The ongoing trade war is starting to have impacts on communities across Canada, including here in New Brunswick.
One of the province’s growth agencies said that uncertainty surrounding tariffs is already beginning to stifle investment.
Last year, Envision Saint John had 22 companies looking to potentially invest in the region, according to the agency’s CEO.
“That’s almost non-existent at this point in time. A lot of those companies have indicated that they’re putting their decisions on hold until they get more certainty in terms of where things are heading longer term,” Andrew Beckett told members of the city’s growth committee this week.
A recent report from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce found that Saint John would be the most vulnerable city if the U.S. implements across-the-board tariffs.
Much of that is because the city is home to the Irving Oil refinery, the largest oil refinery in Canada.
“We could spend a lot of time questioning some of the calculations, but at the end of the day, we are a small city with Canada’s largest oil refinery that exports about 80 per cent of its product to the U.S. Tariffs are going to have a big impact on this city,” said Beckett.
Premier Susan Holt said earlier this week that the U.S. tariffs and ongoing trade war could impact as many as 11,000 jobs in the province.
Beckett said it is important that New Brunswick companies look at ways to broaden their export markets beyond the United States.
