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Photo Courtesy EGP Staff
By Tanner Smith
"Just speculation"

Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce not yet worrying about potential U.S. tariffs

Jan 23, 2025 | 1:14 PM

The Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce is using this looming 25 per cent U.S. tariff threat, as a chance to learn and conduct better business.

The Chamber’s board chair, Jon Anderson, says the Chamber hopes for a resolution, but it is “a really complex issue” and “it’s in both countries’ best interest to negotiate a sustainable agreement.”

However, he says Canadian businesses should view this as an opportunity to improve trade inside our own borders; “If you were reliant on a single trading partner that may not be the best long-term strategy, so diversifying your client pool is the smart thing to do.”

“One of the big threads of thought that’s coming out of this conversation is the opportunities we have within Canada.”

Although the Chamber is using this opportunity to improve trade inside of Canada, they are still conducting business as usual, as everything right now “is just speculation.”

“Alberta and the Peace region have been working very hard at establishing a reputation both internationally and within Canada as being an attractive place for business, and a place to go to.”

“That mission hasn’t changed, great work has been done to attract projects like Wonderland and it’s the right thing to keep doing.”

As part of this ongoing tariff issue, it was announced that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wouldn’t sign a statement supporting Canada’s approach to the tariff threat, due to energy concerns.

This could lead to some issues for local businesses as Grande Prairie has a unique geological placement, serving as a hub city for the BC-Peace, Northwest Territories and northwest Alberta.

Anderson says if any provincial trade barriers do come out of this, “they may be annoying” but people in this area understand how important these relations are.

“Our geographical region including northeastern BC and even north (of Alberta, such as N.W.T) are used to working together, we understand inter-dependencies, the voice of the people in the region are going to be united.”

He summarized his thoughts by saying; “We’re not thinking about political borders.”

Even though the Chamber believes a resolution will be found and doesn’t want to speculate on things that may not happen; They want residents to be aware that the oil and gas sector may be hit the hardest.

They also want residents and business owners to be aware of their responsibilities if this tariff threat is acted on, which includes leveraging provincial and federal policymakers, to create inter-provincial trade that benefits Canadian businesses.

At this time a survey regarding these tariffs and their effects on local businesses is being conducted by the Chamber, which can be accessed by clicking here.

by Tanner Smith