‘A diversified economic footprint is never going out of style’: London business leaders launch strategy to weather Trump tariffs

London and business partners are launching a new strategy, trying to cope with pending tariffs from Trump. CTV’s Gerry Dewan reports.

The team at Frittos and Co. are scrambling to get a large order on its way to the east coast.

Frittos and Co. makes Brazilian-style croquettes with traditional and unique flavour profiles, including pizza and churro.

In three years, it’s gone from a two-man operation to having more than 20 employees. The owners credit agencies like the London Small Business Centre and The Grove, an agrifood business incubator, in the Western Fair District.

Co-owner Marcelo Costa has been an entrepreneur since 2012, but said their assistance was invaluable, “Since we began, I knew we were going to have a lot of challenges, and we need people working with us. We always say that we need people better than us to help us.”

Co-owner Wallace France said the company has grown dramatically in the last year, “We have almost 400 news locations across Canada. And, in the beginning, it was just Marcelo and I doing everything and now we have almost 20 employees.”

They’ve started along the path to doing business in the United States, but tariffs promised by U.S. President Trump has made that future a little blurry.

“You know, these are the moments that help define how resilient an economy and a nation can be,” Kapil Lakotia told CTV News.

Lakotia is CEO of London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC). His agency is working with the city and other community partners to help businesses weather the tariffs. Including by diversifying the economy.

The LEDC has consistently been attracting agrifood businesses to this region, and many of those are from Europe, “We’re doing businesses with many different parts of the world in real time. So this geographical proximity that’s benefited both U.S. and Canada over the years is not necessarily the only economic strategy. This is why diversified economic footprint is never going out of style.”

London Small Business Centre Executive Director Steve Pellarin is part of the effort to help emerging businesses develop strategies that may include a pivot, “We have a number of businesses we’ve been working with over the last couple of years who’ve been gearing up to sell to the U.S. market. They’ve increased their production capacity, and they may not have yet fully entered the U.S. market. And so now they’ve got capacity. They need to find other opportunities.”

London Mayor Josh Morgan is encouraging London-based institutions and business to focus procurement strategies that focus on made-in-Canada products.

He’s also forming a small economic response team to help cope with tariffs, “We need the ability to make decisions very quickly in this environment. For both what’s happening on the ground here in the city, as well as moves and changes that other levels of government may make in response.”