Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the US tariff situation is incredibly serious, and plans are in place for an ongoing tariff tracker for the city.

The mayor spoke to the media Tuesday outside council chambers on the heels of US President Donald Trump imposing a 25 per cent tariff on any goods from Canada and Mexico entering the United States.

The tariffs have been on-again-off-again over the past month, and though Canada and Mexico both took steps to increase border security, President Trump has unilaterally decided to follow through with the tariffs. 

Mayor Gondek said this will have a massive impact in Calgary and across Canada.

“I’m happy to see that Canadians are standing up and saying that these tariffs are detrimental to everyone, and we cannot be bullied in this manner by the US,” she said.  

“We have to look out for ourselves.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada will hit back hard with its own tariff package, and premiers across the country are looking at ways they can make things more difficult for Canada’s closest ally.

Here in Calgary, Mayor Gondek said that they will be working on a City of Calgary webpage that will help businesses learn how they can source things differently, and what steps they can take to insulate themselves from the damage of US tariffs.

“We have to figure out how we’re going to do more locally,” the mayor said.

Calgary Economic Development CEO Brad Parry, in a statement issued by CED Tuesday morning, said that now more than ever the city needs to diversify its trade and economy.

“Nobody wins in a trade war,” Parry said.

“We are about to enter a very challenging period. But I am confident we can navigate these turbulent times, build economic resilience and emerge stronger as a city.”

Direct tariff impact on the City of Calgary  

According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce business data lab, Calgary could see the second biggest economic impact due to the tariffs. Their data shows Calgary scores an 81.6 per cent tariff exposure.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce, in a statement issued Tuesday, said the tariffs will “unequivocally hurt businesses, workers and families on both sides of the border.”

“Without a doubt, today’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian goods is irresponsible, unnecessary and extremely costly for both Canadians and Americans. This will cause inflation, reduce discretionary spending by consumers and have a negative impact on the economy on both sides of the border,” said Deborah Yedlin, President & CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

“Canada and the United States have had one of the strongest and most successful trade relationships in the world and this policy decision entirely disregards and undermines that success – for no reason.

Mayor Gondek said they’ll get further updates on the tariff impact to city infrastructure projects now that the tariffs are in place. Previously, the City of Calgary had said they were making preparations in case the tariffs were imposed. The Scotia Place construction team said that they had already begun sourcing non-US products for work that’s to begin later this year.

The mayor said that it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.

“I think you’ll see more from city administration about how we are protecting ourselves and how we are going to procure things differently, how we are going to look to different nations and hopefully interprovincially, to get the types of products that we need to do business,” she said.

“I will be asking administration what sort of progress they are making on updating the public on any changes to procurement or any supply chain disruptions that they’re seeing.”

The mayor also said that Calgary Economic Development would be putting together a tariff tracker to continually gauge the impact the tariffs are having on individual business sectors.

A letter has also been sent to Premier Danielle Smith to find out what the Alberta government is going to do to safeguard the economy.

“We’ve seen the Ontario government come out loud and strong on what they’re going to be doing. I’m waiting to see what Premier is proposing here,” the mayor said.

Premier Smith is scheduled to lay out Alberta’s tariff response plans and the enhanced security on the US border in a media event on Wednesday.