The head of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce says Windsor and Detroit may be separated by an international border, but their economies remain deeply connected. Chamber president and CEO Sandy Baruah delivered that message Thursday during the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce’s 150th annual general meeting, held near the Legacy Beacon on Windsor’s waterfront. “We happen to be two countries, but the Windsor and Michigan economies, our automotive economy, agriculture economy, etc., they are one industry, and we’ve built them together over the last 100 years,” Baruah said. His comments come amid an ongoing trade dispute between Canada and the United States that has seen tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and retaliatory measures from the Canadian government. Baruah said the current situation is unsustainable. “We’ll eventually go back to normalcy; how long that is going to take, I’m not quite sure. Our members are anxious for the most part to get this resolved,” he said. He said tariffs and trade uncertainty remain a major concern for the chamber’s members. “By and large, companies are seeing a tremendous increase in costs because of our interdependence. That creates issues in terms of being able to hire more employees, maintain profit margins and invest in new products,” Baruah said. He added the Windsor-Detroit region remains highly integrated economically, particularly in the automotive sector, and said the cross-border economy was built intentionally over decades. The Detroit Regional Chamber represents about 3,000 member businesses.
