Latest news with #CharlaRobinson
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Thunder Bay chamber, NOMA 'condemn' U.S. decision to increase softwood lumber duties
U.S. Department of Commerce announced increase in duties last week Two northwestern Ontario organizations are calling on the federal and provincial governments to prioritize finding a solution to the softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the United States. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on Friday it was increasing anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber to 20.56 per cent. In a media release this week, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce and Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) said they condemn the decision. "This is certainly significantly concerning, because it is such a massive increase," said Charla Robinson, chamber president. "It's more than 2½ times the duties that were being paid previously. "That's a huge added cost for every board that goes across the border," she said. "And then there's also the potential that there could be some retroactive payments required as well." U.S. slaps 20.56% anti-dumping duties on Canadian softwood lumber In the release, NOMA and the chamber said the Canadian lumber sector has been facing "unjust and punitive duties" since the last softwood lumber agreement between the two countries expired in 2016. To date, those duties have totalled more than $10 billion, which has affected investment and innovation in the sector, the release says. "Forestry is the economic lifeblood of communities across northwestern Ontario," Rick Dumas, president of NOMA, said in a statement. "This unjustified and protectionist action will have a direct and harmful impact on workers, families, Indigenous communities, and local economies throughout our region." The chamber and NOMA are calling on the provincial and federal governments to: Make the softwood lumber dispute an urgent national priority and engage with U.S. officials for a fair and timely resolution. Accelerate legal challenges under CUSMA/NAFTA and the WTO to overturn these punitive duties. Work in close partnership with forest-sector stakeholders to develop mitigation measures and economic supports that protect communities from further harm. Robinson said there has been some "encouraging messaging" from Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford on the matter. "This is something that is part of the ongoing negotiations with the U.S.," she said. "Just a couple of weeks ago, Prime Minister Carney specifically identified softwood lumber as a priority for the Government of Canada, so that's encouraging, and we do know that the legal challenges are underway to try to overturn this. "But we just want to make sure that we continue to keep the message loud and clear that this is hurting our forest sector, and the communities that are so dependent on the sector. And we want to make sure that all governments know that we need them to keep the pressure on to get this solved." Duties hurt American, Canadian workers: province In a statement last week, provincial representatives also called on the U.S. to lift the duties. Friday's "decision by the U.S. Department of Commerce to increase duties on softwood lumber will hurt American and Canadian workers, families and communities alike," Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP and Associate Minister of Forestry and Forest Products Kevin Holland, Minister of Natural Resources Mike Harris, and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli said in the joint statement. "These duties disrupt industries, drive up costs and put our shared competitiveness at risk," the statement reads. "Ontario and the U.S. trade together and build together. The U.S. market needs Canadian lumber and our softwood lumber producers are proud to bring high-quality, sustainably harvested construction materials to market, building communities and driving economic growth on both sides of the border. "Continued duties on Canadian softwood lumber exports are an unjust burden which limit productivity, raise construction costs and make homes less affordable for American families. We remain firm in our position that these duties should be lifted entirely, for the benefit of workers and families on both sides of the border."
CBC
06-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
New fund supports smaller Thunder Bay businesses during US-Canada trade war
Social Sharing The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce and Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) are teaming up to support small-and medium-sized businesses as they navigate the Canada-United States trade war. The two organizations launched the Small Business Tariff Response Fund on Monday. The fund will provide 15 eligible businesses with $7,500 in funding, for projects that have a minimum cost of $10,000. Applications will be accepted until May 30. "Tell us the story about how this is going to impact your business," chamber President Charla Robinson said. "What is the breadth of the impact, how are you going to transition it, and what kind of resources are you needing, so that we can evaluate who needs the money the most." "It is a very limited amount of funding, but we feel that the 15 projects should be sufficient to address the need in the market." Robinson said the fund is open to businesses with 50 or fewer employees. "We know that both the federal and provincial governments are still working on some bigger programs," she said. "But we didn't want to wait too long." "We want to make sure that businesses know that there's something that is much more quick and responsive to their needs, so that they're not left holding the bag, so to speak," Robinson said. "So that's why we wanted to roll this out as quickly as we can." Jamie Taylor, CEO of the CEDC, said it's hard to predict the impact of the trade war and tariffs, because things are changing so quickly. "We've heard from several small businesses through our entrepreneur centres specifically about how it's affecting them," she said, adding that with the pandemic, there's been a lot of turmoil for smaller businesses in recent years.
CBC
05-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
US tariffs 'discouraging': Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president
The president of Thunder Bay's chamber of commerce says she's happy to see Canada and its provinces pushing back against United States tariffs. The country imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian, and Mexican, goods on Tuesday. Canada retaliated with tariffs, and other measures, of its own. "Canada and the provinces have been pushing very hard to try to find a solution and that would work for the US administration," said Charla Robinson, president of the city's chamber. "Unfortunately, it seems that all that effort hasn't really resulted in what we were hoping for." "That is discouraging, but pleased to see the strength of both the prime minister and the premiers coming out and continuing to stand together, and saying, 'OK, this is where we're at. We're going to push back and we're going to do what we need to do to protect Canadians and the Canadian economy from this unjustified trade war.'" Canada's retaliatory measures include a 25 per cent tariff of its own on U.S. imports. Ontario Premier Doug Ford also announced the LCBO would pull all American products from its shelves. The move took the LCBO website offline on Tuesday, with a message reading "service unavailable." "Our site is temporarily unavailable while we remove U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. Our in-store customer service remains unaffected. Thank you for your patience and understanding." Ford also announced that Ontario will rip-up its deal with Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet provider, and American companies will be barred from provincial procurement contracts. Robinson said the United States doesn't understand how connected the two countries are. "This is all the doing of the US government," she said. "They have made this choice to attack their friend and neighbour." "They clearly don't quite understand just how integrated we are, and that it will be felt on the U.S. side as well as on the Canadian side," Robinson said. "This isn't just going to punish Canadians, this is going to punish Americans and they're going to feel it hard." "The president needs to understand that." United States President Donald Trump had initially planned to impose the tariffs about a month ago. However, he delayed the move at the last minute. Robinson said the month-long delay was beneficial to Canadian business. "The extra time definitely, from what I'm hearing, has allowed businesses to get a better understanding of potential impacts, potential opportunities to address those impacts," she said. "It's also allowed Canadian and local companies to take a look at their product lines to see where are the things that they're importing from the U.S. potentially going to be impacted, and what might they be able to do to find different suppliers that are not from the U.S." Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Halikas said he's concerned about the impact the trade war could have on the town, which is located along the Minnesota border. "There's a great deal of uncertainty, in fact, over what the tariffs are really are going to do," he said. "But one thing we know for sure, we get a lot of fruits and vegetables from the Americans, and so the cost of food is going to go up." "And like everywhere else, I think, in the province of Ontario, we suffer from homelessness. We have people here who are down on their luck, and any kind of increase in the cost of food and the necessities of life are going to harm people." Fort Frances agricultural and forestry businesses will also be hit, Halikas said, as they send exports across the border. And then there's the impact on tourism, Halikas said. "We're a gateway to northwestern Ontario," he said. "Around Fort Frances we have a lot of beautiful pristine lakes and forests, so we are a tourist destination." "We're worried that our tourism is going to take an impact," Halikas said. "Our tourist camps are going to be more expensive to operate, so they're going to have to put their prices up and we don't know what effect that will have on our American friends coming up."
