Photo: Castanet

The executive director for the Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce says there’s “a lot of uncertainty” among local business owners as they try and prepare for a potential U.S.-Canada trade war this spring.

The chamber hosted a round table event this week to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, slated to take effect on March 1.

Acacia Pangilinan said more than 20 members of the business community attended Wednesday’s session — and the chamber is planning another similar event in the first week of March.

“It's really hard in this kind of environment, but we're really trying to prepare our businesses as best as possible for the potential of what could come,” Pangilinan said.

She said there are many unknowns, and people are anxious about what could happen next.

“A lot of our resources were looking at how businesses can tariff-proof their business. And it’s lot easier said than done,” Pangilinan said.

Businesses taking stock

She said this process involves looking at business inputs, cash flow, supply chains, which products are used, and determining if Canadian suppliers exist. For businesses that export products, they can see if other markets are available.

“Even looking at businesses, looking at their costs, looking at their staffing levels, and looking at basically their whole operations and trying to see where these tariffs might impact their bottom line, we really walk businesses through that piece — or at least where they could find resources to help them do that,” she said.

Pangilinan said she’s heard some businesses are looking to stockpile some of their materials — in other words, bulk buy as much as possible before the tariffs come in — but noted not every business can do that.

“Not everybody has an area to even put all of these materials,” she said. “And some people don't know all the materials that they're going to need right away, it’s purchased just in time to be able to use for for other work.”

Risks remain for Kamloops

A data set from the Canadian Chamber’s Business Data Lab shows Kamloops ranks 40th out of the largest 41 census metropolitan areas across the country in terms of its risk to tariffs.

According to BDL, Saint John. N.B., Calgary, Alta., and Windsor, Ont. are the top three Canadian cities vulnerable to tariffs. These cities export more goods to the U.S. as a share of their local economies and depend more on the south as a key export market.

Saint John and Calgary are major crude oil hubs. The Atlantic province also exports seafood and forestry products to the U.S., while Calgary ships beef south of the border.

BDL noted Windsor — among other Southwestern Ontario cities — depends heavily on the automotive and parts manufacturing industry.

Pangilinan said while Kamloops sits on the bottom of this ranking, there is still risks for the local economy. However, she noted having a diverse set of industries will be beneficial to Kamloops’ economic resiliency.

“A lot of our mining companies and our big resource companies trade beyond just the United States. They still have good trade relationships with other countries,” she said.

“We’re still able to get our product out the door and out the country, which will be really important if all of a sudden we start to see costs going up in all of our other sectors.”

She said ultimately, amid constantly changing information, people are anxious about what the future holds — not just for their business, but for Canada and the trade relationship with the U.S.

Pangilinan said she feels for people in the business community who already have weathered many challenges.

“We heard this week at our round table that there's a lot of them that are seeking support and relying on one another and really trying to band together to try to make sense of it all. And I think that's what our community does best,” she said.