Tariff proposal sparks new Florida-Canada chamber,

Amid growing protectionist moves by President Donald Trump’s administration, Canadians in Florida are expanding a chamber of commerce between the nation and the state, and highlighting the huge volume of Canadian visitors, trade and secondhome buyers in the Sunshine State.

What started as the Quebec-Florida Chamber in Hollywood is being rebranded as the CanadaFlorida Chamber and will seek to have chapters or events in other cities such as Orlando. There is already a Canada-Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce.

Canada’s Prime Minister of Transportation, Marc Garneau; and the Canadian Consul General in Miami, Susan Harper, talked about the new Chamber as they made a swing through the state Thursday.

Garneau, a former shuttle astronaut, had come partly to watch an Atlas V rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, where he also spoke to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. It just happened to be the same day that Trump suddenly announced he was backing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. Aluminum is one of Canada’s top exports, at $9.8 billion in 2017.

“The U.S. and Canada have the strongest bilateral trade relationship in the world,” Garneau said in Orlando Thursday. “If tariffs are put on products coming into the U.S., many Canadians could lose their jobs. That would mean they have less money to spend in Florida.”

Canadians are the most common foreign buyer of homes in Orange County and have been since 2009, when Canadians swooped in to buy foreclosed or distressed property in the Great Recession. Canada is also a leading destination for Florida exports at $3.56 billion in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That was second only to Brazil.

“Unless something really egregious happens, I don’t think the politics are going to have an impact on Florida home sales anytime soon,” said Brent Leathwood, a real estate agent from Sarasota who runs Cross Border Realty, which also sells homes to Canadians from offices in Orlando and South Florida.

He said snowbirds escaping the Great White North in winter will always head to Florida, and many Baby Boomers who are retiring now wouldn’t be hit hard by an economic slowdown.

“For the long run though, a trade war is very short-sighted. Both the USA and Canada have a lot to lose, should cooler heads not prevail,” Leathwood said. “This is the negotiating equivalent of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and hopefully this will not happen.”

The Canadian government issued a statement blasting tariffs and further restrictions.

“As the number one customer of American steel, Canada would view any trade restrictions on Canadian steel and aluminum as absolutely unacceptable. Any restrictions would harm workers, the industry and manufacturers on both sides of the border,” a statement from the Canadian government said.

Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement is understandable after 23 years, said Garneau, who is also chair of Canada’s U.S.-Canada Relations Committee.

“We understand that negotiating can take a lot of forms, and we just look at this as part of the negotiations,” he said.