Mayors of Canadian border towns, cities explore ways to counter looming tariff threat

Canadian mayors of cities and towns near the U.S. border have set up a new partnership in the form of the Border Mayors Alliance.

This comes as a response to tariff threats by Donald Trump. The U.S. president is expected to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada Tuesday, following a 30-day reprieve.

In a statement released on Jan. 27, the city of Cornwall announced that Mayor Justin Towndale was uniting with his peers across the country in an effort to find a way to impose a municipal point of view.

“These tariffs threaten to disrupt the strong and mutually beneficial relationship we’ve built with our neighbors to the south. The negative economic impacts that these tariffs will have will not only affect the Canadian economy, but the U.S. economy as well,” the statement reads.

Towndale told CTV News in an interview on Sunday that the alliance is looking at their options to deal with the looming tariffs on a municipal level.

“Obviously, we don’t have the same powers as our colleagues at the provincial and federal levels where we can impose bans on U.S. liquor or impose counterterrorism (measures),” Towndale said.

“We’re looking more on the diplomatic route.”

The alliance is taking steps to get in touch with peers and lawmakers across the Canada-U.S. border, he said.

Towndale met with two mayors in New York, one of whom has agreed to embark on a letter writing campaign with him.

“Our hope is that we can apply pressure from both sides of the border to the U.S. federal government to reconsider their stance on tariffs,” Towndale said.

Meanwhile, he is not sold on the idea that the tariffs will, in fact, be imposed this time around either, but thinks it’s best to plan for the worst-case scenario and take steps to prepare for that.

Towndale says he has met with the local chamber of commerce and local businesses to determine the economic and social impact on the community if the tariffs are imposed.

“I know the federal government has been looking at relief funds similar to COVID funding that should help businesses that are affected,” he said.

“As a community we’re looking at what we can do, whether we can refocus our procurement to be local.”

According to Towndale, some laws prevent that route from materializing, but the alliance will continue to look for ways to make it easier for communities to conduct business locally.