North Bay City Council has passed a motion in support of the Association of Municipalities who are lobbying the provincial and federal governments for a strong North American Free Trade agreement.

Councillor Mac Bain who wrote the motion says it’s important that senior levels of government understand the impact of the uncertainty some local businesses are facing with the current situation with tariffs on both sides of the border.

“When they are sitting down working on their budgets for next year they can’t determine what they’re budgets are going to look like because they don’t know the cost of the steel they purchase is going to be,” Bain says.

Bain says the city is being impacted too with the tariff on Canadian steel.

“We buy 95 % of our metal municipal signs from the United States so there will be an impact to our bottom line,” he says.

Bain says businesses are buying extra product now because they’re concerned some of the products they purchase will be more expensive due to the tariff situation.

Filed under: City Council, Mac Bain, NAFTA