City staff looking for alternatives to American products as U.S. tariffs threat looms: Gillingham

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It’s too soon to predict how job losses or price hikes could play out in Winnipeg if American tariff threats become a reality but the city is working to soften the potential hit, Mayor Scott Gillingham says.

Staff are seeking out alternatives to U.S. products the city buys as a potential cross-border trade war looms, the mayor said.

“We’re trying to protect the taxpayers of Winnipeg,” Gillingham told the Free Press Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada starting Feb. 4 before deciding to pause the changes for 30 days.

Gillingham said the city needs to proactively address that financial risk.

“Establishing a new supply chain may not be easily done. It may take weeks or months to identify and secure a new supply,” he said.

The mayor said the city is also considering whether it should allow U.S. companies to bid on its contracts in the future.

“That’s certainly something that we’re exploring. We want to be in lockstep with the provincial and federal governments on procurement guidelines,” he said.

Earlier this month, Premier Wab Kinew said he had asked his cabinet colleagues to prevent American companies from bidding on government projects, though he postponed the change after Trump’s tariff pause.

Gillingham said tariffs could affect prices for basic and heavy-duty vehicles, as well as software. City staff will also monitor whether U.S. companies operating in Winnipeg remain in place and/or put any expansion plans on hold.

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“It’s too soon to know where there may be job losses, but the sectors that will be affected by a trade war are advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agriculture…. It’s a very, very integrated supply chain to make agricultural machinery, buses, things of that nature,” he said.

Gillingham made the comments while in Phoenix to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which will delve into the trade issue.

“There needs to be a shared level of understanding about how the disruption to the integrated supply chain can affect jobs and paycheques in our cities,” he said. “This message about the potential damaging impact on our cities needs to get, ultimately, to federal politicians, certainly in the U.S.… to get them to reverse course and end any trade war.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.