Council approves of changes to city procurement policy in response to U.S.-Canada tariff disputes

By Christena Lawrie, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist and Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

At their March 18th meeting, Council approved amendments to the city’s procurement policy in response to the ongoing U.S.-Canada tariff war. 

The amended policy will exclude companies from “offending jurisdictions”, referring to countries that are not in compliance with trade treaties or whose actions are resulting in cost uncertainty. 

Currently, only 210 of the city’s 8,000 suppliers are American, representing $1.7 million, or 0.35% of total vendor payments. 

A staff working group has also been formed to monitor the situation, as uncertainties remain regarding the full impact of the tariffs. 

City Treasurer Desiree Kennedy emphasized the need for deeper analysis, stating, “I think there’s more to come, I think as this continues, we’ll have to start drilling down farther to see and I expect there could potentially be a larger impact. But what that is, we just at this point have no idea.”

Listen to the full story here.