The one-two punch of U.S. tariffs and Canadian counter-tariffs has created financial havoc for Allen Walker’s small Enderby company, which most of its business with American firms. Read More
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Hundreds of daily calls flood Surrey import-export consultant from business owners worried about U.S. tariffs, which are to worsen on April 2
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The one-two punch of U.S. tariffs and Canadian counter-tariffs has created financial havoc for Allen Walker’s small Enderby company, which most of its business with American firms.
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“We’ve been on pins and needles ever since (the two governments) have been playing their battles,” said Walker, owner of CNC Manutech, a manufacturer of truck parts.
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The increased expense of the tariffs threatens to kill the profitability of CNC, which employs seven people.
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“Unless things change, we can only last so long. Like any company, you can’t sell parts at a loss,” he said.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has dubbed April 2 “Liberation Day,” when he says he will impose reciprocal tariffs by increasing U.S. duties to match the tax rates that other countries, including Canada, charge on imports.
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For Canadian business owners like Walker, though, Wednesday could be anything but liberating. They fear their operations will instead be further hog-tied by additional tariffs when they are already in financial captivity.
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It’s unclear exactly what Trump will announce Wednesday and that’s causing even more uncertainty in the business world and on stock exchanges.
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“Everyone is waiting with bated breath right now,” said Greg Timm, president of Surrey-based PCB Global Trade Management, which helps businesses ship goods both ways across the border.
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“It has created such a sense of anxiety and confusion.”
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Since Trump’s inauguration in January, Timm said hundreds of companies and business organizations have called his firm daily for guidance on whether their goods are ensnared in the tariffs, how to handle the levies, and whether they can pursue new non-American supply-chain or trade options.
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Between Friday evening and Monday morning, when business administrators would typically be off for the weekend, PCB got 196 calls for help.
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Queries have come from steel and aluminum producers, some manufacturers of household items like furniture and mattresses, and farmers who send goods south of the border.
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“We have greenhouses, for instance, that ship tomatoes and cucumbers, the Okanagan region that ships a lot of apples and apricots, our Lower Mainland area that ships cranberries and blueberries,” Timm said. They’re all trying to understand if they are part of the tariffs.
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Optimism among Canadian small businesses has plummeted since Trump began imposing these levies, which so far include 25 per cent on steel and aluminum, said Ryan Mitton, the B.C. legislative affairs director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
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“Small business confidence has fallen to the lowest level in our 25 years of tracking the measure. So that’s lower than COVID, the 2008 financial crisis and 9/11,” said Mitton.
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The trade war has blindsided a range of B.C. businesses, including minors and those in the hospitality industry. “What they’re telling us is that they don’t know what the future looks like,” Mitton said.
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The federation recently released national figures showing how business confidence had plunged across Canada. Provincial numbers provided to Postmedia on Monday track the concern among 481 small businesses in B.C.
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• Just a quarter are confident about their economic outlook, compared to nearly two-thirds before the tariff talk started.
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• One in five fear they’ll have to close permanently. Ten per cent have laid off workers and nearly one third are considering layoffs.
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• Half face increased costs for goods and supplies. As a result, nearly one in four now struggle to price their own products competitively, even though they don’t want to raise costs for their customers.
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• 85 per cent said the trade war has made their operations “increasingly stressful,” as the majority rely on the U.S. for trade.
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How to handle the tariff war has dominated the federal election campaign. Recent polls have the Liberals in front of the Conservatives, a significant reversal in fortunes for both parties.
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Last week, Angus Reid found the top two reasons for the surge of support for new Liberal Leader Mark Carney are Canada’s need to fight Trump’s tariffs and his replacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau
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Walker hopes who ever wins the federal election gets a strong mandate to handle the trade crisis. Despite the hardship faced by his Enderby company, he remains optimistic that it will survive once a solution to the tariffs is found.
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“I think, eventually, cooler heads will prevail,” he said.
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Both Timm and Mitton said there are signs of a silver lining in this trade dispute.
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Mitton said one third of B.C. businesses report increased demand for Canadian-made products, and one in four have switched to Canadian suppliers for the materials they need.
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He hopes federal politicians will apply “a small business lens” to their campaign platforms.
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Timm said some of PCB’s 5,000 Canadian commercial clients have begun to transition from shock to resilience as they try to find the best way to survive these threats.
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“I think Canadians are starting to overcome the sense of betrayal, and they’re starting to get into a plan of, ‘How do we do this, how do we retain our vendor base or client base, and how do we diversify?” he said.
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There was also some hint from Trump, following his phone call with Carney last week, that the duties imposed on Canadian goods on Wednesday could be less severe than he initially threatened, Timm added.
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