San Antonio will be metro most damaged by Trump’s Canada trade war

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Current reports that the San Antonio-New Braunfels area stands to lose more from the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada than any other U.S. metro, according to a new study. AD While Mexico is typically thought of as the Alamo City’s primary trading partner, 48% of the area’s exports actually cross over to Canada, an analysis by economists from Canadian Chamber of Commerce shows. Those exports constitute roughly 3.4% of the San Antonio-New Braunfels’ total gross domestic product and accounted for $6 billion in 2023. Even though the San Antonio metro is closer to Mexico, large amounts of exports from its automotive, aerospace and petroleum-refining sectors end up in Canada, Andrew DiCapua, the chamber’s principal economist told the Current.

Now, as the Canadian government retaliates against Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from the U.S.’s northern neighbor, San Antonio businesses — from its Toyota Tundra truck plant to producers of agricultural equipment, construction gear and aircraft — will feel the pinch. “If companies aren’t selling as much, that hurts their bottom lines and contributes to job losses,” DiCapua said. “That, in turn, leads to fewer people buying things, which puts more strain on the local economy.” Further, the drop in Canadian exports will come as San Antonio’s middle-class and low-income families face higher retail prices due to the White House’s taxes on imports, ranging from food to car parts. “At the end of the day, a trade war is bad for everybody,” DiCapua said. “Tariffs are economically destructive, and a lot of economists are downwardly revising their predictions for U.S. growth right now as a result.”