In the on-again, off-again talk of tariffs on Canadian products being sold into the United States, Jérôme Pécresse has advice for his industry: “Be patient, be calm, be agile.”

Pécresse is chief executive of aluminum for Rio Tinto, which includes overseeing the company’s Canadian smelter operations.

Though most of those are in Quebec, where Pécresse is based, this past week he paid a visit to Kitimat, on B.C.'s North Coast, where a Rio Tinto aluminum smelter employs roughly 1,100 people in the community of just over 8,000.

But, Pécresse said, no one in the community should be worried about losing their job.