Two Calgary tech companies say more than a year of on‑again, off‑again U.S. tariff threats have left their businesses strained and increasingly unsustainable.
Solarbotics co‑owner Cheryl Hyrnkiw says her family‑run electronics company that has been operating for 34 years relied heavily on U.S. customers before tariffs introduced under President Donald Trump reshaped their market.
She says shipments are now routinely rejected because the added costs make products too expensive for buyers.
“What point in time does it become too much,” she says. “Mentally as well as financially, to carry on.”
She adds that rejected shipments come with steep penaltie.
“It gets down into the States and it gets refused,” shes says. “And we get charged back for the product, for the clearing fees, for everything involved in the shipment crossing the border, and often times we don’t even get the shipment back.”
Just down the street, startup VF Comms shut off U.S. sales entirely after the most recent tariff threat, a measure that was paused at the last minute. Owner Ben Eadie says the uncertainty leaves small firms powerless.
“Before there was something I can do,” he says. “In this case I can only sit there and watch the big boys fight, and it’s dumb.”
Eadie says he was already being tariffed on his products and forced to navigate complex processes to recover money he shouldn’t have been charged.
“I can’t afford to do that, so those are just losses I’ll have to take,” he says.
He warns that another round of tariffs could shut his operation down entirely.
Trump’s trade czar stood with Canada-U.S. Minister Dominic LeBlanc in Washington on Wednesday and touted a draft deal which appears to have averted a new round of punishing tariffs for now.
The Canadian and American flags flap in the breeze at the Thousand Islands border crossing in Lansdowne, Ont., on Monday Nov. 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
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