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Effective immediately, the city will exclusively award all contracts valued at less than $353,000 to Canadian companies, she confirmed.

She also promised to present a motion to her executive committee “barring any U.S. companies from future Toronto contracts.”

Due to trade agreements the city has in place with other countries, non-Canadian companies from outside the U.S. would still be able to bid on city work above the $353,000 threshold, Chow said.

“We can all do our part by shopping locally, buying Canadian whenever possible at the grocery stores as part of weekly shopping,” she said. 

“The City of Toronto is doing our part to award contracts to local firms.”

Trump said Thursday afternoon he would pause the imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods covered by the North American free trade agreement until April. Chow’s office said the temporary reprieve wasn’t sufficient and that she intended to proceed with the procurement ban until tariffs are off the table.

Chow’s announcement follows a similar one from Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who on Monday .

Reducing competition for contracts by cutting out American bidders could result in the city paying higher prices, Toronto’s mayor acknowledged Thursday, but she defended the proposed ban as a matter of principle. 

“As proud Canadians, I think we’re united in saying that we will never back down. There is no way that we will be a (51st) state,” she said.

The city is still performing a financial analysis on its Buy Canadian push, and Chow expected to provide full details next week, she said. Her executive committee is scheduled to meet March 19. 

City staff have estimated that less than 10 per cent of the $3.3 billion worth of procurement Toronto handles each year is spent on contracts with U.S. companies. Just over half of the contracts by value are for goods and services, including software, while the bulk of the rest is for construction.

It would be difficult to eliminate Toronto’s reliance on American firms overnight without compromising municipal services, the city’s general manager of economic development Pat Tobin warned in an interview earlier this week.

“It’s not something that turns on a dime,” he said. “We do have a really integrated supply chain.”

Chow that the city would join the fight against Trump’s “senseless” trade war. She asked the city manager to develop an action plan, of business and labour leaders, and launched a buy local initiative. 

With files from Andy Takagi and Mahdis Habibinia