On-again, off-again: Producers, small business irked by trade war

Canadian small businesses are feeling uneasy as the clock wound down on U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline to get a trade deal done with Canada.

But before the deadline was even reached, Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon, imposing a 35 per cent tariff on Canadian goods effective Friday.

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“The uncertainty is almost more harmful than the tariffs themselves,” said Brianna Solberg, director of provincial affairs with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“The constant on-again, off-again threat of change is causing a lot of harm to business operations. We know that businesses are delaying investments. They’re delaying their hiring plans and they’re facing the potential of layoffs due to this prolonged uncertainty, all while they’re dealing with the costs associated with the tariffs that we’ve already seen put in place.”

Solberg said that 70 per cent of small firms have paid the full Canadian import tariff, which carries an average price tag of roughly $9,000.

“Even though counter tariffs are aimed at foreign policy, it’s local, independent shops and consumers who end up paying that price,” she said.

Solberg added that a bad deal with the U.S. would be just as bad as no deal at all.

Without a deal in place, Solberg said she would like to see the federal government use revenue collected by tariffs to provide relief to small businesses.

“We know that through those counter-tariff measures, Ottawa has collected billions in new tariff revenue, but little of it has been returned to affected businesses,” Solberg said.

“Small businesses don’t have the same ability as big businesses to absorb the costs that they’re facing, and the support and tariff exemptions announced so far haven’t delivered meaningful cost relief.”

Solberg said CFIB has also called for a temporary cut in the small business tax rate from nine per cent to zero.

Bill Prybylski, president of Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan (APAS), also pointed to a sense of uncertainty as the “biggest thing” producers are facing.

Prybilski said this uncertainty is felt while marketing grains, buying inputs and through price volatility.

“Probably one of the biggest things that have been hit is the equipment and parts for those equipment,” Prybylski said.

“The prices of parts has just gone through the roof. So certainly that’s the producer’s bottom line.”

The president of APAS wants the federal government to recognize the contributions agricultural producers make toward the national economy and consider compensation for losses.

Prybylski said he feels like producers are being used as pawns in the government’s trade wars with the U.S. and China.

– With files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Daniel Reech