Municipalities can help rebuild relationships damaged by U.S. trade war: FCM head

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Municipalities in Canada and the United States can play a key role in mending fences and rebuilding relationships damaged by the trade war following this week’s political upheaval south of the border.

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Ottawa City Councillor Tim Tierney, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), says Canadian and American municipal leaders have all agreed that tariffs and trade war of the past two years have been bad for local economies.

Tierney, who leads the national voice of municipal governments, which represents more than 2,200 municipalities and 20 provincial and territorial municipal associations that accounts for around 95% of Canada’s population, said the U.S. midterm election results, which will see Democrats take over control of the Senate and House of Representatives from Republicans this coming January, is good news.

People hurt on both sides of border

The trade war has been “punishing people on both sides of the border, it doesn’t do anybody any good, and municipalities feel it first,” Tierny said in an interview.

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He pointed to former U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman’s comments this week calling for better relations between both countries in light of the election results.

“In January, a new Congress will take office,” Heyman shared to his X account Tuesday night. “As a former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, I urge its members to make repairing our relationship with Canada an early priority. Canada is our neighbor, our friend, and an essential partner. The work of reconciliation should begin now.”

Force Trump to uphold trade deal

Tierney, who is in regular contact with his counterparts at the National League of Cities in the U.S., said Congress needs to force Donald Trump and his Republican administration to uphold the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) the President himself signed in July 2020.

“It’s got to move relatively quickly,” he said. “It’s not just us, it’s a big part in the States too when they are paying $6 to $7 a gallon (for gas), when you are paying another $42,000 for a home because of lumber (costs) …

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“All of these things have direct impacts on both sides, and I think we’re sympatico that we want to see quick reaction by the federal governments on both sides of the border to be able to find a resolution.”

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Tierney said while municipalities are a different level of government, cities and towns feel the pain of economic warfare first. In Ottawa, he said some microbreweries closed down due to the rising cost of aluminum cans.

He added that industries in suburban and rural areas have also been hit hard by the trade war, and that news is relayed to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s federal government to better inform officials on what’s happening in communities across the country.

Tourism to U.S. has dropped

Since Trump’s trade war began in early 2025 and threats of Canada becoming the 51st state, border towns and tourist destinations have seen a big drop in numbers after many Canadians stopped travelling to the U.S. in protest.

Tierney said U.S. destinations popular among Canadians has been hit severely.

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While attending the National League of Cities conference last year in Washington, D.C., Tierney said the mayor of West Hollywood approached him and begged for Canadian tourists to return.

And smaller U.S. communities along the border are feeling the pinch.

“A lot of hockey tournaments operated in these border towns, they’ve seen Canadian hockey teams not wanting to go down to the States during these times,” he said.

“People want this all resolved. The border has never been the same. Let’s face it, our border is a friendly border, but over the last two years it’s impacted a lot of that industry,” Tierney said.

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