Chamber of Commerce Brantford-Brant hosted an event called, “Canada-U.S. Trade: Challenges and Opportunities During the New Presidency,” on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Held in partnership with BDO Canada, the breakfast event focused on the challenges Canadian businesses will, and have already been facing, under Donald Trump’s presidency.
BDO experts Jill Birks, International Tax Partner, Hilary Coates, Director of Transfer Pricing, and George Tadross, Senior Manager of Indirect Tax Services, participated in an hour long panel discussion on the impact of U.S. policies including tariffs, supply chain shifts and strategic measures to mitigate risk and adapt to the evolving trade landscapes.
“This was really an opportunity for attendees to hear from BDO experts in trade, tariffs and taxes, on what the potential impacts are of the ever changing tariff situation, as well as, what they can do as business owners to mitigate the impacts of the tariffs,” said David Prang, the Chamber’s CEO and Secretary to the Board.
With Trump’s ongoing tariff threats, and a plan to escalate the trade war with reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, April 2 (what he calls “Liberation Day’), Prang said it’s important for the Chamber to continue offering local businesses access to as many resources as possible.
“Based on a Canadian Chamber of Commerce analysis, Branford-Brant is the fifth most likely to be impacted by tariffs due to our exposure in auto parts manufacturing and agri-food and business,” said Prang. “So the whole idea with this event was that, with the environment changing so quickly, even with things set to happen just this week, it was an opportunity for business owners and interested people, to take a look at what was happening and ask those pertinent questions related to their business or to the economy, and how to address those impacts.”
He said that while there were many interesting topics that came up throughout the event, there were several key takeaways that stood out to him.
“Some of the important messages that came out of this were that, even if the U.S. imposes all these tariffs, at the moment, they have two job postings for every one person that’s unemployed. So even if the U.S. is attempting to move its manufacturing capacity back on-site, they don’t have the human resources to be able to do that,” said Prang. “Another conclusion that came up was that the U.S. is not going to change as Canada’s largest trading partner; it’s too economically viable for them as a country and a nation. Certainly the Chamber, as a business organization, knows that if the business community is thriving, so does the rest of the world and the rest of the economy.”
He emphasized that, while Canada and the local community are honed in on the impacts of U.S. policies, it’s important to remember that there are many businesses in the U.S. that are also concerned about their neighbours to the north, and how it will impact both parties.
“One of the missing conversations in Canada is, we’re rightfully so focused on how this is impacting Canada and how it could impact Canadian businesses, but at the same time, we also need to appreciate that the U.S. business community is impacted as well,” said Prang. “This is also messing with their economy, their business and their supply chain, and so it’ll be important for the U.S. economy and its business community to respond in turn and put pressure on their representatives to address the matter.”
“I think that’s the message that has to come from the business community in Canada to our partners in the U.S. through their governments and through their Chamber allies,” he continued. “It’s up to them to say ‘hey, the business community is here, and they don’t agree with what’s happening,’ and leverage that by putting pressure on those that can make a change at the government level in Washington.”
Despite the various concerns, Prang remains confident in the resilience of the local community.
“As the Chamber has said on more than one occasion, the Brantford-Brant economy is resilient,” said Prang. “We may not have gotten a chance to catch our breath coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we’re now in a space where there’s only so much we can control, and what we can control is our response. So let’s start getting creative and getting imaginative in creating some opportunities.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
