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Local Toronto businesses are scrambling to figure out what the latest U.S. tariffs means for their operations as the federal government announced its own counter-tariff response Tuesday and U.S. President Donald Trump continued his barrage of insults and threats against Canada.
The U.S. imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about $28 billion worth of Canadian goods on Saturday after trade talks fell apart between the two countries.
The impacts of those levies could impact “every industry you can imagine,” said Giles Gherson, president and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
“A lot of our members, a lot of the companies in the region are looking hard at how the set of tariffs the Americans imposed on the weekend, added to the existing tariffs, are going to affect them,” he said.
Sue Cadman, president of Miik, a Canadian women’s apparel company that manufactures its products in the Greater Toronto Area, said the new round of levies is “definitely a huge, significant factor for us.”
Cadman said the initial round of tariffs did not impact the business as much as the U.S. ending its nearly century-old de minimis exemption for Canada last August. The de minimis exemption allowed goods under $800 US to enter the U.S. duty-free.
“We are extremely fortunate to have an incredible, loyal Canadian woman base, but we saw at least a 50 per cent decrease in U.S. orders last year,” she said.
“I can only imagine what this is going to look like this time around.”
A worker at a Miik factory. Sue Cadman, president of Miik, said the new wave of tariffs will have a significant impact on the business. (Submitted by Miik)
Cadman said her business has already seen customers abandoning their online shopping carts at checkout, which is when they’d see duties and tariffs applied.
“For us, it’s all about supporting the small businesses, it’s all about keeping manufacturing local and keeping the jobs within our community. This will be huge,” she said.
Business owner says company future uncertain
Jennifer Rezny, the creative director and owner of Dangerous Ladies, a local costuming company that sells cosplay materials and supplies, called the tariffs “brutal” for businesses like hers.
“These Section 338 tariffs, for many small businesses, are something like a killing blow,” she told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning Tuesday.
Section 338 refers to a part of the U.S. Tariff Act, established in 1930, that allows the U.S. President to impose levies of up to 50 per cent on imports from countries deemed to discriminate against U.S trade, according to the White House website.
“It’s pretty scary looking at the future and wondering how we’re going to make it work,” said Rezny.
“We’re doing what we can, but unfortunately if markets are cut off to us, that’s kind of the end of the road,” she said.
WATCH | Canada announces tariff response:
Feds announce ‘dollar-for-dollar’ counter-tariffs on billions in U.S. imports
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says Canada will match the latest round of U.S. tariffs in a ‘proportionate, targeted and strategic’ way. Champagne says the tariffs, which will impact more than $27 billion in U.S. goods, are ‘all about fairness.’Canada announces $7.5B in tariff support
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the federal government introduced counter-tariffs on a swath of U.S. goods, which will hit around $27.6 billion worth of U.S. goods like seafood, furniture, apparel and tools starting Sept. 8.
The retaliatory tariffs will have a sliding scale of 15, 25 and 50 per cent, depending on the product, said Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. The tariff rate for each product will match the corresponding U.S. rate.
Champagne also announced $7.5 billion in tariff support for workers and businesses affected by the new wave of U.S. tariffs.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his anti-Canada rhetoric, putting out a post on his social media platform Truth Social, threatening to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
That post came after a war of words broke out between the president and Ontario Premier Doug Ford Monday, where Ford told Trump to “kiss my ass” and Trump referred to the premier as “Flunky Ford.”
Daniel Tisch, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said Canada’s relief measures recognize the “real impacts that illegal U.S. tariffs are having on businesses, workers, and communities across Canada.”
“Beyond immediate measures, Canada must use this moment to fix the fundamentals: pursue pro-growth tax reform, reduce red tape, continue modernizing employment insurance, remove internal trade barriers, and strengthen the conditions for investment, productivity, and growth,” he said in a statement Tuesday.