hopes the new administration’s talk of 10 percent tariffs on all imports into the U.S. won’t impact local businesses. “Our North Country economy does depend a lot on what we do with our trading partners in Quebec and Ontario and Canada.”
Trump slammed tariffs against Canada during his first term on goods like aluminum and steel, which Jones says had adverse affects on local businesses.
“We are aware and monitoring and already speaking with representatives to kind of refresh the understanding of the special U.S-Canadian relationship,” said North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas.
He says he hopes the contentiousness seen during the drafting of the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, can be avoided. “What we have been counseling — and I think we are seeing wisely on the part of our Canadian friends from the getgo — is to stress that, okay, there are some questionable characters in the world who are actually aligned with you and addressing those and let’s do it together,” Douglas said.
State Senator Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, also hopes Canada isn’t one of the countries being targeted by potential tariffs. “There is a time and place to use these tools but you know, I think everybody realizes that we have a good trade relationship with Canada. We want to make sure that they are not collateral damage in other wrongs that we are trying to right on other places with other partners, like for example China,” he said.