The City’s response to the impacts of U.S. tariffs

As the U.S. tariff situation evolves, we remain committed to:

  • Getting the best value for public funds.
  • Continuing to deliver services to Calgarians. 

Support Local

The City’s Support Local campaign celebrates the vital role local businesses play. They shape our neighbourhoods and drive Calgary’s economy. Learn more about the campaign and download your support local sign for your business.

Support Local
Our Social Procurement program

The City's actions

We established a Supply Chain Resilience program several years ago to make sure our supply chain remains strong. This has helped us to proactively manage commodity fluctuations, labour disruptions, inflation and other supply chain challenges, including tariffs.

Only five per cent of our contracts are with American suppliers or in U.S. dollars. The City's direct exposure to tariffs is relatively low, and we are actively working with industry partners to minimize the impact of tariffs along the supply chain for Calgarians.

We will provide Council with monthly updates on tariffs, supply chain disruptions or other changes that might affect The City’s supply chain or financial position. The updates will start in April 2025 through the Executive Committee.

Feb 25, 2025 - Administration's Tariff update to Council

Pending steel and aluminum tariffs

We are making efforts to source aluminum and steel from alternative countries for City projects. Actively managing tariff risks on a contract by contract basis is helping ensure City construction projects continue to move forward.

We continue to:

  • Monitor U.S. tariff scenarios so that we can model potential impacts. Where appropriate, we’ll develop mitigation strategies to address them on a case-by-case basis.
  • Examine the impacts of U.S. tariffs on major projects on a contract-by-contract basis.
  • Award contracts to multiple suppliers. This increases diversity and resilience in our supply chain.
  • Review required product specifications and see if there are local alternatives.
  • Explore alternate logistic routes to avoid border impacts.
  • Buy and receive materials in advance to avoid tariff impacts.
  • Assess our procurement policies and processes. This helps us to support purchasing of local, Canadian and non-American goods and services.
  • Collaborate with our regional partners, other orders of government, and industry associations. We identify, support or advocate for local supply chains.
  • Monitor foreign exchange risks, through our U.S. holdings and investments.

Supporting local businesses

Business & Local Economy

The tariff discussions have created considerable uncertainty for small businesses. Although the impacts are still being assessed, business owners are keen to safeguard their investments and livelihoods as much as possible.

The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has created several tools and resources to support you and your business during this challenging time. This includes the Pivot to Grow loan, which can provide up to $2 million for eligible businesses affected by tariffs. There are also calculators to estimate the impact of tariffs on your business and checklists to help you prepare.

We continue to examine ways to support small businesses impacted by tariffs. If you are a small business owner who would like more information on planned City supports or to offer your insights, please contact BusinessAndLocalEconomy@calgary.ca.

Social Procurement

We buy everything from basketballs to C-trains. Our industry-leading and award-winning Social Procurement Program supports local businesses. We:

  • Include a Social Procurement Questionnaire on all our competitive procurements. The questionnaire gives a competitive advantage to small and medium-sized businesses. They are likely to be most impacted by tariffs.
  • Prioritize sourcing locally or within Canada, where possible. The City must follow all trade agreements and continue to conduct fair, open, and competitive procurement for purchases over $75,000 for goods and services, and over $200,000 for construction. 
  • Get at least one quote from a local supplier for under-threshold purchases under $75,000 for goods and services and under $200,000 for construction. We obtain three quotes as part of the under-threshold process.

Visit Supply Management to learn more. To view opportunities to be part of our resilient supply chain, visit  The City of Calgary’s Ariba Discovery Page or Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC).

Resources