Belleville and Quinte West, ON | February 14, 2025 — Tariffs are the most urgent threat facing Canadian and American businesses today. Modelling from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab suggests that these tariffs would come at a huge economic cost, reducing real annual income by $1,900 CAD per Canadian and $1,300 USD per American.
To empower the Canadian and American businesses and stakeholders who are working hard to grow our best-in-class trade relationship, the Business Data Lab launched its Canada-U.S. Trade Tracker. The interactive and customizable online tool highlights the deep and vital economic interconnections at the state, province, territory and now 41 Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) level.
“This is complicated and fluid situation and the ultimate impact for Canada’s local economies from these tariffs is highly uncertain,” states Suzanne Andrews, CEO at the Quinte West Chamber of Commerce. “To see the Belleville Quinte West CMA listed as the 11th most vulnerable community across Canada to the impact of these tariffs is surprising to many. Locally we have 114 exporters with over 80% of their products going to the U.S. This $1,743.6 million ($1.7 billion) of goods accounts for over 27% of our local GDP or $14,294 per capita. The economic damage done to our community from the tariffs depends heavily on how long these tariffs are in place, or threatened.”
“The regional impact at 27% is significant but grows to nearly 50% GDP for the City of Belleville. While we continue to see investments in new businesses and expansion for existing plants, tariffs are a real area for concern,” adds Jill Raycroft, CEO for the Belleville Chamber of Commerce.
“Tariffs are a lose-lose. They would raise business costs, reduce North America’s international competitiveness, and ultimately increase consumer prices at a time when Canadians and Americans are both struggling with significant affordability challenges,” says Stephen Tapp, Chief Economist at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Canada is the largest export market for 34 states, reaching all the south way to Mississippi and Florida with each province and territory having its own special trade relationship with many American states.
New Brunswick, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia are home to the twenty CMAs most at risk from tariffs due to their economic reliance on U.S. exports and dependence on the U.S. as a key export market.
