Murray Wood: Trump's Bag O' Tariffs
The U.S. President is enacting new tariffs on Canada. For retaliating to his tariffs. He's also threatening tariffs over...
Sitting on a stand at the till in Sticks & Doodles is a Christmas ornament with a red maple leaf and the word “Home.”
Both that home and the wood-cut art business in Regina’s east end are being threatened by the tariff announcement from U.S. President. Donald Trump, who declared a new 50 per cent tariff on many Canadian goods on Monday.
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Kyle Moffatt is a co-founder of the company, and said they’ve been dealing with tariff threats and consequences since last year.
“We’ve been there before, and so some of that panic is gone. But you can’t just pretend that it’s not happening,” explained Moffatt.
“This is a huge amount of money that is being levied against our customers in the States and all Canadian business customers in the States, and there are businesses who rely on the U.S. for a huge amount of their sales, and they’re going to struggle.”
He said the company just started shipping to the U.S. again after pausing shipments as a result of last year’s tariffs. Traditionally, Moffatt said this time of year is when they would ship the most to the U.S.
“Our customers were so excited, and now we’re going to have to let them know that we’re not shipping down there again; that’s heartbreaking,” said Moffatt.
Stick & Doodles co-founder Kyle Moffatt, pictured on Jul. 21, 2026, says, traditionally, this is the time of year the company ships the most to the U.S. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
He thought their products were exempt under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, but customers had been getting tariff bills and products being stuck at the border.
A year ago, Moffatt said it was a big hit losing their American customers — he said he knows other makers in Canada whose entire customer base was in the U.S. and had to shut down.
He said a 50 per cent tariff on their products isn’t insignificant — on one of their ornaments, he said it would be an extra $15.
“We’ve now been a year without American customers, so it’s not as big of a hit this time. But we’re trying to grow our business,” said Moffatt.
Moffatt is hoping the U.S. president will walk back the threat soon, but if he doesn’t, then some adjustments will have to be made.
If the tariffs do go ahead he’s expecting it will affect the business, with some customers having to tighten their belts more and not purchasing the higher-end products he sells.
“There will be an economic impact by this, not necessarily from not shipping to the U.S. but because everything in the country is affected when these things happen,” said Moffatt.
Sticks & Doodles on Juy 21, 2026. The business creates wood-cut art and ornaments in Regina (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
But overall, Moffatt said Canadians are good at taking care of each other and the business originally lost from the U.S. last year was replaced with local business. And he said the company’s had more corporations and governments in other provinces reaching out on projects.
“We never used to get that type of inquiry before; everything was always very Saskatchewan. And so we are seeing governments working to procure more locally from our end, and that is wonderful,” he said.
Moffatt said it’s important people and governments make sure Canadians businesses are supported.
“We hire people, we pay people, and if we can’t do those things then people will lose their jobs.”
As for the politicians who are going to have to pick apart the tariff knots, Moffatt said he feels for them.
“I hope they don’t panic, I hope they take care of us, and I hope they support us because that’s what we need right now, we need to take care of ourselves,” he said.
