Mayor Olivia Chow has brought…

February 27, 2025 Canuck

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow assembled a team of business and labour leaders from a variety of sectors Thursday to discuss how the city can respond to heavy tariffs the U.S. has threatened to impose next week.

Officially named the “mayor’s economic action team,” the 13-member group met at city hall to come up with a municipal plan to support Toronto’s economy through what Chow called “unjustified, senseless” tariffs.

“We will discuss how the city can best support Toronto workers and businesses to meet the challenge of the moment,” Chow said.

In a post on social media Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he will follow through on his plan to implement a 25 per cent tariff on most Canadian goods as of March 4, after pausing his threat for nearly a month.

WATCH | Trump says tariffs will be slapped on most Canadian goods March 4:

Canadian officials at White House as Trump confirms tariffs going ahead

7 hours ago

4:54

Ministers and Canada’s fentanyl czar are in Washington, D.C., to highlight their country’s efforts to secure the border and stop drug smuggling. Their efforts come as U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed he will levy a 25 per cent tariff on Canada on March 4 until the flow of fentanyl ‘stops, or is seriously limited.

Chow did not provide details on the city’s plan to respond, but said it had prepared a rough draft and would be taking feedback from team members on how potential tariffs might impact different industries locally. The plan will be presented at a later date, she said, but in the meantime, she encouraged Torontonians to shop local and buy Canadian.

“Today we are united as Torontonians,” Chow said.

“We have the biggest city in the country. We are the economic engine,” she said. “We are the global beacon of hope and we have Torontonians that want to fight this.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is surrounded by people in suits at a board room table in city hall. She is leading the discussion — Mayor Olivia Chow said her tariff response team is made up of business and labour leaders from a variety of industries. Among other things, she says they will discuss potential impacts tariffs may have on different sectors. (CBC)

Coun. Shelley Carroll, the city’s budget chief and vice-chair of the newly created team, said the city will relay what it’s hearing from local industries to keep Ottawa informed.

“Gathering these people together today is about us being able to articulate to the federal government, to the provincial government, on behalf of all these folks,” she said. “The more we know, the better we can articulate the impacts.”

Trump renews threat, Trudeau says Canada will respond

Trump said Thursday he has to take tariff action because “drugs are still pouring into our country,” despite evidence to the contrary. That’s a change from Monday, when he told reporters the planned tariff is the result of the U.S. being ripped off in its trade relationship with Canada.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 97 per cent drop in fentanyl seizures coming from Canada between December and January. Before Canada launched a $1.3-billion border security package in response to Trump’s tariff threats, Canada represented less than one per cent of all seized fentanyl imports into the U.S., according to federal data.

Trump had previously threatened to impose a tariff as soon as he took office last month. Trump later paused his tariff threat for 30 days.

Chow’s office began preparing to respond to the tariff threat earlier this month, saying the city would review its procurement policies and contracts as part of a push to keep municipal dollars in the country.

Thursday’s meeting followed the City of Brampton’s creation of a task force this week to help local businesses identify new global and interprovincial markets in response to the tariff threat.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that the federal government is continuing negotiations to avoid tariffs.

“But if, on Tuesday, there are unjustified tariffs brought in on Canada, we will have an immediate and extremely strong response,” Trudeau told reporters.

WATCH | Trudeau says Canada will have immediate response to Trump’s promised tariffs:

Canada will have ‘immediate’ response if Trump tariffs come on March 4, PM says

5 hours ago

Duration 1:51

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking in Montreal on Thursday, says Canada will have an ‘immediate and very strong response’ if U.S. President Donald Trump places tariffs on Canadian goods on March 4.

Toronto’s tariff team will be chaired by Chow, vice-chaired by Carroll and includes these 12 other members:

Vice-chair Shelley Carroll, Councillor and city budget chief.
Andria Babbington, president of Toronto and York Region Labour Council.
Brad Carr, CEO of Mattamy Homes.
Zabeen Hirji, executive advisor at Deloitte.
Blake Hutcheson, CEO of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
John Kiru, executive director of Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas.
Rod Phillips, chair of Toronto Global.
Luke Robertson, vice-president of Cadillac Fairview.
Dave Samuel, partner at Birch Hill Equity Partners.
Brian Topp, chair of Toronto Hydro.
Flavio Volpe, president of Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.
Yung Wu, chair of NFQ Ventures and chair of Toronto Region Board of Trade.

They were joined at Thursday’s meeting by Pat Tobin, general manager of the city’s economic development and culture division, and city manager Paul Johnson.

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