Vancouver buys into Team Canada, to ‘Buy Canadian’

As the nation and provinces unite to combat U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs against Canadian goods, the City of Vancouver is set to join Team Canada and “Buy Canadian.”

In a motion that went to council on Tuesday, Coun. Pete Fry urged Vancouver to support the united approach and “align local, provincial, and national priorities as necessary to counter foreign policies to harm the Canadian economy or sovereignty.”

Unanimously approved after a slight amendment by Mayor Ken Sim, the motion means staff will initiate an “urgent” review of capital projects, suppliers, procurement, and trade agreement exposure, and report back with “immediate and long-term strategies supporting the Team Canada approach.”

It has also directed “the City’s Business and Economy Office to immediately begin work with local business and community economic development organizations (including but not limited to the BIA Partnership, LOCO BC, GVBOT, CFIB, Destination Vancouver) to explore opportunities to initiate and promote a new targeted Buy Local / Buy Canadian campaign in response to tariffs.”

Fry’s motion, seconded by Coun. Rebecca Bligh, comes after Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum products entering the U.S.

Experts have suggested that Trump’s tariff measures could cost the Canadian economy $275 billion by 2030, with hundreds of thousands of job losses in B.C. alone.

Trump has also declared his intent to see Canada become the United States’ 51st state.

Speaking to 1130 NewsRadio after the vote, Fry explained that at its core, the motion is directing staff to “be responsive to these imminent threats.”

Fry shared that part of the “‘Buy Local’ initiative would mean setting up a working group with BIA partnership, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, the Canadian Federation of Independent Small Businesses … and local small business serving organizations to see what we can do to support a ‘Buy Local’ initiative,” he said.

“From a city perspective, it also looks at how we improve some of our processes and regulatory frameworks that could allow businesses to adapt more nimbly to the changing dynamics, as President Trump’s win may or may not lead to tariffs and other kinds of trade hardships for us.”

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With files from Raynaldo Suarez.