A local group wants to hear directly from businesses about how tariffs and international trade-related challenges are impacting them.
Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership Economic Development Officer Shauna Carr said the Lambton Business Collaborative is inviting local business owners and operators, and industrial stakeholders to attend their Business Forum on Tariff Impacts next week.
"We want to hear from them," Carr said. "We want the information in, as opposed to the information out this time. We need to understand what the tariff impact is to our local businesses."
Carr said whatever is "messing with their business as usual" as a result of tariff uncertainty, they want to be able to find new pathways to support sustainable and growing business.
"All of the different members of the business collaborative are organizations that support business or municipalities in different ways in Lambton County," Carr said. "So, we can work together as a group to advocate at the provincial and federal level, [and] at the international level. We can try and support supply chain differentials and [inter-provincial and territorial] movement, if that's what folks need."
She hopes common barriers, concerns, business needs and patterns across industry segments can be identified.
"We're going to be putting people into their sectors, because we know they will have similar challenges," Carr said. "We want them to be able to not only play off each other and support what each other's saying, but perhaps they might have come up with a solution that can support someone else and their sector. So, we'll have an agricultural table, a manufacturing table, a retail table, hospitality and tourism... those [are the] type of groupings that we'll be putting together."
The forum will be held on Tuesday, May 6, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Gateway Room and the St. Clair Corporate Centre on Front Street.
Advance registration is required at www.sarnialambton.on.ca.