VIDEO: Kelowna prepares for Trump tariffs despite the 'pause'

We have all been asked to focus on 'buying Canadian', but what about the City of Kelowna's shopping list?

Despite US President Donald Trump's decision to 'pause' his threatened 25% tariff on Canadian goods, behind the scenes, the City of Kelowna is not letting down its guard.

"There could be some impact as a result of the tariffs should they come forward," said City Manager Doug Gilchrist.

He described a city staff in preparation mode.

"We stood up our Critical Incident Response Team, which is an internal team of staff that deals with emergencies or pre-emptively deals with issues that could be coming about."

He said the different departments are analyzing things that might be done to mitigate the impacts of any tariffs that might come.

Gilchrist said he doesn't expect any dramatic shift in city operations.

"We'll come back with some recommendations to talk with council about," he said, "and get their endorsement if indeed there are some recommended changes."

Gilchrist said there isn't a lot of American content in what the city pays for.

Some of the biggest city expenditures are in the form of company contracts.

"All of those things are largely awarded to Canadian companies anyway," he said.

"Where there is a bit of a nuance is when we have a major project," Gilchrist explained, "that might source some of the materials that are imported from the United States or a piece of equipment that we procure from the United States."

Still, Gilchrist said the American content in city spending is fairly limited.

"We always encourage and support local opportunities for local companies," he added.

Right now, Gilchrist said staff are working hard to make sure that council has all the information it needs to make informed decisions on the subject before they have to make any decisions.

"One thing I'm always appreciative of our council," said Gilchrist, "is they don't tend to run off with knee-jerk political statements. They like to receive information and data and make an informed decision."