We have your back.
That was the message Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens relayed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when the PM landed at the Windsor Airport Sunday morning for Canada Day festivities.
Speaking on AM800's the Morning Drive, Dilkens says he talked to Trudeau about NAFTA and auto tariffs which Dilkens says would cause a lot of pain in the Windsor area if those auto tariffs were to be implemented.
"Regardless of your political affiliations, regardless of your like or dislike for certain people, at the end of the day we are Canadians, we are Ontarians and in this case we are all Windsorites," says Dilkens. "We have a lot to lose if an auto tariff actually happens and what I wanted the prime minister to know is that we have his back on this one. We understand what he is trying to do."
He says it echoed the same message during a phone call he had last week to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland
Dilkens says the tariffs that went into effect July 1 are designed to prevent auto tariffs from being implemented.
"That is where we would experience a lot of pain as a Canadian and certainly as a local Windsor economy if that were ever to happen."
As of July 1st, Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, along with 10% duties on consumer goods such as ketchup, lawn mowers and playing cards.
The retaliatory tariffs are worth a $16.6-billion hit to the U.S.