Most Mondays, I have lunch with a group of community minded people at the Delta Marriott Hotel  downtown. This is the Rotary Club of Kamloops weekly meeting. I’ve been a member for almost 25 years.

Early on in my time with the club, I noticed a bit of a dip in attendance during the winter months. A few members off to Hawaii, others off to Arizona or Southern California. The U.S. was (and currently still is) a popular snowbird destination.

Over the years, we’ve had club members with dual Canada / U.S. citizenship. We have had club members who travel to the U.S. on business. Many of us have close family in the U.S. We even had one member with season tickets to the Dallas Cowboys. We maintain close friendships with many Rotarians in the State of Washington through joint club activities and projects.

I know many Kamloopsians share this experience of close ties with Americans.

I remind myself of all these wonderful  connections as Donald Trump launches a brutal trade war against Canada —  imposing huge new tariffs on Canadian products sold in the U.S.

Justifiably our government has retaliated by imposing tariffs on American goods sold in Canada.

Trump is so unpredictable that, by the time you read these words, the tariffs might have been cancelled. However, Trump’s tariffs’ impact on Kamloops will, and probably should, have significant impacts well beyond the price increases at the grocery store.

The price increases could definitely be significant. And looking for Canadian, and indeed local, alternatives to American products is important. It will also help our community build long term resilience. If our highway or railway access gets cut off, it would only take a few days for store shelves to empty.

The good news is we have a strong food producing sector in Kamloops. We have a thriving Farmers’ Market (winter market every Sat. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 140 Laburnum St until March 1). Your favourite grocers can point you to locally made products.

And what about the relationships many of us have built with Americans. Kamloops people are good at building good friendships in my experience. I am definitely hoping to keep my friendships and ties in the U.S. I have very close family there, for example. And, also, I strongly believe if you want to have any chance of convincing Americans that this trade war is destructive and ineffective, you never will if you don’t have some sort of relationship and goodwill.

What about travel to the U.S.? I am a bit worried about this, mostly because I have  a big mouth that likes to talk politics. And right now, this seems like it could lead to conflict and trouble. Thankfully, again, we have good local travel experts who can advise on how to still enjoy travel to the U.S. without getting into hot water.

I would welcome your thoughts, whether you agree, disagree, or otherwise, on our local response to Trump’s tariffs and unpredictable behaviour.