Chow says Toronto’s action plan on tariffs coming next week

Mayor Olivia Chow speaks with reporters Friday March 14, 2025.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says the city will have “a lot more” to say about its economic response to U.S. tariffs next week.

“I will have a complete package to announce Monday,” Chow told reporters at an announcement about a new affordable rental building Friday.

Chow’s Economic Action Team is meeting today to finalize the measures the city is taking in response to the tariffs.

“They’ve been giving us input for the last several weeks, and we’re going to gather all of them together,” Chow said. “They’re going to sign off this afternoon, and we’ll have a lot more to say about it on Monday.”

Chow said earlier this week that a motion will be tabled at city council’s next meeting to bar U.S. companies from participating in any future contracts with Toronto.

“This uncertainty and chaos needs to stop,” Chow said at the time.

The city previously announced it would preferentially do business with Canadian companies for contracts worth less than $353,000 in response to the tariffs.

A report on Toronto’s “United States Tariff Response Action Plan” is expected to come before Chow’s Executive Committee when it meets next week.

In a separate report on bolstering housing construction, city staff recently noted that the tariffs could have a major impact on the city’s economy.

“Recent trade developments between the United States (US) and Canada, notably US-initiated tariff disputes, have introduced new uncertainties which will have direct and indirect impacts on construction projects, and the overall economy,” staff noted in the report.

It is not clear exactly how great an impact tariffs could have on Toronto’s economy. However Premier Doug Ford has previously said they could cost the province 500,000 jobs.

Whirlwind week

Public officials have been trading blows over the tariffs in a dizzying week of back-and-forth statements that included heated television appearances, social media posts, news conferences and a last-minute trade delegation to Washington, D.C. Thursday.

Ford had threatened to raise the price of electricity for 1.5 million U.S. customers, while Trump had threatened to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum. Both men eventually backed away from those threats.

Premier Doug Ford, along with several key federal ministers and Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday afternoon in a meeting that Ford described as “productive.”

Bureaucrats from both sides of the border are expected to continue conversations next week in order to find common ground. Premier Ford’s office said next week’s meeting will be with bureaucrats from the Ontario, federal, and U.S. governments. Ford, Lutnick and other government ministers are not expected to take part.