By REBECCA LOTT
Special to the VOICE
U.S. aluminum and steel tariffs are already affecting businesses in the Niagara Region. Dean Allison, Member of Parliament for Niagara West, along with Hon. Rob Nicholson, Member of Parliament for Niagara Falls, hosted several round-tables with Niagara-area businesses at the end of July and beginning of August to discuss the U.S. tariffs’ impact on local jobs and business operations.
This was in response to the U.S. imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, which led to further countermeasures from the Canadian government. Discussions in the round-tables focused on how Canada can best respond to these new U.S. measures.
Allison has been meeting with businesses all over Canada, including some 30 stakeholders in the Niagara region. He says these local businesses have not yet received any of the promised $2 billion in support, and these tariffs are having a huge impact, to the point that workers are starting to be laid off.
“Businesses are not getting relief since these were imposed July 1st,” he said in a phone interview from Sydney, N.S. “Businesses cannot sustain these types of payments. This is not something sustainable. If there’s not a deal reached, jobs will be lost.”
Allison insists businesses who deal with aluminum and steel need to get some relief from the government fast.
“They need a deal,” he said. “They have to get back to the table. Canada has to get back to the table with the U.S. There has got to be something we can do.”
While Allison says it’s too early to name businesses who are feeling the punch, he says the first step is talking about and acknowledging the problem.
“We need to highlight this. We need to encourage the government to be responsive to the needs of small businesses because they are the ones who hire the people in our communities.”
