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A worker sets a forming roll into position for the next line to be produced at the Welded Tube manufacturing facility in the Renaissance Commerce Park in Lackawanna.
Welded Tube is a Canadian company with local operations that could be impacted by tariffs being threatened against Canada. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
The specter of the Trump administration imposing tariffs of as much as 25% on imports is spooking Canadian manufacturers – enough that at least a dozen of them have called Thomas Kucharski over the past six weeks.
Kucharski, the president and CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara, the regional economic development organization, said the companies are worried about the impact of potential tariffs on their businesses and trade, and eager to mitigate the problem as soon as possible.
They already face enough challenges operating in their own country and then bringing products over the border. Prior to the pandemic, a couple of firms were unable to obtain visas for key personnel needed to install and start machinery that had already been delivered here. And then they learned from the Covid-19 pandemic that an open border isn't guaranteed.
That is all before Donald Trump's election and threats, as well as the upheaval in Canada's leadership with the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"They're all worried about doing business in Southern Ontario with the high costs, and this is the last straw," Kucharski said. "It pushed them over the edge."
So, they're seriously exploring the possibility of opening up new operations on this side of the international border, in the Buffalo Niagara area.
Of the 12 calls, 10 of them have turned into more formal "leads" for Invest Buffalo Niagara, although nothing is certain. All are advanced manufacturers, one in the semiconductor industry, and one of them is connected with a prior "win" for IBN that resulted in a Canadian firm coming to the Buffalo area.
"It's a complex conversation," Kucharski said. "Depending on what industry they’re in and what they do, the lure of the U.S. market and being able to access it from here, and have a Made-in-USA label on it" is appealing.
The problem, however, lies in the availability of shovel-ready industrial land or facilities here that are ready for development or occupancy. "There's a lot of build-to-suit going on," Kucharski noted, but not as much speculative development.
For now, he said, "these are just investigations," with the companies kicking the tires, getting information and exploring options. Some of them may have previously had contact with IBN, but stopped pursuing the discussions and are only now revisiting it. But Kucharski and his team are eager to convince them.
"Each of these expressions of interest we treat as gold," he said.
