Mayor Ken Sim will name members of a task force next Monday whose mandate will be to “position Vancouver as the most competitive city in North America to start, grow and scale a business.”
The mayor’s office provided an emailed statement to BIV Thursday that said Vancouver is not immune to decisions made by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We’re closely monitoring the impact of the U.S. administration’s latest tariff announcements and the uncertainty they’re creating for Canadian businesses and workers,” said the statement, adding such decisions can have “real consequences on jobs, investment and economic confidence here at home.”
In February, Vancouver council was unanimous in directing city staff to explore a series of measures to help business owners fight back against an expected economic blow coming from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
The motion also called for the creation of a mayor’s task force on “economic competitiveness” dedicated to making Vancouver the top destination for businesses in North America.
At the time, the mayor’s office said the task force will lead policies and initiatives to drive economic growth, setting “an aspirational goal of three per cent annual GDP growth in alignment with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s 3% Challenge to strengthen the city’s economic future.”
Sim called the special meeting in February out of concerns he’s heard from the business community about the negative effect that unilateral 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports could have on the local economy.
'Team Canada approach'
On Wednesday, Trump announced a 10 per cent baseline tariff on imports from most countries and higher duties on dozens of nations he said run trade surpluses with the U.S.
The White House said Canada and Mexico remain under previous economy-wide duties the president has linked to the flow of fentanyl across the borders and are not subject to Trump's latest tariffs.
In early March, Trump imposed — and then partially paused — 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 per cent levy on energy and potash.
The City of Vancouver’s communications department said in an email Thursday that staff continue to review a range of measures that the city could potentially consider in response to tariffs and supply-chain disruptions.
That includes possible permit fee reductions and updates to the city’s business licensing regime.
“In support of the ‘Team Canada’ approach, the city is actively collaborating with other government partners and the business community in considering any direct response to trade measures,” the city said. “Staff will report back on their review at an upcoming council meeting.
'Not like the pandemic'
City manager Paul Mochrie told BIV Thursday that the ongoing announcements made by the Trump administration has created uncertainty for local businesses, which makes it difficult to understand the full magnitude of impacts to the economy.
“One of the challenges is just the extent to which it's changing day by day,” said Mochrie, noting city staff are in close touch with the provincial government to get their assessment on the impacts for the B.C. economy.
Mochrie said Vancouver as a municipality is less exposed than Abbotsford, for example, where there are many export-oriented businesses. But again, he said, the situation is so dynamic, it's very difficult to determine immediate or long-term impacts.
“This is not like the pandemic necessarily, where we just need to manage through a period of time, and we know at some point things will return to the way they were before,” he said.
“At this stage, obviously there's no indication of if or when that will ever happen. So we're staying away from kind of short-term, reactionary type decisions, because we just don't know that those will make any difference.”
With files from Canadian Press
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