Potential downsizing ‘very real’ in Mississauga, business community warns after Trump’s tariffs 

Alongside every municipality across the country, workers in Mississauga are worried about what is to come and how Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariffs will affect the city. 

Mississauga is home to thousands of businesses including more than 75 Fortune 500 companies such as DuPont, Honeywell, Gillette, Federal Express and dozens more. 

Manufacturing and transportation dominate the local economy with hundreds of small and medium-size businesses in the city that do business with the U.S. including dozens that support the automotive industry.

Gordon King, President of AIT Automotive in Mississauga, told The Pointer that as an importer that does not source from the U.S., he is not as concerned in the short term about the impacts the tariffs will have, but the future is suddenly murky for him and his staff. 

“It’s going to affect the economy and the economy affects me indirectly. We’re in the automobile business of replacement parts so if the economy goes in the tank there’s only one thing that disrupts or breaks (down) vehicles and that's miles driven. There will be less miles driven” so the replacement parts King’s company makes will be less in demand. “So there will be less money to go around…the longer it goes on, the worse it's going to be up here.”

Though he is not anticipating any immediate layoffs and is confident his staff will be protected, King fears the “trickle down effects”.

“There will be people laid off, there will be some industries that go in the tank. It’s not a pretty sight.” 

On Tuesday, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish, like mayors across the country, released a statement acknowledging how destructive Trump’s tariffs could be to the local economy. 

“We are living in an unprecedented moment,” she wrote. “Mississauga, a hub for manufacturing and trade, is not immune to these impacts, and many of our residents and businesses will be affected.” She mentioned plans to take action at the local level. 

The trade war Canada has been plunged into by the Republican President, which has been described as “reckless” and “unprovoked” by Ontario Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Daniel Tisch, will have rippling effects across sectors, with the potential to disrupt businesses, supply chains, and economic growth on both sides of the border.

Trump has claimed the issue with Canada is the flow of fentanyl across the border. The U.S. President’s serial lying has been documented by fact checkers for years (the Washington Post reported he made more than 30,000 false or misleading claims during his first term), and his allegations of fentanyl coming across from north of his border do not hold up to the data. Less than one percent of the illegal fentanyl that has entered the U.S. has come from Canada, and since late last year when Ottawa tightened measures in response to Trump’s initial tariff threats, the flow of the drug from Canada has effectively stopped, with less than half an ounce (about the size of a mini Kit Kat bar given out at Halloween) seized between December and January. Trump has failed to show an understanding that it is his government’s border controls that are responsible for the flow of illegal fentanyl into the U.S..

Canadian politicians, from Ontario Premier Doug Ford to federal foreign affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, have said Trump has no clear reason to impose the tariffs, and that his actual motivation has shifted from the need to raise revenues to fund his promised tax cuts for wealthy Americans, to a desire for manufacturing companies and factories to move operations south of the border, to Trump simply being a bully. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday warned that Trump actually wants to annex Canada and said the country will retaliate. He has already implemented tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods with a promised $125 billion more in three weeks. The Prime Minister warned earlier today that more non-tariff measures could be coming if the U.S. President does not back down. 

“Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered,” Trudeau said. “Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures. While we urge the U.S. administration to reconsider their tariffs, Canada remains firm in standing up for our economy, our jobs, our workers, and for a fair deal.

“Because of the tariffs imposed by the U.S., Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs. Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”
 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has introduced retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. in an effort to get President Donald Trump to back down.

(Syd Mills/Unsplash)

Alex Greco, senior director of manufacturing and value chains with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC), said the imposed tariffs will have “massive consequences” for the manufacturing sector — which accounts for the largest portion of Mississauga’s economy — including increased costs and impacts to investment, jobs and overall consumer confidence in the sector.

“Especially for small and medium manufacturers, they've gone through a lot over the last number of years, from a global pandemic to supply chain disruptions, labour disruptions, initial threats of tariffs, and now the actual tariffs that are being implemented. It's significant,” he told The Pointer. 

“It's a time for innovation, not just survival. And if we don't look at taking substantive steps to make our sector more innovative, competitive and prosperous, right here at home, then we are at risk of being at disadvantage for many months and years to come.”

The CCC’s Canada–U.S. trade tracker shows that last year nearly half a trillion dollars ($438 billion) in two-way goods were traded between Ontario and the U.S. Since the start of 2025 alone, more than $258 billion worth of trade has crossed the Canada–U.S. border. The CCC previously estimated the tariffs could shrink Canada’s GDP by 2.6 percent, costing Canadian households an average of $1,900 (CAD) annually. In the U.S., the organization predicts this would result in a 1.6 percent GDP drop, with families spending $1,300 (USD) more a year. 

“The reality is, if there's not an immediate end, you will see job losses. You'll see companies having to downsize, and there will have to be considerations in terms of what they do on the labor market and diversification going forward,” Greco said. “These ongoing conversations with the federal [and] provincial governments need to be smart and strategic. Unfortunately, the reality is when counter tariffs are implemented, there are unintended consequences. Whether you look at food, agriculture products, steel and aluminum, etc, there is vulnerability.”

In Mississauga specifically, Greco, recognizing the municipality has a large-scale presence in the manufacturing industry, said with the cost of production anticipated to rise, the increased prices of imported goods will be a factor. This is especially critical in Mississauga, where many manufacturers rely on materials from the U.S. and specific imports from particular states. He said the city’s manufacturers will likely need to look at diversifying their markets to avoid paying tariffs, something that will take time and risk, but that it will likely become a trend in the months ahead. 

“An average SME (small and mid-size) manufacturer that has 50 or less employees, they're going to be impacted whether it's not only increased costs, but also employment. A lot of these businesses are family owned businesses and so what we've heard from a number of manufacturers in recent weeks is that they had done a month's worth of business in one week across the Mississauga area and other areas because of what this impact would be with tariffs.”

There will also be further disruption to supply chains as a result of the latest cross-border tariff policy changes, which he anticipates will force manufacturers to think about where they can find alternative suppliers. This, he said, could lead to potential delays and inefficiencies in production, “but that won't happen overnight.” 

“For Mississauga industrial manufacturers, it's just going to create more uncertainty, disrupt business operations, alter cost structures, and force manufacturers in the region to rethink what they do going forward,” Greco said. “We haven't heard from Mississauga manufacturers who have said that they could lead to closures at this point. But the potential for downsizing or increased cost or job losses is very real.”

Dan Ujczo, senior counsel for Thompson Hine in the firm’s international trade and transportation practice groups, told The Pointer he hopes that in most cases, companies have allocated the risk of tariffs to their contracts. But with a relatively tariff-free relationship between Canada and the U.S. over the last four decades many companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses, have not even considered those risks.

Ujczo anticipates there is going to be a significant push to attract Canadian companies into the U.S., which raises serious questions for Peel Region. 

“Companies are going to have to react to this situation if it continues beyond the short term,” he said. “So does the strategy for [Peel] then become to keep the intellectual property assets, research and development and the high value assets, while allowing the manufacturing piece to move to the United States? That's a paradigm shift in some ways.”

“These efforts, not just tariffs, but tax cuts, regulatory reform, etc, could require a rethink of what the Canadian economy looks like, particularly in Peel Region.”

Though trade policy falls outside municipal jurisdiction and cities are limited in how they can push back against the U.S., Parrish highlighted in her statement on Tuesday that on Wednesday staff and council members are going to revisit the City’s procurement bylaw during this week’s council meeting and introduce amendments to policies that would prevent any contracts going to American suppliers or companies. It is unclear how much money City Hall has given to American companies through contracts.

“These are very uncertain and difficult times, and I know many of you are feeling very anxious about what lies ahead,” Parrish wrote. “But Mississauga has always been a resilient city, and together, we will overcome these challenges.”

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Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock 

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