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It’s important for local leaders to be involved in national conversations, said Portage Mayor Austin Bonta, and he’s showing why as tariff conversations are had nationally.
“To put it simply, as mayors, we are on the front lines, seeing firsthand how trade policies affect the businesses, workers and families that live in our community, our region,” Bonta said. “The Great Lakes, if it was its own region, it’d be the third largest economy in the world.”
Bonta traveled to Washington, D.C., with Gary Mayor Eddie Melton and other mayors in the Great Lakes region to talk about how proposed tariffs will impact Northwest Indiana communities.
Canadian mayors from the St. Lawrence River region also spoke about how proposed tariffs would impact their communities. Bonta and Melton are both part of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which connects leaders from both regions.
“It’s a kind of multinational coalition of municipalities and also indigenous government executives,” Melton said, “just talking about the importance of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River regions, trying to promote economic prosperity, but also environmental sustainability and stewardship around the freshwater resources that we have in the area.”
American and Canadian local leaders expressed concerns about tariffs, Melton said. In the First congressional district, Melton said they export about $900 million in goods to Canada, including iron, chemicals, petroleum and coal. The city also exports about $40 million annually for services, including travel, education and business services, Melton said.
Mayors who met with Trump administration officials opposed the 25% blanket tariff proposed by President Donald Trump because of the impact it could have on daily goods, such as food, appliances and cars, Melton said.
Both mayors explained why their relationships with Canada are important for their respective cities.
Portage’s partnership with Canada is crucial, Bonta said. Canada is Indiana’s top trade partner, with about $15.4 billion exported to the country annually and more than 148,000 Hoosiers with jobs tied directly to Canada.
“It’s not just about the numbers,” Bonta said. “These are real people with real livelihoods, in these real communities, real cities. Our interconnected economy expands key industries in the Hoosier state, including transportation, equipment, machinery, minerals and metals.”
Indiana’s coastline on Lake Michigan is about 43 miles, Bonta said, which makes up about 1% of the Great Lakes coastline. But, Indiana generates more than 50% of the maritime economic output on the Great Lakes, with the Ports of Indiana at Burns Harbor generating about $4.6 billion and supporting 28,000 jobs regionally.
Bonta and Melton both advocated for the Ports of Indiana in their talks with national leaders.
“We know the Ports of Indiana is a major economic hub when it comes to goods being shipped in and shipped out,” Melton said. “It’s not just a national conversation of all these things. The port — although it is in Burns Harbor and the Portage area — we have residents that work there, so it impacts our economy in a very direct and specific way.”
Prior to White House conversations, Bonta said he met with labor workers and business owners in Portage. Multiple were hopeful that Melton was meeting with Canadian and national leaders, hoping it would open up questions for a better trade deal for everyone.
Most people are concerned about the threats of a trade war, Bonta said.
“Then you’re dealing with the fact that all of these interconnected parts of our community could be impacted in all sorts of ways depending on which industry gets hit,” he added.
Beyond the mayors’ work in D.C., Melton said he values representation from Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, both of which he said advocate for Northwest Indiana.
“Just layering that on top of the strong leadership that we have here, bringing our regional mayors and community leaders to the table can only amplify the voices of Northwest Indiana,” Melton said.
As tariff conversations continue, Bonta said it’s important for community members to understand that they can be a tool to fulfill various purposes, including revenue generation or to be an avenue for free trade.
Bonta also believes that it’s important to use tariffs in a way that will benefit the U.S.’ relationship with Canada, which he said has been strong historically and has the potential to get stronger.
“I wouldn’t have gone on a trip to D.C. to advocate the way I did if I didn’t believe there was an opportunity for the current situation to get better, and ideally, even better than it was before,” Bonta said. “I think the biggest thing is to advocate for a strong partnership between the United States and Canada so that we can have a deal that ends up working best for both countries. … (We need) to see the value of that partnership and of us working together.”
