Rural leaders worried about tariff impact

Cathy Dobson/The Independent

Uncertainty and worry over American tariff threats dominated discussions Thursday at a breakfast meeting with municipal leaders from across Lambton County.

“There’s just so much we don’t know yet,” said Lambton Warden and Enniskillen Township Mayor Kevin Marriott. 

Farming is the second largest industry in Lambton County and the number one industry in Enniskillen. Winter wheat is the township’s biggest agricultural export to the US and will be in jeopardy if President Donald Trump announces tariffs on it, said Marriott.

“If it is 25 per cent (tariff), it will pretty much close the door on wheat exports,” he said.

Finding new markets for crops that are generally sold to Americans isn’t something that can happen quickly.

Like the auto industry, it’s difficult to quickly pivot, he said.  “It’s something that would have had to be started years ago.”

On the brighter side, soybeans – Lambton’s biggest crop – are primarily sold to Japanese markets and won’t be impacted by American tariffs, Marriott noted.

He said Lambton beef and pork producers have the potential to be the hardest hit by tariffs.  Marriott described one Enniskillen beef farmer who shipped two loads of cattle to the US hours before tariffs took effect 10 days ago.

That farmer barely missed a total of $80,000 in tariffs being imposed on those two loads, Marriott said.  “That’s just not sustainable.”

He also mentioned farm machinery companies, including one in Enniskillen, where sales have been “so slow for the last two months, there’s just so much uncertainty.”

Brooke-Alvinston Mayor David Ferguson said he has talked to tractor dealerships in his municipality and they are unclear how tariffs could affect them.  Farming equipment built in Europe is often shipped through the US, Ferguson said. “So how to source it will be a bigger problem if things keep going the way they are.”

The Wanstead Farmers Co-op already purchased spring supplies so is protected from tariffs at the moment, he added.

Relentless threats of tariffs have Point Edward leaders concerned as well, said Mayor Bev Hand.

“Everyone has challenges but this year all municipalities are concerned about the impacts of the US tariff situation,” she said.

She used a new fire truck for her village as an example.  It was ordered two years ago from a Florida supplier and won’t be delivered for another two years.  “And we have no idea if there will be tariff impacts,” Hand said.

Warwick Mayor Todd Case said setting municipal budgets is one of the township’s biggest challenges in the current climate.

He called Trump a man whose daily routine is to produce “a reality TV program from the Oval Office” that targets Canadians.

Warwick’s 2025 budget boosted its money in reserves to create a safety net should tariffs have an impact, said Case.

“To be completely ready for it is impossible because none of us know from day-to-day, minute-to-minute, second-to-second what this gentleman (Trump) is going to do,” he said.

This is the third year that the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce has hosted a State of Lambton Business Breakfast. Nearly every municipality and two of three local First Nations were represented on the panel this year. The sold-out event attracted 120 people to the Brigden Fair Grounds, said Chamber CEO Carrie McEachran.

“I’m really proud to live in a community where…everyone has come together in these challenging times,” she said.