{"id":195183,"date":"2025-10-07T13:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T13:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/195183\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T13:04:07","slug":"canadian-small-businesses-rethink-u-s-market-after-duty-free-shipping-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/195183\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian small businesses rethink U.S. market after duty-free shipping changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When the tariffs took effect, Julie Brown, co-founder of Toronto-based clothing brand Province of Canada, made the difficult decision to pause all shipments to the U.S.David Pike<\/p>\n

When news broke that a certain threshold of duty-free shipping to the United States was coming to an end, Julia Brown had a big decision to make.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the co-founder of Toronto-based clothing brand Province of Canada<\/a> could continue to ship her Canadian-made basics to U.S.-based customers, taking on all of the uncertainty that came with it \u2013 from increased shipping costs to delivery delays. <\/p>\n

On the other hand, she could pause all shipments across the border, taking the time to monitor the situation as the changes unfolded, and lose a chunk of revenue in the process.<\/p>\n

There was no right answer. Ms. Brown and co-founder Jeremy Watt chose to halt shipments on all U.S. orders.<\/p>\n

Canadian business owners have been scrambling to adjust their strategies since U.S. President Donald Trump took office for his second term. Tariffs proved to be just the beginning of the hurdles: On Aug. 29, the de minimis exemption<\/a> \u2013 which allowed shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free \u2013 was cancelled. For Province of Canada, pausing U.S. shipments in the wake of this decision has meant an instant 5-per-cent drop in sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a shame for a lot of Canadian businesses and for us,\u201d Ms. Brown says. \u201cIt\u2019s significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Province of Canada, which also ships to Europe and Japan, has doubled its Canadian sales in 2025, riding the elbow\u2019s up wave of supporting local businesses.David Pike<\/p>\n

Because Province of Canada goods are made in Canada, they fall under the rules of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which means they should still be able to cross the border duty-free. But Ms. Brown says the in-depth paperwork required for each individual shipment to prove its CUSMA status would be an unsustainable burden on her small team. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt could take someone 15 to 20 minutes just to prepare one order,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re shipping hundreds of orders a day, that\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, CUSMA products still incur tariffs. \u201cCUSMA-originating goods from Canada and Mexico are not exempt from IEEPA (U.S. International Emergency Economic Powers Act) tariffs for postal shipments,\u201d Canada Post said in a statement to The Globe and Mail. <\/p>\n

The end of de minimis is another hit for the already struggling postal service, which is battling financial and labour issues, and is likely to see significantly less commercial business<\/a> to the United States as companies look for duty-savvy shipping methods. To combat this, Canada Post told The Globe that it has partnered with Zonos, a third-party company that specializes in cross-border technology, including duty collection.<\/p>\n

For Justin Ng and Josephine Au, co-owners of Vancouver-based matcha brand Emeri, the choice to pause U.S. shipments was a difficult one \u2013 especially because American orders currently make up 50 per cent of their business. \u201cWe didn\u2019t feel comfortable serving something to our customers when we didn\u2019t have all of the answers in place,\u201d Mr. Ng says.<\/p>\n

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Justin Ng and Josephine Au, co-owners of Vancouver-based matcha brand Emeri, chose to halt shipping their matcha products to the U.S. despite the fact that American orders made up 50 per cent of their business.Emeri<\/p>\n

While Emeri is a Canadian company, products are tariffed based on their country of origin, which in this case is Japan. Mr. Ng says the disorder around shipping timelines, tariff rates and duty calculations were enough to encourage them to pause U.S. shipments.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of day, we\u2019re customers, too,\u201d Mr. Ng says. \u201cThe last thing we want to have is additional fees or tariffs slapped onto our products.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mr. Ng says the disorder around shipping timelines, tariff rates and duty calculations were enough to encourage them to pause U.S. shipments.Emeri<\/p>\n

Ross Prusakowski, deputy chief economist at Export Development Canada, says it\u2019s too early for there to be any concrete U.S. trade data following the end of the de minimis exemption. Anecdotally, he points to a growing sense of confusion. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is mostly a lot of uncertainty. A lot of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Mr. Trump started making annexation threats, Canadians have shown a distinct sense of national pride, with \u201celbows up\u201d messages ricocheting across social media platforms and news outlets, and many people making a conscious effort to buy Canadian products. That, Mr. Prusakowski says, presents an opening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is an opportunity to look domestically as consumer attitudes and other business attitudes have shifted and continue to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Ng certainly feels that way. \u201cWe always advocate for supporting local,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery single purchase or penny counts for Canadian small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Canadian brands are balancing the loss of American orders with an influx of Canadian support. \u201cThis year has definitely felt like there\u2019s been a spotlight on us,\u201d Ms. Brown says.David Pike<\/p>\n

Province of Canada, which also ships to Europe and Japan, has doubled its Canadian sales since Mr. Trump took office in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year has definitely felt like there\u2019s been a spotlight on us,\u201d Ms. Brown says. \u201cIt\u2019s changed the way people think about what they\u2019re buying in every aspect, whether it\u2019s food or clothing. In clothing, there are so few options that are actually made here. I think Canadians have been surprised to learn, \u2018I can dress in made-in-Canada basically head-to-toe.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: When the tariffs took effect, Julie Brown, co-founder of Toronto-based clothing brand Province…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,22058,9383,44,97017,74900,11274,4992,1215,178],"class_list":["post-195183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-business","tag-exports","tag-news","tag-ordid3844959281te","tag-shipping","tag-small-business","tag-tariffs","tag-trade","tag-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}