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February 13, 2025 - 6:00 AM
As Canadians brace for potential economic turmoil from American tariffs, cities like Kelowna and Kamloops are in a better position to weather the storm than most other Canadian cities.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce put out a “tariff exposure index” showing how the economies in 41 cities will be impacted by American tariffs. The good news for Kelowna and Kamloops is the fact that the local economies are not heavily reliant on exports to the U.S.
The chamber ranked 41 cities by the amount of their economy that is dependent on exports to the U.S. and Kelowna ranked 28 and Kamloops ranked 40.
“The news from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is positive that the short term impact wouldn't be devastating, at least not in the short term for our region. And that's something that we probably celebrate, we should celebrate as a community as we prepare for what could potentially happen,” Kelowna Chamber of Commerce president Maryse Harvey told iNFOnews.ca.
Cities like Saint John and Calgary were at the top of the list because of their reliance on oil exports to the States.
Kamloops' exports to the U.S. make up 2.3 per cent of its gross domestic product, with roughly $278 million in exported goods each year. Kelowna’s U.S. exports make up 3.8 per cent of its GDP with around $385 million in goods each year.
Saint John exports roughly $10.8 billion a year, or 130 per cent of its GDP, to the U.S. and 80 per cent of Calgary’s GDP is in U.S. exports adding up to $119 billion in goods.
Although Kelowna and Kamloops won’t be hit as directly by the tariffs, Harvey said when the economy takes a turn for the worse everybody gets caught in the crossfire.
“I don't think that anybody should panic, but I think that people should continue to look elsewhere because obviously the U.S. is no longer the trading partner that we thought they were,” Harvey said.
President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Candace Laing said the delay in the application of the tariffs has created an opportunity.
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"A 30-day delay means more time for Canadian businesses and governments to drive home the point that tariffs make no sense between the two closest allies the world has ever known. The Canadian Chamber, our network and businesses across the country will spend every day of it fighting hard to secure this historic, robust trading relationship,” she said in a statement.
The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is having a forum to discuss the impact of tariffs at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March 5.
Harvey said this potential crisis is going to bring the local business community together.
“Having people get together and discuss what they're going through could actually trigger really good ideas and exchange of very relevant information that we hope it’s going to help them decide how they might tackle the challenges ahead,” she said.
Tariff’s aren’t a brand new problem and some of Kelowna’s local businesses have experience dealing with them.
“Hearing best practices, hearing the experiences that others may have had in perhaps similar situations, like a need to diversify because some of the folks who are going to be present there have had to deal with tariffs in the past,” she said.
Harvey emphasized the importance of looking to new markets abroad like across the Pacific and in Europe, but also making it easier to trade within Canada.
“If you panic it doesn't really help much in situations like this,” she said. “But I wouldn't take the foot off the gas... new businesses are coming to establish here. We also want them to see that there's opportunities for growth in this region through export and otherwise, nationally or internationally.”
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