Tariff uncertainty with Canada threatens Ohio manufacturers, panelists say

Consul General Colin Bird of Canada in Detroit and Ohio lawmakers and business leaders told a Columbus Metropolitan Club audience that recent U.S. tariff measures and reciprocal Canadian responses are creating costly uncertainty for Ohio’s manufacturers, farms and small businesses.

The forum on trade with Canada on May in Columbus featured remarks from Consul General Colin Bird, State House Minority Leader Lisonbee Russo (representing Ohio’s Seventh District), Bala, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Scribe, and moderator Dan Eaton of Columbus Business First. “We need to move those tariffs off the table, and they are still there,” Consul General Bird said of measures affecting steel, aluminum and other sectors. Bala said uncertainty is the immediate business problem: “One thing businesses do not like is uncertainty.”

The discussion matters because Canada is Ohio’s largest trading partner; panelists said much of the state’s manufacturing inputs come from or through Canada and that tariffs or trade barriers could disrupt supply chains, raise costs and slow regional investment. Panelists cited steel and aluminum tariffs and a paused auto-parts action as examples of measures that have changed the operating…