City of Calgary prepares for possibility of tariff impacts on operations

Despite an announced 30-day intermission connected tariffs imposed by the United States, the City of Calgary is exploring imaginable impacts the levies and retaliatory measures could person connected operations.

According to metropolis administration, impacts related to terms fluctuations, changes to merchandise availability and imaginable proviso concatenation delays are each anticipated if tariffs are imposed adjacent month.

“We stay resilient and are prepared to code challenges that whitethorn originate from U.S. tariffs and immoderate reciprocal tariffs that Canada whitethorn implement,” the metropolis said successful a connection to Global News. “We volition proceed to widen projections arsenic much accusation becomes available.”

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who is travelling to Ottawa connected Wednesday to conscionable with Canada’s large metropolis mayors connected tariffs, told reporters Tuesday that the City of Calgary isn’t insulated to the tariff threats.

“It is imaginable that immoderate of the chemicals we usage to dainty the h2o is supplied to america from the U.S.,” Gondek said. “There is an exhaustive database of things our medication is looking astatine truthful we tin recognize the afloat implications.”

According to the Calgary Construction Association (CCA), determining circumstantial impacts is challenging owed to the integration of proviso chains connected some sides of the border.

“It is truthful intensely integrated that it’s really precise hard to place specifics due to the fact that they’re buried successful the mode we’ve operated for truthful long,” CCA president Bill Black told Global News. “For instance, aluminum leaves Canada, goes into the U.S., is processed into products specified arsenic glazing mullions and profiles and is past shipped backmost into Canada.”

David Cooper, main astatine Leading Mobility, said municipalities could spot impacts successful purchasing specialized instrumentality similar transit buses, arsenic an example.

“There’s a highly-integrated proviso concatenation determination erstwhile you look astatine things specified arsenic hydraulic systems, oregon seats oregon technology, adjacent the framework of the vehicle,” Cooper said. “There’s a batch of backmost and distant erstwhile it comes to manufacturing vehicles, but it truly depends connected wherever you are connected wide procurement.”

The City of Calgary said has proactively taken measures to hole for imaginable tariffs, but did not remark connected what those actions are.

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There are respective ongoing projects wrong the metropolis that are astatine assorted stages of procurement, including the Event Centre and Green Line LRT.

Although Black said helium doesn’t expect impacts connected the Scotia Place task with shovels already successful the ground, helium noted determination is inactive clip to hole if tariffs are yet imposed.

“We person time, we person 30 days hold now, these projects are successful planning,” Black said. “We person recommended that owners should exclude tariffs erstwhile they’re submitting pricing. The world is manufacture volition not instrumentality the tariff risk.”

Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong said the metropolis needs to trust connected “good procurement management” to guarantee costs connected metropolis projects and services stay wrong budget.

Wong said metropolis medication is moving with stakeholders astir however the metropolis procures materials, and the outgo implications of tariffs.

“From a procurement perspective, possibly we could look astatine procurement crossed Canada alternatively than going stateside,” Wong said.

The City of Calgary said it remains committed to “securing the champion worth for nationalist funds,” but it remains unclear if the anticipated impacts volition beryllium felt if a solution is recovered implicit the adjacent 30 days.